Page 96 of Dark Love

The pillows!

Vex is going to be lying on my bed in a few minutes.

I spring up.

What do I do?

Should I recommend we sit on the couch downstairs?

That seems silly. I literally laid in his bed with him for days.

But Vex doesn’t have any jammies.

He needs a blanket to lie on.

Something soft. He likes a weighted blanket. I don’t have any of those. Maybe I could order one.

Before he gets upstairs with a glass of milk?

This shouldn’t be that hard. I climb out of bed. All I need is a blanket. Something that doesn’t scream a girl lives here. Even though that’s exactly what I am.

On my way over to the chest, I shrug out of my robe. It’s fine to walk around in, but way too hot to wear in bed.

There has to be something.

“What are you doing up?” Vex walks in seemingly seconds later, but really it has been ten minutes according to the bedside clock.

Uh oh. I poke my head above the chest lid. “Um. I’m… Um.” I yank the first non-crocheted blanket out and shut the lid. “Getting you a blanket.”

“Dahl, it’s hot in your house. I don’t need a blanket.”

Hot! “I keep the temperature at a chilly 66.”

“Still don’t need a blanket, Dahl.”

“But you don’t have jammies on. I. um… I… um… didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that I... you wear those clothes outside… and it’s my, um… bed. And in bed, people wear jammies.” I just said jammies… twice. I should have called in sick from the airport. Or a hotel. Anywhere that he couldn’t have found me.

“I can grab a chair or sit on the floor.”

“NO!” And now I’m yelling at him. “There’s no need. I’ll just put this on the bed. The way we can cu—” I slap a hand across my mouth and drop the blanket to the floor.

A slow smile spreads across his face.

Dreamy.

Pull yourself out of it. For two minutes sound like a grown woman who has mastered the English language. “What I meant is, you’ll be more comfortable on the bed. I’ll just spread this out. Then we can relax.”

“That’s doubtful,” Vex whispers so quietly I’m not even sure those are the right words.

With as many times as I’ve put my foot in my mouth today, I better just spread out the blanket and keep my mouth shut.

This is ridiculous. You’ve smoothed the blanket six times already. It’s fine. Everything is fine.

Everything is not fine, but you can pretend it is. “All set.” I rush around to the other side of the bed and climb in.

Why am I doing this? It’s too weird. We aren’t even dating and here Vex is in my bedroom. “Are you—Do you—Is this—”

“Dahl, relax.”

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