Page 96 of Storm in a Teacup
I smirk and climb in beside her. She flips off the lamp on her bedside table, then slides across the bed to snuggle in my arms, her back to my front.
“Shut up,” she grumbles into the pillow. My arms tighten around her with the intent to stay that way for the restof the night.
“I didn’t say anything,” I mutter, my grinning mouth pressing a kiss to the back of her head.
“You were going to.”
“I was only going to say that youdolike to cuddle. We’re cuddle buddies.”
“Ew,” she emphasizes.
With my arms secure around her, I shake her a little bit and taunt, “You like to cuddle.”
She lightly kicks me, but doesn’t try to move. “Only with you, you jerk.”
I sigh against her, the dark room offering courage. “Lin, you make me feel whole.”
Almost automatically, and without much gumption, she says, “You can’t say that.”
I squeeze her body to mine. “Why not? It’s true. You have somehow managed to tape together the shards of me into something resembling a real person.”
“I am too tired for you to be this poetic.” Her body shifts against mine, burrowing in. “I think you did that for yourself, though.”
“I think you helped. As did my therapist.”
“You’re helping me too,” she murmurs before drifting off to sleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Linny
I wake up on my back, one arm resting above my head and the other resting across my chest, holding on to the hand attached to the arm Ben has draped across me. His face is nuzzled in my neck and he is breathing deeply, still sound asleep. I allow myself to lie there for a bit in this morning bliss, unwilling to check the time because I know whatever time it is will be a signal for me to get up. I could stay here forever with Ben this close to me.
Ugh, I really should get up. Ben and I aren’t supposed to be doing this. This is not “fake” dating, this is just dating. We spend time together whenever possible. We have deep conversations. We have sex. We sleep an entire night in each other’s arms. Then we lie to ourselves and say that this is nothing. That we’re not dating. That we’re nothing more.
Wecan’tbe more. I’ve let myself get in too deep. I really, really care about this man, but I cannot let myself fall for him. My head will remain below my heels. Ican’tdo it. I refuse.
But the problem is, he makes me feel whole, too. He’s not supposed to do that—because it will hurt so much more when he realizes that he does not want what my futureholds.
However, I’m content to enjoy the rest of this morning—the rest of today, rather. The last day I will allow us to have.
Carefully, I stretch an arm out to grab my phone and glasses from the nightstand. I slip the glasses on first, angling them awkwardly on the tip of my nose so I don’t have to lift my head to look at my phone. When I do, I see three missed calls from Mel and two from Kensie, along with over a dozen panicked texts.
“Shit.” I slide out from Ben’s arms and run to the bathroom, putting my contacts in as I try to call Mel. She doesn’t answer, so I try Kensie.
She answers on the first ring. “Linny, thank god. Mel is flipping out. She got so worked up that she didn’t sleep a wink last night. She showed up at our hotel room early this morning in tears because there was a black mark on her dress. We got it out, it’s fine, but now she has locked herself in the loo and won’t come out.”
“Shit,” I say again. “Okay. Okay. I’ll be right there.” I pause. “Not to be insensitive about this, but do I have time to shower? I mean, I’ll get there and I’ll get her out of the bathroom and the wedding will go on, so I’m going to need to be clean, right? Or no, I should just come.”
Kensie lets out a light laugh. “Shower. Please. But do so quickly.”
I hang up and turn on the shower, hopping in before the water fully grows warm to start scrubbing myself down. I opt out of washing my hair because I washed it yesterday, but I do take the time to shave my legs. It’s a chop job, and I surely left some patches of hair on my knees, but my dress is floor length, so I don’t care. I wrap my robe around myself before I grab a large cosmetics bag from off the shelf in my bathroom and throw allof my makeup into it, my curling iron, dry shampoo, and hairspray.
I run back into my room to find Ben awake and sitting up in bed. God, he’s cute as he smiles at me, sleepy and happy with his hair sticking up all over the place. But his smile drops when he sees the panic on my face.
“Mel locked herself in the bathroom,” I explain, stripping myself of my robe, not caring that Ben is watching me, and pulling on leggings and a T-shirt. “I have to go talk her off the ledge.” I sit down on the edge of the bed to tie my sneakers. “Can you feed Oscar Wilde for me? You can let yourself out. I’ll leave my keys, and you can give them back to me at the wedding.” I get up and grab my dress from off the door and shoes from my closet. “Is that fine?”
He stands from the bed and places both his hands on my shoulders. “It’s fine. Go on. I’ll take care of everything here.”
