The cabin grew smaller as I lay there trying not to move or breathe so my stomach stayed flat. It was dark when he saw me naked. I wouldn’t look the same with the sun being all shiny.
“What are you thinking about so hard?” he asked, his voice groggy.
I jerked. “Nothing. I’m not thinking about anything. Why would I be thinking? What are you thinking about?”
“Okay, then,” he said, but he drew out the okay to a level that annoyed me.
How was he just lying there all… calm?
Like we didn’t blow up a boat last night.
Like we weren’t fugitives now.
Like I wasn’t next to him completely naked.
His words settled on me and made me more annoyed. How dare he sleep peacefully while I was having an emotional breakdown?
“It is notokay then,” I said, rolling over to face him.
Ugh awful choice.
Knox adjusted himself so we were chest to chest with less than a few inches separating us. His lips were tipped up into a perfect smile, and his chin had the right amount of stubble to make him even hotter. His eyes twinkled—they freaking twinkled—in delight as he stared at me.
“What are you so happy about?”
He tried to fight his smile deepening but failed. “It feels like this is about to be our first fight, and I can’t wait to see how it goes.”
“This is not our first fight…” Was it?
The first morning after was supposed to be romantic. Waking up to the man you’d spend the rest of your life with should be a perfect memory.
This wasn’t romantic. It was terrifying.
I sat up, pulling on the sheets to bring them closer to me. My breath came quicker as the room felt like it was closing in on me. Trapping me.
We couldn’t stay here. I had to get away.
Knox blinked as I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, stood, and grabbed my pile of clothes with shaking hands. The floorboards creaked under my feet.
“Emerson?” Knox asked, sitting up but letting the covers pool around him, leaving his naked chest on full display.
I froze.
Knox leaned over, eyeing my hands full of clothes. “You okay?”
The question cracked my heart into three large chunks and sent a tremendous surge of panic through me. “Are you serious?”
“What?” he asked, his smile finally becoming a frown.
My eyes widened, and I threw out my free arm, vaguely gesturing to the cabin. “This is insane.”
“What’s insane?” he asked, his face scrunched up with the question as if he really didn’t know.
“You. Me. This cabin. Last night.” My voice rose despite my efforts to remain steady. “Everything.”
“Ah,” he said smugly. “So this isn’t our first fight. This is the freak-out I’ve been waiting for?”
“No,” I said and snorted in disgust. “This is definitely our first fight. You don’t get to just decide my life now because you look good without a shirt on.”
