She wondered if the sounds of romantic music would start playing when she opened her eyes or would he turn on a fireplace, filling the air with the sounds of wood crackling as it slowly burned in the grate.
Then again, maybe he would-
“Open your eyes,” Garrett said as Kristen opened her eyes as the unmistakable sound of television filled the air, drawing her focus to a big screen television to her right playing what appeared to beRaiders of the Lost Ark.
That was followed by taking in the dimly lit room, looking for rose petals, candles, glasses of champagne and a lobster dinner waiting for her only...
“Is that...” Kristen began to ask only to pause so that she could lick her suddenly dry lips, “A platter of Snoballs?”
“Mmmhmm,” Garrett murmured against the back of her neck as she took in the incredibly beautiful room, absently noting everything from the unlit fireplace to the king-sized bed and-
“Are...are those extra pillows and a wide selection of throw blankets on the bed?” Kristen asked as she glanced from the mountain of pillows stacked against the headboard to the throw blankets that would make all of her binge-watching dreams come true before taking in the bottle of what appeared to be a bottle of extra-chocolatey milk on ice, and the basket on the nightstand that would easily meet all of her junk food needs.
“I believe so,” Garrett said as Kristen found herself stepping away from him so that she could take in the rest of the room,noting that her fluffy pink bunny slippers were waiting for her by the bed, her laptop was charging on the nightstand just in case the need to write struck her, and found herself making her way to the table covered in a half dozen covered platters.
Swallowing hard, she picked up the first dome and-
“Oh, God...”
-was forced to grab onto the back of one of the chairs when her legs threatened to give out on her.
“I love breakfast for dinner,” Kristen whispered reverently as she placed the dome on the table before grabbing a plate with a trembling hand and began filling it with a stack of fluffy pancakes before she moved onto the next dome and found it filled with bacon and sausages. She quickly added some of each to her plate before she focused on the next dome and found home fries. That was followed by scrambled eggs, fried apples, french toast, and a selection of syrups, butter, and powdered sugar.
Digging into her food, Kristen decided to take in the rest of the room. She found the mini-fridge filled with chocolate milk and her bags in the closet. Nibbling on a sausage link, she made her way into what she assumed was the bathroom and released a heartfelt sigh as she took in the flannel pajama pants and Bradford Construction tee-shirt waiting for her on the bathroom counter, the bottle of chocolate milk chilling by the clawfoot tub, the stack of extra-fluffy towels stacked on the counter, and the small flatscreen television on the wall playingThe Gooniesbefore her gaze shifted back to that tub and took in the bottle of Mr. Bubbles and found herself finishing off another bite of sausage before she reached back and closed the door.
One thing was certain, the man definitely did his homework.
CHAPTER 32
So fucking adorable, Garrett thought as he watched the small woman, who’d somehow managed to cocoon herself in every single throw blanket as well as the comforter, mumble what sounded like, “I was watching that,” into the mound of pillows that she’d claimed as her own.
When she’d arrived at the hotel, he’d panicked, wondering if he should have just gone with the over-the-top romantic weekend that she wrote about in her books. With a few simple calls, he could have had two dozen white and red roses delivered to the room and arranged to have a bottle of champagne on ice waiting for her along with a tray of chocolate-dipped strawberries, a romantic dinner for two by moonlight, expensive lingerie, lotions, bath salts and lotions, and did all those things that made women swoon.
He’d been tempted, more than a little fucking tempted to do it, but something about the way that she wrote those scenes, almost as though she was bored, had him rethinking that plan.
She’d spent the night alternating between putting the claw tub to good use and cocooning herself in throw blankets while binge-watching 80s movies, writing, and devouring an insane amount of junk food.
He’d honestly never seen her more relaxed, Garrett thought as he climbed off the bed, careful not to disturb her. He was tempted, more than a little tempted, to stay, but he knew that wasn’t an option. At least not yet. He’d already fucked up once, he wasn’t about to do it again.
With that, he turned off the television, dimmed the lights, and leaned down so that he could kiss Kristen goodnight only to feel his lips twitch when the grumbling began. That was followed by muttering into her pillows, shifting, wiggling, and then finally, blindly reaching out, grabbing a pillow and yanking it over her head. He stood there for another minute before he made his way to the door connecting their rooms and quietly closed the door behind him.
He toed off his shoes and placed them in the closet before checking his phone to make sure that he didn’t have any missed calls only to end up searching his bag for the charger when he realized that his phone was dead. He plugged the charger in by the nightstand and turned the television on before tossing the remote on the bed and dropping down in the chair with a heavy sigh.
Between working on the house, handling a full-case load, spending time with Kristen, and doing all those things that he was doing to ensure that she fell in love with him, he was beyond fucking exhausted. That, and he wasn’t sleeping well. Not that that was anything new.
He’d always had problems sleeping.
When he was a kid, he used to stare up at the ceiling, waiting for his brothers to fall asleep so that he could climb out their bedroom window and make his way across the street, where he would keep Kristen company while she wrote. Sometimes when he came back, he was exhausted and managed to pass out as soon as his head hit the pillow and other nights, he grabbeda dictionary and a flashlight and read until he couldn’t see straight.
After he started college, he used to crash at Kristen’s tiny studio apartment every chance he got and after he ruined everything, he learned to deal with it. When he couldn’t sleep, he studied, worked, went for midnight runs, and became well-acquainted with every twenty-four-hour diner within a twenty mile radius. It made it easier for him to get ahead at work, take on more cases, and get ahead. And now, the only time he was able to sleep was when Kristen snuck into his room to write, which hadn’t happened since she decided to give him another chance.
Sighing, Garrett grabbed his phone off the nightstand, turned it on to find it charged at five percent, unlocked his phone, swiped until he found the settings, scrolled down until he found the factory reset option and tapped it, hoping that would fix whatever was wrong with his phone. He placed it back on the nightstand to charge and made his way to the bathroom, pulling his clothes off and tossed them on the counter.
He stepped into the walk-in shower, turned the water on, adjusted the temperature before he grabbed the complimentary toiletries off the shelf and made quick work of washing himself all while thinking about the small woman sleeping in the other room. When he was done, he dropped his head beneath the spray of hot water and-
“Jesus Christ!”
-was forced to jump back when the water suddenly turned boiling hot.
