Page 44 of The Soulmate Theory

After taking several seconds to adjust to my surroundings and remember where I was, my arm instinctively spread across the mattress searching for her. My hand met her arm and I opened my eyes. I shivered a little as I realized she’d stolen all the blankets, and that pain in my kneecap was her foot. I slid my arm behind my head to prop myself up and looked at her, realizing that she was laid out, stomach down, across the bed, every blanket piled on top of her.

She turned her head my way and her eyes popped open. Her eyelashes fluttered as she registered her surroundings. I smiled at her as she began to take me in and her eyes went wide. My heart stilled in realization that maybe she didn’t remember last night. She wasn’t that intoxicated. But maybe she didn’t remember asking me to come to bed with her. Maybe she wasn’t okay with this. Maybe she thought–

“You don’t have any covers,” she stated groggily.

My heart began to beat again.

“You stole them,” I chuckled.

She lifted her head and looked down at herself, just realizing the cocoon she was wrapped in. “Oh, shit. Sorry.” She began to fuss underneath the blankets. Kicking around and moving her arms to get out of them, but she was so tightly wound that she was only making herself more stuck. “Dammit,” she muttered.

I leaned over her and pulled the blankets away from her. She lifted her hips so I could grab them from underneath her. Then, I pulled the sheet over both our heads and laid next to her. I just needed one moment with her– cut off from the rest of the world. Morning light shone through the window behind her head, and even through the sheet it illuminated the space around her. Like a halo.

I couldn’t kiss her last night. I couldn’t kiss her because I didn’t know what she meant when she asked me to. She was intoxicated from tequila, but I was intoxicated from her. I think that kiss would’ve meant two very different things for us. I didn’t know what she wanted in the long run. I could only remember the last time I kissed her, and the words she’d said after.

I can’t do this.

My soul couldn’t handle hearing them again. Not from her. My soul was tormented by her. My body was tortured, and I was terrified of the potential fallout of it. So, if all she wanted was a drunken release– I couldn’t handle that.

Yet, finding myself beneath the covers with her felt like the rest of it didn’t matter quite so much. It felt like nothing existed outside of this little bubble we’d created, that no decision we made here would have consequences outside of it. I knew how stupid that sounded, but I propped myself onto my elbow and let my fingers dance across her collar bone anyway. Her breath hitched as I made contact with her skin. Her eyes sparkled, even in the muted tones underneath the sheet covering us.

I ran my hand up her neck and across her jaw, savoring every inch she allowed me to touch. I ran my thumb across her bottom lip, considering whether I had the courage to close the gap this time. Her chest moved faster as my thumb met her mouth. She stared at me in anticipation and I decided that maybe I wasn’t concerned about falling out of orbit with her. Maybe I was ready for our planets to collide.

If kissing her now, or if one night with her was all I’d ever get– it’d be enough.

A door opened somewhere in the distance, but it didn’t register in my ears as I fixated on her lips. Her eyes, her flushed cheeks, and her dancing freckles. The curve of her hips and the way one leg bent over the other. How her legs looked a million miles long when they’re not hidden underneath clothing. I noticed—for the first time—the freckles that dotted her chest, matching those across her nose.

“Shit. Sorry. I thought I’d be in the clear by now,” Macie’s shocked voice quipped from the hall. Penelope and I froze, looking at each other. Footsteps began to retreat, and I sighed in relief at the thought of getting the moment back. “I just…Penny, do you know what time it is?”

Penelope’s eyebrows clustered at her forehead. She threw the sheet off us and sat up. I turned over just in time to watch Macie shield her eyes. “We’re not naked.” I laughed. She hesitantly lowered her hand and opened one eye as if she didn’t fully believe me.

“What time is it?” Penelope asked.

“A little after nine,” Macie confirmed.

“Fuck!” Penelope hissed as she jumped from the bed and began to storm around the room in a flurry, almost like a cartoon character. After a moment of her running in circles, the bathroom door slammed shut. I leaned back against the top of the couch and crossed my arms. Macie mimicked my pose as she leaned against the doorway that led from the hallway to the kitchen, giving me a smirk.

“Nothing happened,” I said.

“Sure it didn’t. It’s fine, you can lie to me now. She’s just going to tell me everything later.”

I chuckled, “I know that. That’s why I’m not lying. Nothing happened.”

She frowned. “You were in bed together. Penny didn’t have any pants on.”

I rolled my eyes at her lack of boundaries. “Other than sharing the bed, nothing happened.”

“So, you guys pretty much skipped all the steamy shit and went straight to the old married couple shit?” Her response had me cackling. “You’ve got it bad, Mr. Carter.” I shrugged because I couldn’t argue with her. “You know she does too, right?”

I shrugged again, but this time because I wasn’t sure I believed it.

Macie opened her mouth to say something, but the bathroom door swung back open and Penelope walked out. She’d pulled her hair back into a tight bun at the base of her neck. She had on a solid black dress, tight down the middle, accentuating her curves. It had frilly sleeves and stopped at the knees. It was nothing like what she wore last night. I think I liked it more, though. It was her.

She paid no mind to Macie and I as she flew back through the room and frantically finished readying herself for the conference. “I need to take the rental car, I don’t have enough time to Uber,” she said breathlessly as she squatted down and sifted through her bag.

“That’s fine. Jeremy and I planned on laying out on the beach anyway,” Macie said. “Oh, and we’re going to dinner later tonight– just the two of us. We’ll probably be back late.” She winked at me.

Penelope nodded as if Macie’s comment didn’t fully register. She then looked at me expectantly. “I’m just meeting up with Dom today, but I can have him pick me up,” I said. She nodded. “I might go catch a wave when I get back. I found a couple of boards in a shed against the side of the house. You want me to wait for you?” I grinned.

---