Torin dashed across the hall to his apartment and dragged on a pair of athletic shorts and a t-shirt before he shoved his feet into a pair of Crocs. They were ugly as hell but they were comfortable.
He was relieved when he got downstairs to see that there was no water leaking through the ceiling anywhere.
When he got back up to Nova’s apartment, she was dressed in a pair of shorts and that tank top, but she’d put a bra on. She stared at him with wide eyes.
“I think we caught it in time,” he said before she could ask.
“Thank God.”
They worked together for over an hour, vacuuming up the water and dumping it down the tub. Once the water was off the floor, he grabbed a couple of box fans from his apartment and set them up to blow across the floors and the base of the wall to help dry it out.
By the time they were done it was nearly three in the morning.
“I think this is the best we can do for now,” Torin said. “I’ll call my rental agency tomorrow and get them on filing an insurance claim, hiring a plumber, and figuring out what we’ll have to do about the floors and walls. I’ll have them check the ceiling downstairs too, just to be on the safe side.
Nova nodded, the movement slow and jerky.
“Why don’t you grab what you’ll need for tomorrow and come stay with me?” he said. “I’ll let you have the bed.”
She agreed easily and jogged upstairs to pack a bag and grab her cell phone.
Fifteen minutes later, they were in his apartment and getting ready to go back to bed.
Torin had grabbed a pillow from the bed upstairs and a blanket and was setting up the couch. He could hear Nova moving around his sleeping loft, getting settled.
When the lamp in the loft went out, he stretched out on the couch and covered up with a blanket. His sofa was wide and comfortable. While it wouldn’t be suitable for a long-term solution, he was so tired tonight that he wouldn’t care if it wasn’t as good as the memory foam mattress he had upstairs.
Though the thought of Nova curled up in his bed, without him, was enough to make sleep slow to return.
He rolled over and shoved the pillow beneath his neck, trying to give it some support, when he heard the light tread of bare feet on the metal stairs.
He sat up at the same time Nova arrived at the back of the couch. She yelped and jumped back.
“You scared me,” she whispered, putting her hand to her chest.
“Sorry,” he whispered back. “What’s wrong?”
She paused, staring at him in the near dark of his living room.
“Nova?” he asked, his voice a little louder.
“This is silly,” she said. “I get you didn’t want to sleep in the same bed with me when I’d been drinking and I might do something I didn’t want to do, but I’m completely sober now and too tired to do anything but sleep. Still, you have a king-size bed, we’re both adults, and we’re already romantically involved. So, just come upstairs and sleep in the bed with me.”
“Nova, I don’t think—”
“You’re tired. I’m tired. We’re just going to sleep, Torin. I’d prefer for both of us to be comfortable while we sleep.”
He sensed that there was no way she was going to let this go, so he relented.
He’d end up with a crick in his neck anyway if he slept on that couch for another four or five hours.
“All right,” he said, throwing off his blanket.
Torin got to his feet, grabbed his pillow, and followed Nova upstairs. She wore her tank top, once again without a bra, and a pair of sleep shorts. While he lamented the fact that she’d covered up those bright pink panties, he knew it was for the best.
They were both exhausted from a long day and that was before the flood in her apartment. He didn’t want her to be worn out tomorrow.
Once they were upstairs, he tossed the pillow on the right side of the bed and slid beneath the blankets. She did the same on the other side.
