Page 45 of Vixen's Guide to Christmas
“Where do you think you’re going?” I ask as I pull her back down to the bed.
“To the cot.”
“No, you aren’t.”
She wiggles out of my loose hold as she stands up. “Grayson, I appreciate the chivalry, but look at that cot. Now look at you. You were hanging off it last night. I don’t mind.”
“Well, I do.”
“So what are we going to do? Both sleep in the bed? Is this where our stubbornness is taking us?”
I don’t know if she realizes what she just suggested, but she does after the grin forms on my face.
“Actually, yes it is.” I roll off the bed before heading into the closet to grab every spare pillow and blanket I can find. I even take the extra one that was being used on the cot.
“What are you doing?”
“Neither of us are going to concede.” I throw the pillows on the bed, but turn so I’m now standing in front of her, a position we’ve found ourselves in a few times this weekend. “I’m also going to assume that I can’t kiss you?”
That takes her by surprise. “Uh—no…”
“You sure?”
Her head is nodding, but the big eyes and the frog she just swallowed suggest otherwise.
“Okay then.” I do kiss her forehead though. One, because I can, and two, because she’s not expecting it. “Then I’m going to take these pillows, and we’re going to make two beds.”
She shakes her head to bring her back to reality. “A pillow fort? Are we eight?”
I level a look at her. “Do you have a better idea? I mean, we could go without, sleep in the same bed. Or, I can sleep on the cot. The choice is yours, Vixen.”
She scrunches her nose at me, but I don’t know if it’s for the use of the name or the options I laid out for her. I just like that I’m getting a reaction of any kind.
“I’m going to guess that no decision means we’re sharing a bed,” I say, putting the last of the pillows on the bed. “Now, I’m going to pop into the bathroom quickly. That okay?”
She nods. “Yeah. You go first.”
I move quickly, brushing my teeth and washing my face before slipping on a T-shirt and pajama pants. If I was fucking with her, I’d choose to sleep shirtless tonight—yes, I noticed how she looked at me in the hot tub today. Yes, it made me feel really fucking good—but the fact that I’m sleeping with her at all is the win I’m going to take. No sense in being greedy.
Kat and I silently switch places, and while she’s in the bathroom, I clean up the space, putting the empty food containers out in the hallway to get picked up and also grab my book and reading glasses from the desk. I make myself comfortable on the left side of the bed, propped up on the headboard once more, which is where I’m sitting when she comes out.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
I look around, because I’m not sure if I’m missing something. “Reading?”
“No.” She points to me, then jerks her thumb to the other side. “That’s my side.”
“But this is the side I was sitting at all night.”
“Yeah, and that was fine for TV watching. Now it’s time for sleeping, and I sleep on the left side.”
I shake my head. “No can do.”
“But—”
“But what, Kat?”
I fight off my smile, because I can tell she’s tongue-tied. I love it when I do that to her. “When…the last time we?—”
