Chapter 6
Tucker
Y up. Famous last words, amiright? How bad can it be? It can be pretty fucking bad.
The bed is tiny. A queen? Doubtful. It looks more like a double. And a small one at that. Who decided that a double was a reasonable size for a mattress anyway? It’s not big enough for two people, and if you need a larger bed than a twin, just spring for the queen. Fuck. The room is cramped. And I’m not just talking about how narrow the mattress is. The whole place is tiny.
I live in the penthouse, and like the asshole that I am, I never imagined a bachelor pad quite like this.
The bed is the livingroom. It’s a murphy bed. Sure, there’s space to sleep on the floor. In the kitchen. There's a bathtub. Um…no. Not happening. We’re going to share one bed.
Me. Alone with Aurora. In one bed. Together. Alone. With her. For an entire night. Alone. In the dark. This is going to be the sleep courtesy of the devil himself. How the hell am I going to keep my hands to myself? Fuckity fuck.
“Well, we’re here. Let’s just sleep.” The resignation in her voice is palpable.
I can see that Aurora is trying to stay positive, but I’m on edge. In every way. Dancing with her was the best experience of my life. I know, dramatic much? Ya. I don’t give a fuck. Holding her so close felt right.
So when I grumble at her, I don’t feel great about it, but it comes out anyway, “How?”
She points to the bed, pointing to both sides. “You sleep there. I’ll sleep there. Easy.”
“In what?”
She gives me a perplexed look before realization dawns. “Shit.”
“Ya.” Our luggage was all in the penthouse and we’ve been denied access to it. So let me reiterate this. Purely for documentation purposes. We’ll be alone in bed together in the dark. Naked.
“Whatever. I saw it all this morning. Let’s just sleep. Please?” She’s practically begging me now. But here’s the thing, while she may have seen everything about me, I certainly have not seen everything about her. But that pleading in her voice is slicing right down my heart.
Closing her eyes, she takes a seat on the edge of the bed and rubs her shoulder. Without thinking, I kneel behind her. “Let me.”
It’s a testament to her fatigue that she doesn’t protest. I run my thumbs down between her spine and shoulder blades. I can feel the tension, a small knot, and start to massage a circle there. When she moans, I slow my movements a fraction and push deeper.
“That’s perfect, Tucker. It’s been such a long day. I need more vacations. When are you going to buy a resort where we can work and vacation from?” She chuckles and I join her.
“I could do that for you.” She laughs again as if I’m joking.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“For what?”
“The fake girlfriend thing.”
“It’s fine. It’ll blow over soon enough.”
“Ya.” I agree aloud but internally my organs are twisting. I don’t like how she said that so casually. That the finality is no big deal to her. “I guess it’s okay to fail sometimes.”
Her shoulders shake with another small laugh. “Fail? What failure? You never fail.”
“We’re going to break up. That’s a failure.”
“Interesting. Break ups aren’t a failure. Even though they might feel like it, it’s not a failure if you try something and it doesn’t work. It’s a fail if you stay together knowing it’s not right. But I get it. I’ve felt like a failure after a break up before. I thought it was my fault that my last boss fired me.”
“What?” My hands still.
“Oh, don’t stop massaging.” Over her shoulder she gives a coy look, but I don’t resume massaging yet. “Fine. I’ll tell you the story if you keep massaging me.”
“Deal.”
“I’ll keep it short though.” I grunt my approval, and she continues. “I dated my boss. And then he fired me.” She shrugs cutely. “Hmm. I guess that was pretty short.”
“Why’d he fire you?”
“Because I broke up with him.”
“That’s shitty.”
“Ya. But I broke up with him because he was cheating on me with his other assistant. I felt like a failure then.”
“Why?”
“It’s stupid to say because I know it’s not true. But I felt as though I wasn’t enough to hold his attention. Like something was wrong with me.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re more than enough for any man.”
“Thanks,” she mumbles.
“That was his problem. He sounds like a douche.”
“Ya. Pretty much. Hence my decision to never date my boss again. It’s too complicated.”
“I agree,” I say slowly as I continue to massage her shoulders. But again, I don’t know if I really do agree anymore. “Not everyone is like him though.”
“I get that, but if you date your boss there’s always a power imbalance. He can fire me.”
“You can walk away.”
“Ya. Spoken like a boss. You don’t get it.”
I put my hands on her waist and turn her toward me. “I get it. Maybe not fully because I’m not a woman and I’m always the boss in the power imbalance we’re talking about. But I just want you to know that you always have a choice, even when it feels like you don’t.”
“Like the choice you gave me to be your fake girlfriend?”
“Shit. I’m such a dickhead. I wasn’t thinking. I’m really sorry. You could have said no.”
“You could have fired me.”
“I wouldn’t have.” I look into her eyes. “Do you really think that of me?”
A beat passes, and the air is charged between us. Hot. Electric. There’s an undeniable thrum of awareness between us.
“No,” she whispers. “I don’t think that of you. That’s the problem.”
The confession is telling. “Be honest with me, Aurora. Would you have…considered me if that incident with your previous boss hadn’t happened?”
She’s settled on her knees between my legs. My hands are still on her waist, and my thumbs are sliding up and down her ribcage. “Tell me the truth, Aurora.”
“You tell me first.”
“I should have never hired you. Worst decision of my life. I should have told you that you didn’t get the job and then I should have asked you out.”
“I might have said yes.”
“Might have?” I see the twinkle in her eye.
“I have choices, you know. I might have said no.”
“What about right now? If I asked to kiss you. What would you say?”
All she offers me is a one shoulder shrug. “You’ll never know until you ask.”
Challenge accepted.