Chapter 31
thirty-one
CARINA
Orion
Come over.
I freeze at the message. I’m in my pajamas and would be in bed, but I was making sure the doors were locked. This house has so many, I’m always certain I’ve forgotten one. I had left the side door unlocked. It’s a habit at this point to expect his presence.
Me
Your sister?
Orion
She knows. She figured it out on her own. Come over.
I hesitate for a moment. I’m tired of waking up alone, but I don’t know what he wants. After a long paddle like today, I’m exhausted.
Me
I’m not up for sex.
Orion
Come over. The front door code is 0815.
I don’t even bristle at the order.
I grab a fresh toothbrush from a drawer and shove a pair of leggings and a sports bra in a bag. I leave out the front door and lock up behind me. His house is dark, so I enter quietly and walk up the stairs to his room. He’s sitting in bed watching TV. I nervously place the bag by the door. He throws back the sheets for me to climb in with him. I do and he draws me close.
“We’re really only sleeping?” I ask. His bedroom is done in slightly darker wood than mine but still keeps the same coastal decorative feel, especially with the gauzy curtains over the door to his balcony. He has white and light blue linens that are just as soft as mine and his walls are painted light gray. I almost never have time to appreciate how cozy the room is since we’re usually in a rush to get naked.
“Yes.” He kisses the top of my head. “Is that a problem?”
“No,” I say. He spent all day with me. I don’t understand why he wants more time with me, especially if we aren’t having sex. But his body is the right kind of warm and he smells like paradise. “I have a six a.m. yoga class.”
He turns off the TV. “We should sleep, then.” He reaches for his bedside lamp and turns it off too.
I get comfortable underneath the blankets with his arm around me. He keeps his home a little cooler than mine, and even through his windows and the little extra distance, I can hear the waves crashing on the beach.
When my alarm goes off in the morning, I’m in Orion’s arms. I move out of them but he pulls me back to him.
“Stay,” he whispers.
“I can’t.”
“Come over tonight?”
I roll to my back and look up at him. His eyes are soft in sleep, but that can’t be desperation behind them as much as I want to believe it is.
I kiss him gently before I answer. “Of course.”
I don’t know what it means that he wants me around this much. But I’ll take it. Because it’s only a matter of time before he gets bored and moves on. Keeping him at arm’s length isn’t working. But I can enjoy the time I have with him.
I’ve fallen in love, and he doesn’t even know.