Page 57 of Waiting for Acceptance
“Oh,” I manage to say, catching a smirk that makes me want to crawl under the bed and hide. Just in case he can somehow see how much I need to get off and gets any ideas. He pulls the covers back, lays down on his back, and holds his arm out to one side.
He wants to CUDDLE?I thought he just meant I could tuck my feet under his ass or something.
“We are not cuddling.” He sighs and sits up straighter in the bed, running a hand through his already messy hair.
“Look, I don’t ask for much. But I am exhausted from traveling, I have to be up in three and a half hours for this conference, and I just want to know that you’re taken care of. So will you please just lay your ass down, tuck your popsicles for feet under my calves, and go the hell to sleep?” I stare at him, completely speechless. “I promise as soon as the conference is over I will take you shopping for as many blankets as you can hold. Heated ones even, if that’s what you prefer.”
“No, it’s fine. I mean…one will be fine.” I can do this. It’s just cuddling. It’s just Fitz. In his boxers. Telling me he wants to take care of me. What the fuck am I supposed to do with that information? Why does he care? I thought we were just…using each other? People who use each other don’t care about shit like that. Do they? I guess I wouldn’t know, I’ve never fake-datedsomeone to help them take ownership of a company before. Maybe this is exactly what they do.
Fantastic, now I have a headache.
There’s no way in hell I’m asking him for medication though. Not after all of this.
“Come on, Trouble. I even said ‘please’.” I roll my eyes and scoot down under the covers, carefully and hesitantly resting my head on his chest. Just as I’m about to roll the other way and insist I’ll be fine, he wraps his arm around me, and I’m frozen. I lay my hand on his stomach, feeling his abs flex beneath my fingertips. Then I feel his lips against my hair and my eyes feel heavy.
“Sleep,” he whispers before kissing my head, but as I wait for him to pull away, he doesn’t. He stays pressed against me, and I finally start to relax.
“Hey Fitz?” I whisper into the darkness of the room.
“Yes, Trouble,” he mumbles sleepily.
“Thank you.”
“Mmm.”
CHAPTER 31
FITZ
I watch as the minutes tick by, completely unbothered that my alarm went off half an hour ago. Normally I wouldn’t be able to sit still or stop thinking about everything on my morning checklist that I need to be knocking out, but this morning? This morning I have Lauren’s body wrapped around mine, listening to her breathe as the sun starts filtering in through the floor-to-ceiling window in my bedroom. I have no idea what’s going to happen with this agreement we made. How long will she stick around, playing house and pretending to be my girlfriend, all while holding some sort of disdain for me in her heart? But there’s one thing I am sure of, and that’s that I won’t move until she does. I continue twirling strands of her short black hair through my fingers until she starts to move. She wiggles a little bit before her alarm starts going off, almost like her internal clock is already starting to wake her.
She pushes herself up, her hand staying on my chest as she rubs the sleep from her eyes. She freezes a moment later, peeking her eyes open.
“Fitz!” she gasps, turning around to grab her phone from the nightstand. “You’re late! You were supposed to wake up halfan hour ago. Weren’t you? Or did I do that math wrong?” She switches between checking her phone and burying her face in her hands, but all I can see is the way the sunrise around her looks like something I wouldn’t mind waking up to every day. I pull her back over to me, catching the confused look on her face before she’s back under my arm—the same way she fell asleep last night.
“No one should start their day in a panic, Sweetheart. Take a deep breath.” I stop and wait for her to do so. It takes her a minute but she finally does. “Another one.” Again, she obeys.
“Okay, but you were supposed to be up already, right?” she asks, though I’m surprised she hasn’t tried to move again.
“My alarm went off about thirty minutes before yours, yes.” She lifts her head just enough for her eyes to meet mine.
“Then why aren’t youup?”
I smile down at her and shrug. “I wanted to stay in bed.” I see the corner of her lips barely turn up before my phone goes off and she jumps. I look down to see my father’s name lighting up the screen and I have the mind to toss it out the window. Motherfucker just interrupted what Ithinkwas about to be one of the first smiles Lauren has ever given me.
I’m gonna bleach his favorite suit for this.
“Sorry, I have to take this.”
“Yeah, of course.” She slides out of bed and I watch her every move until she closes the bathroom door behind her. I close my eyes and my head falls back onto the headboard as I bring my phone to my ear.
“Yes?” I don’t bother hiding the aggravation in my tone and boy does he notice.
“Whatever stick you’ve got up your ass this morning, remove it before you show up to speak at this conference. Are you on your way to the hotel?” I look at the clock to ensure I didn’t somehow spend over an hour looking at Lauren.
“It’s six thirty in the morning. No. I’m not headed to the hotel.”
“Well, don’t be late. It makes us look bad when the host of the event isn’t there when people begin to arrive.” Yes, because an event that doesn’t begin until 9:30, and doors don’t open until fifteen minutes before that, requires me to be there at six thirty in the fucking morning.
