Page 43 of Remember Me

“No. What are you even doing awake?”

“I couldn’t sleep so I was going to get some water. And then I saw how uncomfortable you looked.” I paused. “If you were awake, I was going to tell you that you could sleep in your bed.” His eyes grew big and I continued quickly. “It’s a king. There’s plenty of room for both of us.”

“I’m fine here.” He rolled over to his opposite side, giving me his back.

I stood for a minute, completely bewildered. He was being foolish. There was no need for him to sleep in here on this air mattress that couldn’t even hold its air. By morning he would be sleeping on the floor. We were adults. Surely, he could handle a bit of proximity while asleep?

“Why?”

There was no response for a second. Then he growled and shifted positions and I understood.

Hayes slept in the nude.

Andoh, mydid he look exceptionally well with no clothes on. The light was dim, but I could see well enough. Hayes was very...healthy. And big. He took up practically the entire air mattress, and his feet hung off the end. He was certainly not the stereotypical college professor, thin and ascetic or portly and distracted. He was well over six feet in height and if I had to guess...my head cocked to one side as I studied his form...he probably weighed in around two-twenty at least.

Far too big for that pitiful air mattress.

“You gonna stand there and gawk all night or go to bed?”

With a low hmmm in response, I left and continued to the kitchen. I poured myself a glass of water and sipped it slowly as I stared out the window into the moonlit yard. I was annoyed. More, if I was honest, my feelings were a tad hurt. I was pregnant, not a leper. But if he wanted to be that way, fine. I had my ways around his attitude.

Water finished, I visited the bathroom for the third time since I’d gone to bed, and then made my way back down the hall. Instead of returning to the master bedroom, though, I went instead into the guest room. Without speaking to Hayes, I lay down on the edge of the mattress that was not in use and pulled the blanket over me.

“What the hell are you doing?” He reared up beside me.

“If you won’t sleep in the other bed, then neither of us will.” I was missing a pillow. Then I remembered — it had ended up on the floor. Sitting up, I leaned over to pick it up and place it behind my head.

Hayes dropped his face into his pillow. “Birdie, you cannot sleep in here with me.” His voice was muffled, but I understood him perfectly.

“Then go sleep in the other room,” I replied with all reasonableness.

“You need that bed, Bertie,” he said. “You’re pregnant. From what I have been reading, you need a good mattress.”

“I’m pregnant?”

I couldn’t help it. Hayes was less than entertained by my response, though, and after a moment I continued more seriously, turning my face to look at him. “You’ve been reading about pregnancy?”

“Of course.” He said it like it was a completely natural circumstance. I was pregnant; therefore, he needed to read about it. “Now, will you please get up and go to the other room to sleep?”

“Not unless you do.” I flipped to my side and punched the pillow twice for good measure. I could not prevent a giggle from escaping when the hiss of air sounded loudly in the room.

It didn’t stop.

After a moment, I felt the floor at my hip as the mattress continued to deflate, and another giggle escaped.

“Damnit, Birdie!” He rose and grabbed his pillow, then stalked angrily from the room.

“S-sorry,” I murmured, unrepentant. I waited until I heard him settling himself in the king bed...our bed...before rising to join him.

He had already turned over onto his side, so when I climbed in the bed his back was facing me. I climbed in and settled myself between the sheets, pulling the coverlet up to my neck. I lay on my back, my head on my pillow and my hands clutching the coverlet against my chest for several minutes. I could feel the heat radiating from his body —his naked body! —and fought the impulse to close the six inches or so that separated us. I could hear him breathing beside me, not the steady, even breaths of someone on their way to sleep, but rather more agitated.

Annoyed.

I released my breath in a little huff that demonstrated my own annoyance, and turned onto my side and away from Hayes, pulling the blankets with me. He tugged on the covers in silent request and I ignored him, cocooning myself within them to make sure that my feet were protected against any drafts.

“Do I get any blankets, or are you going to take them all?”

I huffed again. “Your blanket was falling off of you in the other room,” I pointed out. “And you appear to be a furnace. I think you’ll be fine.”

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