Chapter 24
FISHER
This couch is by far more comfortable than the previous monstrosity and yet I still find myself unable to sleep. If I continue at this rate, I’ll barely be able to function over the coming days.
Sitting up, I shove the blanket off my body and stand. My knees crack ominously as I make my way over to the kitchen and grab the teapot, filling it with water. I’m not much of a tea drinker, but my mom used to make me some whenever I was having a particularly hard time sleeping.
While the water heats on the stove I search through Ebba’s pantry for a packet of tea. I don’t find any, so I move to the drawers. Finding the box, I pull out a packet of the sleepy time tea.
“Grab another one for me.”
The packet in my hand goes flying and splats against the floor as I swing around to find Ebba haloed in the doorway of her bedroom. She has a robe wrapped around her body—a lime green color with different fruits on it—and she gives me a half-smile.
“Jesus, woman. You scared me.” I press a hand to my heart. I’m pretty sure if I wore pearls I’d be clutching them in fear right about now.
“Sorry.” Her smile turns sheepish. She eyes the tangle of blankets on the couch. “Can’t sleep either?”
“No.” I scoop the packet off the floor and grab another for her. “I don’t know what my problem is.”
“Is it the couch?” she asks with a soft laugh. “Did we go through all that trouble for nothing?”
I laugh too. Rubbing the back of my head, I can’t help but notice the way her eyes linger on my bare chest. “I don’t know.
” And truthfully, I don’t know what my problem is, but I suspect it has to do with the fact that she’s in there and I’m out here and I just want to be close to her.
“What about you?” I ask, nodding my head in her direction. “What’s keeping you from sleeping?”
She bites her delectable bottom lip and her eyes dart to the couch before dropping to her toes.
I frown. “Ebba…” I run my fingers through my hair. A cut is going to be a must before the wedding. “If me being here makes you uncomfortable where you can’t sleep, I’ll go. I’ll find a hotel and—”
“No.” She shakes her head rapidly, hands outstretched in my direction. “No. It’s not that. I…” She bites her lip again. “I hate that I’m making you sleep out here on the couch.”
“You’re not making me do anything, Eb. I’m right where I want to be.”
If the only way I could be close to her would be to crawl, I fucking would.
“And yet, you’re not sleeping.”
“I have a lot on my mind.”
The teapot chooses that moment to reach its boiling point. I turn the stove off and grab two cups from the cabinet. I pour us each a cup and hand one over to her now that she’s ventured closer.
“Should we put a movie on?” she asks, edging over to the couch.
“We can.” A movie might be a good distraction, and I’ll take any excuse to be close to her. “What do you want to watch?”
“Something mindless.”
That’s how we end up watching some sort of vampire spoof movie.
“This is so dumb,” Ebba says with a laugh, leaning forward to set her empty cup on the coffee table.
“It is,” I agree, though I can’t seem to tear my eyes away.
“But it’s doing its job to distract me.”
“I wonder why they ever stopped making these spoof movies.”
She twists her lips side to side. “I think Hollywood got boring, to be honest. It’s the same regurgitated bullshit every time.”
“You have a point.” I finish the lasts dregs of my tea and set the cup aside. I don’t feel fully ready to try to go back to sleep, but I do feel a little more settled. It could entirely be to do with the woman at my side, though.
Ebba finishes her own tea and leans forward to set it on the coffee table.
There’s nothing indecent about the way her tank top slides up her back and yet I find myself swallowing around a lump in my throat.
I don’t think I’ve ever been as attracted to a woman as I am Ebba. Not before her and certainly not after. The worst part is I don’t think she realizes how wrapped around her finger I am.
The movie is about halfway over when her eyes begin to grow heavy, and her body gradually gets closer to mine. Grabbing the remote, I hit pause.
“I think you better go back to bed,” I whisper, not wanting to startle her.
“Don’t wanna move,” she groans.
I chuckle softly. “Come on.” I wrap my arms around her, easily grabbing her up as I stand. “Let me get you to bed.”
“Put me down,” she protests futilely. “I can go to my room on my own.”
“Why would you do that when I can carry you just fine?” I elbow her door fully open.
Her room is dark, with thick curtains pulled across the window and the only light coming from a tiny nightlight plugged into the wall.
Some sort of gauzy fabric encircles the bedframe.
I lay her down among her restlessly tossed aside sheets and she grabs onto my hand before I can pull away.
My heart stutters slightly as I look down at her, my blue eyes meeting her warm brown ones. There’s a sadness there in her eyes, but something else too, something small and vulnerable.
“Stay.”
I shake my head. “I’ll be fine on the couch.”
I attempt to pull my hand away, but she tightens her hold. “No, I mean it. It’s a king size. There’s plenty of room for both of us. It’s mean of me to make you sleep on the couch.”
Cracking a smile, I say, “It’s not mean. I kind of forced you to let me stay here.”
“If I adamantly told you no, you wouldn’t have come.”
She says it as a statement, but I answer anyway. “No, I wouldn’t have.”
“It’s just a bed,” she sighs. “I can keep my hands to myself. Can you?” Her look is pure sass.
“I can do that.”
She pats the other side of the bed. “Get over here then. You’re too tall to sleep on the couch and I’m done making you suffer.”
I laugh, squeezing her hand that still holds mine. “You’re in control here. You’ve always had the power over me.”
She stares at me for a long moment, and I can see a flurry of thoughts spinning out of control in her eyes. “You might think that, but I’ve always been helpless when it comes to you.”
I hesitate, rocking back on my heels. Maybe that’s our problem—we have no power when it comes to the other.
“Hurry up,” she says softly. “I want to try to get some sleep.”
I’m not going to wait any longer and let her change her mind, so I make my way around her bed and settle on the other side. I’m helpless when a sigh of contentment flies out of my lips.
The sheets rustle as she turns over to face me, a little giggle slipping out of her. “Better than the couch?”
“You have no idea.” I adjust the pillow behind my head. Something tells me I’m going to have no issue falling asleep this time.
She rolls back to her other side, and I think that’s going to be it, but a few minutes later she whispers, “Are you still awake?”
“Barely.” I stifle a yawn.
“Don’t let this go to your head or anything but I think … I think I’m kind of glad you’re here.”
“Too late,” I say around a grin.
“I’ll deny it in the morning,” she grumbles.
“Nope. No takebacks.”
She laughs softly. “Night, Fisher.”
“Goodnight, Ebba.”
I stare up at her ceiling, grinning like an idiot.