This woman is going to fucking kill me. The shorts barely cover her ass. The shirt hugs every curve of her body. She expects me to sleep next to her like that?
“Let me grab some pillows and a blanket. I’m sleeping on the floor.”
“You don’t have to do that.” She scrunches her eyebrows together.
My gaze travels up and down her body. She doesn’t realize how tempting it is to crawl between those sheets with her.
“No, I really do.”
“Oh, okay.” Her face falls and she climbs into bed while I make a makeshift sleeping area next to the bed.
There’s no way I’m going to survive this trip without falling head over heels for her.
CHAPTER NINE
paula
I can’t freaking sleep.Especially not knowing Tristan is sleeping on the cold ass floor. A part of me wants to wake him up and tell him to get in the bed. But I know he won’t. He made that abundantly clear before I tried, unsuccessfully, to fall asleep.
He really is sweet to take the floor and not make me uncomfortable. But I’m perfectly capable of sleeping with someone withoutsleepingwith them. Though, it’d be really nice to cuddle with anybody. The house is freezing, and this blanket isn’t doing its job. If Mom would leave the damn heater alone, I would be nice and toasty.
He rolls over, and I swear I see his eyes slam shut when he sees me. Is he having a hard time falling asleep, too?
“Tristan,” I whisper.
He doesn’t budge. Maybe I imagined it.
“Tristan, are you awake?” My voice is slightly louder this time.
Nothing. I know I saw his eyes open.
“Tristan. Are you sleeping?” My voice is louder still.
Hopefully I won’t wake anyone else up. My mom has a really good ear, especially on family vacations, since we used to try to sneak out to go night swimming.
“I’m trying to.” He finally responds. His voice is deep and gravelly, completely unlike the way he normally talks. It’s probably not a good sign the sound sends a shiver through my body. And now I feel bad I probably woke him up for no reason.
He turns toward me. “What do you need?”
Even now, he’s a sweetheart. If the tables were turned, I can’t say I’d be so gracious.
Crap. I just wanted to see if he was awake.
“Are you, um, cold?”
“A little bit, but I’ll be fine.”
First order of business when we all wake up is to go out and buy bigger blankets. The ones supplied by the house are comfortable, but they are meant for the summer months. I’m sure they don’t have a ton of people who rent beach houses in the winter. Well, except for my parents.
“You can get up here with me if you’d like.”
A groan sounds in his throat. “I really can’t, Paula.”
Is there something so grotesque about me that he doesn’t want to be in the same space as me? But he let me cuddle with him on the sofa, so I don’t think it’s that. And the kiss we shared in the parking lot was pretty up close and personal.
“You know I don’t bite, right?” So, what if my words are dripping in sarcasm.
“I know.” He sighs. “But in order for me to play my role in this facade, I need to set some boundaries for myself.”
