Page 32 of The Accidental Wife

“What the hell?”

“Security feature designed by yours truly.” I grin smugly at her, and she gapes at me. “In case of an emergency and someone tries breaking in all doors and windows lock and won’t unlock until I deactivate them.”

Shayla sighs, “Okay, fine, I’ll stay, just unlock the doors.” I shake my head and shrug before I roll off her onto my back on the bed.

“No can do. Must wait two hours before I can deactivate it. You should have listened and not provoked me; now we’re both stuck in here.” I say with a grin while she sits up and glares at me.

“I don’t believe you. What kind of a stupid emergency system deadlocks and doesn’t open for two hours? What if there’s an emergency and you need to get out?” She questions, and I sigh, resting my head on my forearm.

“There’s an override system, but it's too much effort to activate right now. Go to sleep.” I reach up and cover her face with my hand, and she slaps it away.

“Sleep?” She utters, sitting up on her knees. “Sleep where? I am not sharing a bed with you.” I smile and grab my pillow to lay on it, but Shayla yanks it from under my head and hits me with it. “Well, you’re stuffed then, aren’t you? Because I am not sleeping on the floor. I offered to take the sofa, and you decided to be difficult.” I tell her, grabbing the pillow and pulling on it.

“Well, you’re going to have to sleep on the floor because I am not sleeping in the same bed as you.” She groans, trying to push me off the bed, which resulted in a play fight.

I laugh, “Shayla, I am stronger than you; you’re going to get hurt.” I warn her, but she continues to try and shove me off the bed.

“I have an older brother who is bigger and stronger than you.” She grumbles as she changes tactics, places her foot on my back, and kicks me off the bed. I roll off and land on the floor with a thud. I groan and look up at her when she leans over the bed grinning at me with pure joy. “Nighty night.”

I smile up at her, reach up, I catch her wrist, and pull her off the bed. She squeals and lands on top of me, our heads colliding as she does so. I swear I have not met a girl as accident-prone as her. Amazingly, she’s made it to her twenties. I shake off the blow to my head and look up at her rubbing her own with a pout. “See, I told you you’d get hurt.”

Shayla presses her forehead to my chest and groans. “You win, you imbecile.” She mumbles, and I smile, rubbing the back of her head gently.

“I always win, sweetheart,” I state matter-of-factly and hiss when she pinches the skin on my arm. “Ahh fuck,” I rub my arm as she rolls off me onto her back on the floor beside me and sighs. “You’re so aggressive for such a small thing.”

She looks up at the ceiling licking her lips, “Shut up.”

“By the way, you’ve got a spider crawling on your head.” I tease, and Shayla screams and jumps off the floor, and starts shaking her head vigorously.

“Oh my god, get it off, get it off!” I throw my head back and laugh heartily, watching her try and get the spider out of her hair. When she sees me sniggering, she stops, puts her hands on her hips, and glowers at me, with her hair a mess.

“You…ugh, there is a special place in hell for people like you.” She grouses, getting on the bed. She picks up the pillow and throws it at me. “That wasn’t funny. I’m really scared of spiders.” She sulks adorably.

I crawl up on the bed behind her and poke her side. “I’m sorry.” She jumps but turns her head away from me, so I couldn’t see her face. “Come on, don’t be like that, sweetheart. I was only kidding.” She ignores me and continues to give me the cold shoulder. I smile and come up behind her. I wrap my arms around her and bury my face in her neck. “I’m sorry, please forgive me.” I plead, and she attempts to shrug me off, but I hold tighter.

“No, get off me.”

“Forgive me,” I mumble, nuzzling her neck. “I’m not letting go until you do.” I see her lips curl a little, and I continue to nuzzle her neck until I hear her giggle a little. “If you leave me now, you’ll take away the very heart of me.” I sing to her quietly and Shayla giggles.

“Okay! Okay, I forgive you, stop it.” She says, and I grin and kiss her cheek before I begrudgingly release my hold on her. “Can I please go to sleep now?” She sighs tiredly, and I nod, pulling the covers back so we can get into bed. She looks at me as she climbs into bed. “You better stay on your side, or you’ll end up right back on the floor.” She forewarns, and I nod and hold my hands up in mock surrender.

“Scouts honour,” I promise. Satisfied, Shayla lays down and turns her back to me. I turn the lights off and find myself staring at her back. I can just about make out her silhouette in the dark with the help of the moonlight shining through the window. I envisage how good it would feel to just scoot over, gather her in my arms, and fall asleep with my nose buried in her hair. I drift off into a peaceful slumber not long after.

* * *

The next morningcomes all too soon for my liking. I forget to close the blackout blinds the night before, and I wake up to the sun beaming in my face. Peeling my eyes open, I blink, allowing my eyes to adjust to the brightness of the room, and the first thing I see is Shayla, still peacefully asleep, curled up against me. Our legs tangled together, and I had my arm thrown over her waist, keeping her close to me.

I brush a strand of loose hair away from her face and tuck it delicately behind her ear. She moans and snuggles into me, burying her face into the crook of my neck. I press my nose into her hair and close my eyes, dozing off again. The next time I opened my eyes, I was alone in the bed. Shayla nowhere to be seen. I sit up and rub my eyes; the bathroom door was open, so she wasn’t in there. Looking over at the bedroom door I see it's ajar and figured she’d snuck out at some point and gone to her own bedroom.

I roll out of bed and go to the bathroom, but I stop when a waft of something delicious tickles my senses, and my stomach growls. Susan, my chef, is off today, so who is cooking. I follow the smell to the kitchen and see Shayla whisking something in a bowl, her back to me. She had music playing quietly in the background as she sways to it sensually while she pours some batter on to the pan on the stove.

While Shayla sings along to the song playing, I grin and walk over to her. “Good morning,” I murmur lowly in her ear, and she jumps frightened, not expecting me to be behind her. I laugh and pull away when she bumps me away with her hip, her cheeks a nice shade of pink.

“You scared the shit out of me. Stop creeping up on me like that.” I pour myself a glass of water and sip it.

“I couldn’t help it, you looked so adorable singing and dancing away,” I admit smiling charmingly at her when she gives me a dubious look.

“Mhm, you better go get ready. We overslept. We’re leaving in an hour to see my family. Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes.” She tells me, pouring the batter in the pan and swirling it.

---