“I’m not going to claim you tonight, Zoey. I’m exhausted, and I think you are too.”
He had no idea. I barely slept last night and was struggling to wrap my head around the fact that we’d just met today—technically yesterday.
“I am. It’s late.”
“Yeah. My point exactly. Can we please just crash and not make a big deal about it?”
“You want to sleep in the same bed?”
“That would be nice.”
“Oh.”
An awkward silence fell between us as I nervously rocked back and forth on my feet.
“I’ll just sleep on the floor,” I finally blurted out.
The thing was, I trusted him for some reason. But I didn’t trust myself alone in a bed with him. The way he made me feel was overwhelming me. I was torn between wanting to lean into it and turn tail and run away again.
He growled, making me jump.
Relax, Zoey, this isn’t that big of a deal. Stop making it one.
“You’re not sleeping on the floor. I will. You take the bed.”
I started to protest. It didn’t feel right taking his bed when he’d been nice enough to rescue me and let me stay here. But before I found the words, he was already pulling a blanket from the closet and grabbing a pillow.
The floor suddenly looked so hard, and I was filled with guilt.
“Take the bed, please,” I argued.
“I’m fine,” he stubbornly insisted.
I sighed, then grabbed a pillow and blanket for myself and tossed it next to him.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I can’t take the bed from you. This is your room. So if you’re going to be stubborn about it, then I’m sleeping on the floor too.”
“Are you kidding me right now? I told you it wasn’t a big deal to share the bed.”
“Well, it feels like a big deal, after everything. You know?”
“I’m too tired for this. You won’t share the bed with me, but you’ll share the floor?”
“I guess so.”
“My mate is not sleeping on the goddamn floor,” he cursed.
The next thing I knew, he was back on his feet, swooping me up in his arms, and unceremoniously plopping me down on the bed with a little bounce. Then he picked up the pillows and blankets and threw them at me.
“Go to sleep, Zoey,” he ordered. His tone left no room for argument either.
My jaw dropped open in surprise. I wasn’t used to people talking to me like that.
He fixed the bed, pushed me to one side and laid down while I just stared in shock.
“You have your blanket. I have mine. Build a damn pillow fort between us if it makes you feel better, but we both deserve a good night’s sleep, so again, go to sleep, Zoey.”
