I shake my head, taking another gulp of wine. “No, seriously.”
Blake scratches at his bare pec, shuffling the camera a little and giving me a glimpse of him sprawled out on his sofa wearing nothing but those tracksuit bottoms of his. “You look… tired.”
“As I should. I was kept back at work for two extra hours tonight.”
“Two hours?”
I regale Blake with the tale as I scarf down my dinner.
“Surely, that isn’t legal, Calla.”
I pop my shoulders. “Depends. I’ll see if it’s on my payslip or not. If it is, then I guess I got paid for the extra work.”
“The extra work you didn’t need to do?”
“Yep.”
“Did he… try anything while it was just the two of you?”
“Nope.” I swig back the last of my wine. “It was strange. He stayed in his office, and I stayed in mine.”
Blake hums somewhere low in the base of his throat, before he gruffly mutters, “Good.”
Stomach pleasantly full, I shuffle a little way further down my bed until my head hits the pillow.
Blake laughs lowly. “You’re not falling asleep on me, Calla, are you?”
I shake my head, but the heaviness of my eyelids betrays me.
“I wanted too—” I press a hand to my mouth as I begin to yawn. “Shit, sorry. I wanted to say thank you for the flowers you sent.”
“You’re welcome.” He smiles, twin dimples appearing on either side of his mouth. “I thought it would send McAvoy into a spin.”
“It did indeed. I’m surprised steam wasn’t coming out of his ears.”
Blake laughs at that; the low sound sending a pleasant shiver up my spine.
I smack my lips together, feeling the glide of my deliciously cool sheets kiss my bare legs, the tide of sleep pulling at my consciousness. “Are we—still up for Friday?”
“Of course.”
“Good.” I allow my eyes to close for just a heartbeat… and perhaps another heartbeat after. “I can’t wait to see you.”
There’s silence on the other end of my phone, but I’m too tired to crack open my eyes and see what’s going on.
Maybe, Blake—
“I can’t wait to see you either, sunshine.”
Chapter 20
Blake
Running my hand through my hair one last time, I raise my fist and knock sharply upon Calla’s door.
I swallow back the nervous butterflies in my stomach flipping upside down and back to front, the ones that have been pestering me all week leading up to tonight, reminding myself there’s no need to be.
I’ve counted down the days until I can see Calla again, replaying the image of her falling asleep on video chat together over and over again in my head. She looked so peaceful.
