Page 23 of Always Yours

I huff out a breath. “I can’t just go straight to lie down, Austin. I have to cancel all my appointments for the next two weeks. I have to figure out what I’m going to do to make money the next two weeks, and—”

I cut myself off when he leads me into his bedroom instead of one of the guest bedrooms. “Wait, what are you doing? I’m not kicking you out of your room. I’ll stay in one of the guest rooms.”

He’s pulling back the covers, and all I can do is stand here with my mouth hanging open. I’ve been to Austin’s house countless times, and I know he has two other bedrooms. I figured I’d be sleeping in one of them. When he stands back up, he’s coming for me. “Austin, seriously, I’m not taking your bed.”

He stops in front of me and then bends over, putting one hand behind my back and the other behind my knees. He lifts me easily, and I have no choice but to just wrap my arms around his neck. “Austin, you’re not listening to me.”

He’s watching me as he walks back to the bed. “I’m listening to you.”

I let my hand slide down his chest and pat him there. “No. If you were listening, I’d be in one of your guest rooms. Or even your office downstairs. It has a Murphy bed. I can sleep there.”

Right at that moment, there’s a bang from the other room, and Austin frowns. He lays me down in the bed and stares down at me. The way he looks at me causes my whole body to tingle. I raise up on my elbows just as someone knocks on the open door. “Sorry about that, boss. We’re almost done in there. We’ll be wrapping up…”

The voice drones on, and I sit up to try and see who it is. Austin moves, blocking me. “Sounds good, Patrick. I’ll let you know when you can come back to paint the room.”

The man awkwardly answers him and walks away. Austin is tense when he turns back to me. I can’t resist rolling my eyes. “Austin, really, who was that?”

“Patrick.”

“Yeah, I got that much. What is he doing here?”

“He’s been working on the remodel of the guest room.”

I take in what he said. So he’s having his guest room remodeled. He’s not just trying to get me into his bed or anything. He has a legitimate excuse. “Okay, fine, but you do realize that if you don’t want people to know I’m in your bed, then I probably shouldn’t be here. Patrick there is probably going to tell his girlfriend or wife or one of the guys he works with, and before you know it, everyone in town is going to think we’re shacking up together.”

He shrugs, and I should just let it go, but I don’t. “Don’t act like you don’t care, Austin. You literally moved to hide me from being seen.”

He sits down on the side of the bed. “You think I was trying to hide you… like I’m embarrassed to have you here or something?”

I shrug but don’t agree even though that’s exactly what I think.

He puts a hand on the bed on each side of my head. He’s leaning over me, and there’s a part of me that wants to pull him down over me so I can feel the weight of his body against my own. He leans down until our lips are inches apart. “I was hiding you because you’re sexy as fuck. I’ve thought about having you in my bed for so long, and now that you’re here, I don’t want another man to have this image in his head.” He presses his lips to mine, puts a hand to my neck, and then pulls back. “I don’t want to share you, Ally.”

I bite my lip and stare up at him helplessly. “What are we doing? Are we both going to sleep in here?”

He smiles. “First, I’m going to let you take a nap. I’m going to gather some things together like a laptop and lap desk. Bring your clothes in and put them away along with your bathroom stuff. Then when you wake up from your nap, I’m going to have lunch ready. Then you can catch up on a few things—from our bed.”

My eyes jerk to his. “Our bed?”

He nods. “Our bed.”

I have so many questions, but I can’t make out one of them. I open my mouth, and all that comes out is a wide, loud yawn.

He doesn’t take offense. He just laughs and stands up, pulling the covers up to my shoulders. “Rest. I’ll be around.”

I shake my head. “I know you need to work. I’m fine here. I’ll stay in bed.”

He nods and leans over to kiss me on my forehead. “Oh, I know you will. Holler or call me if you need me,” he tells me as he points at my phone that’s sitting on the nightstand.

I nod and snuggle into the warm bed. The sheets are crisp, and the cover is easy to snuggle under. Austin kisses my head again, then walks out of the room, shutting the door on his way out.

I try to clear my mind. I know I need to rest, but no matter what I do or how long I lie here, I know I’m not going to be able to go back to sleep. The egg burrito that Austin got me for breakfast this morning has filled up my tummy, so I would assume sleep would come easily, but it’s not. I sit up in the bed and grab my phone off the nightstand. I go through my schedule and look at the next two weeks of appointments. I make a generic text message and start sending it out. I feel bad with every text I send because I’m not able to give them a reschedule date. I’m not sure when I’m going to be able to get back to work, and even though I don’t want to lose my clients, I know it will be a dick move to reschedule for two weeks from now and then possibly have to cancel again.

When I’ve sent all the texts and my phone is dinging from all the answers, I try not to let it all get to me. Overall, people are understanding and wish me well. But there are some that are mad and feel like I’ve left them in a lurch.

Eventually, I turn my phone to silent and put it back on the nightstand. After sitting here for what seems like forever, I gingerly get out of bed and make my way to the bathroom. The toilet seat is down, and I try to pull the lid up, but it won’t budge. There’s some kind of contraption that has it locked. I tug and pull over and over, but it’s not budging.

The fact that I can’t pee makes me have to pee even more. Over and over I try, and it’s after I’ve peed half down my leg that I’m able to break the latch and get the lid up. By this point, it doesn’t matter. Dammit.

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