by Kant, Komal
“Shhh,” he said again, then went on in a soft tone. “Get into bed and go to sleep. I want to try something.”
Um. That was what I’d been doing before he’d rudely woken me up. And what exactly did he want to try?
Wondering what kind of game he was playing with me, I climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to my chin. A few seconds later, the bed sagged under Nick’s weight as he climbed under the covers beside me.
Oh, my gosh. The Nick Ruggarson was in my bed. My brain stopped working for a second.
Not wanting to give him any ideas, I turned away from him and scooted to the very edge of the bed.
The bed shifted as he followed me, and before I knew what was happening, Nick had wrapped an arm around my side and was pressing himself against me. His body was rock hard against mine; my jasmine scent mingled with his rosewood and sage, and everything became confusing
It took me a solid minute to realize that I was spooning with Nick.
What was going on right now? Should I say something? Should I kick him out?
As all these thoughts ran through my head, I noticed something strange. Nick was breathing steadily. In, out, in out. His breathing was rhythmic.
Wow. He’d fallen asleep holding me. That was cute. And kinda weird.
Relaxing against him, and realizing all he wanted to do was snuggle, I let my eyes close of their own accord, feeling very much like I was trapped in a weird dream.
.
Chapter Eleven
Sky
The next morning Nick was gone.
Had he actually even been there in the first place or had it all been a figment of my imagination?
There was no way Nick Ruggarson had climbed into my bed to simply sleep. He was a notorious womanizer, yet he hadn’t tried anything with me at all.
Was this all part of some game he was playing with me? Should I feel offended that he hadn’t touched me in a sexual way? Wasn’t that some sort of insult, considering he seemed to sleep with anything that had lady parts.
Honestly, I was kind of mortified to even bring it up with him. In the light of day what happened between us at night seemed to fade away like smoke in the wind.
For some reason, I got dressed extra nice today and there was no point in denying why I’d gone to so much trouble. I’d worn my black, skinny jeans and a pale pink blouse. My hair was pulled back in a French bun and I’d even applied make up. It wasn’t haute couture, but I was definitely dressed nicer than the job of taking care of a four-year-old entailed.
When I went downstairs for breakfast, I bumped into Nick. Literally.
The cup of coffee he’d been holding slammed straight into my chest and seeped into my blouse. I shrieked, jumping away from him as the warm liquid touched my skin.
“Watch it, Sky!” he snapped, shaking his hand in front of him and sending droplets of coffee flying around him.
A few droplets splattered against my cheek.
So freaking rude.
“You watch it!” I shoved him, expecting him to at least stumble a little.
He barely budged. Embarrassing.
“You’re gonna have to try harder than that,” he said, that signature smirk coloring his lips.
“You think you can just go around spilling coffee and climbing into beds and spooning-”
Ugh. Yeah, I’d said it. Damn big mouth.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Nick’s gaze was unwavering as he stared at me. “Were you having dreams about me again?”
Really? He was going to climb into my bed and then act like nothing was going on? What a complete tool.
“I do not have dreams about you!” I didn’t have time for this. I had to grab something to eat and then go upstairs to wake up Madeline.
Swearing under my breath, I began pulling off my ruined blouse. I was wearing a camisole underneath it, so there was nothing to see here.
“Getting naked for me already. I like a girl who takes the lead,” a new voice—a male’s—said from behind me.
There was too much air on my skin. Something felt off. Too off. As in I was half-naked “off”.
“My blouse is stuck to my camisole, isn’t it?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Just a little,” came the response.
I guess there was something to see here after all.
With my face on fire, I pulled my blouse back down and turned around to see who was behind me.
“Matt?” I asked in surprise. “Hi!”
Today his dark blond hair was artfully tousled and his hazel eyes seemed to shift toward green as they gleamed at me in appraisal, a fact which only made me feel even more like I was caught in the center of a blazing inferno.
Great. That was two ridiculously attractive men who had witnessed my moment of humiliation.
Nick cleared his throat from behind me. “What are you doing here?” His cool tone immediately doused me.
Matt didn’t seem unaffected by Nick’s standoffish behavior. He was probably used to it. “I came by to see everyone. Thought maybe you and I could hang out.”
“Sorry, I’m busy today,” Nick responded, not sounding apologetic at all. “I’m about to head into the office.”
I stared between the two of them, wondering what Nick’s deal was. Matt seemed like such a nice guy—I didn’t get any weird vibes from him—so I couldn’t understand why Nick was being such a jerk to him. Maybe he just had a jerky disposition.
“I was hoping to catch up.” Matt sounded genuinely disappointed. “The other night-”
“Can we talk about this later?” Nick cut him off as his eyes shot to me, as though Matt was about to say something he didn’t want me to hear. “I really have to leave.”
Matt’s gaze drifted over to me, and he nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
“Okay, bye.”
And with that, Nick left. That was all he wrote, folks.
Not so much as a smile or a wave. He simply walked away like he couldn’t leave fast enough.
Nick
I hated that he was here. I hated the way he looked at Sky. I knew Matt well, and I knew Sky had caught his eye.
It wasn’t a big conclusion to jump to. Sky had caught my eye, too.
The only problem with Sky was she wasn’t the trash I normally brought home. I knew I usually brought home trash and I was fine with that. I just needed that warmth in my bed momentarily; I needed something to get me through the darkness of the night, but I wasn’t willing to attach myself to someone permanently. When you gave yourself to someone like that, you only ended up getting hurt. I’d done that once before and I wasn’t going to do it again.
It didn’t matter how much Sky seeped into my thoughts—it didn’t matter that I’d sought comfort with her throughout the night. When daylight broke, she could mean nothing to me.
Sky
I tried not to appear offended by Nick’s behavior toward me, but hell yes I was offended.
I was stupid for allowing this—whatever it was—to continue between us. I was the one who had allowed him to climb into my bed. I should’ve kicked him out right away. I had more common sense than that. I didn’t know why I couldn’t exercise it when it came to Nick.
What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I just stay away from him and keep to myself? I was complicating my time here for no reason.
“Sky?”
Darn. I’d forgotten about the presence of the other attractive guy.
“Sorry,” I said, turning to him with a smile. “I zoned out for a second.”
By zoning out I actually meant “thinking about Nick’ but he didn’t need to know that.
“It’s okay.” Matt gave me a broad smile. “I was going upstairs to say hi to Madeline and Mrs. Potts.”
“Oh, okay.” I blinked at him, still surprised that he was on such close terms with the family. “But Mrs. Potts is probably asleep. I’m supposed to get Madeline ready for the day.”
I could eat later on with Madeline. My stomac
h was churning too much from the encounter with Nick. His presence always left me feeling like I had the flu—hot and cold, and slightly ill.
We headed upstairs, my thoughts drifting back to Nick and his weirdness. Weird was one word to describe him, but I could think of at least ten other ways which weren’t nearly as nice.
Matt led the way, comfortable and familiar with the mansion. I guess he’d been here plenty of times to be confident about making his way around here.
It seemed like he and Nick had once been good friends who had drifted apart. I wondered what could have caused such a rift between them. Matt seemed to be the one trying to fix things, while Nick was just being stubborn, which didn’t seem out of the ordinary.
Matt paused outside Madeline’s room—which was right next door to her playroom—and waited for me to go inside. There was something patient and reassuring about the way he watched me, which made me feel comfortable around him.
When I pushed open the door and entered with Matt following close behind, the soft sounds of snoring drifted from Madeline’s pink-themed canopy bed. Her bedroom wasn’t quite as big as her playroom, but it was still bigger than necessary for a four-year-old.
The girl was not a morning person and could sleep through a tornado. She loved sleeping in and if she wasn’t woken up, she’d probably stay in bed until noon.
“Let me get her,” Matt said, moving ahead of me and approaching her bed.
Curious, I watched as he sat on the very edge of the bed and gently roused her by shaking her shoulder. Madeline let out a small groan before her eyes fluttered open. For a moment, she stared at Matt in confusion before her eyes grew large.
“Ucky?” she asked.
“Hey, Nessie,” he said, his voice as light as a feather. “Time to get up.”
Surprisingly, she immediately sat up. Usually it was an effort to coax her out of bed. Having Matt here seemed to be an incentive for her.
“Will you piggy back me?” she asked, a yawn escaping her mouth.
“Of course, Princess,” he complied, turning around and waiting for her to latch onto his back.
Madeline let out a shriek as Matt stood up and bounced her up and down a little.
“Princess Mad’s loyal horse is at her service,” he said, letting out a terrible imitation of a whinny.
“Giddy up!” Madeline giggled and wrapped her little arms around his neck before planting a kiss on the side of his face.
It was really sweet seeing Matt and Madeline interact—she was clearly enamored by him. Matt was obviously a good guy. I couldn’t understand Nick’s problem with him. Then again, Nick seemed to have a problem with everyone.
“Come on, Nessie, let’s get you some breakfast,” I said shooting Madeline a smile. “I’m sure your horse is hungry, too.”
My pulse sped up a little as Matt locked eyes with me, shaking his head as though acknowledging how goofy he was being. Matt exuded warmth and positivity, and I was grateful that Madeline had someone like him in her life.
***
It had been a long day.
It was the first time Mrs. Potts had left me to take care of Madeline by myself for the entire day. I was glad she thought I could handle everything on my own now.
Matt had stuck around for lunch and helped us bake chocolate chip cookies, which I truly believed should be on everyone’s staple diet. Once he’d left, Madeline and I had done some painting and then watched Disney movies after dinner. At some point during The Little Mermaid, Madeline had finally fallen asleep.
After tucking her in, I’d gone to my room to shower and then changed into a pair of silk shorts and matching camisole before brushing out my wavy hair. Then I’d stared at myself in the mirror for a long time frowning at my too-thick hair, the way my button nose was similar to a Munchkin’s, and the gap in my front teeth that suddenly seemed as wide as the Grand Canyon.
Wanting to do something different, I’d eventually reached for the rose-scented body lotion and put it all over my body. Like everywhere. It was a lot more effort than I would normally put into a mundane activity such as sleeping, but I think it was the prospect of who I would be sleeping with that had me
Currently, I was standing in front of my bedroom door studying it as though I was about to make a life altering decision. In a way, I kind of was. Usually I locked my door ever night, but what if Nick came back? It was annoying having to get out of bed and unlock the door for him all the time.
Wow. I’d just said “all the time” like it was some ritual of ours. Was it turning into a weird ritual for us, where the sacrifice was going to be my dignity? Nothing was going on between us, but I was sure if anyone spied him entering my room in the middle of the night they would assume that we were getting it on.
Finally deciding to leave it unlocked, I turned off the light and climbed into bed. He probably wouldn’t show up anyway. I hadn’t even heard from him today, so he probably wasn’t going to show up.
I should’ve locked the stupid door.
As I lay there staring up at the ceiling, I heard my door slowly creak open. My heart immediately starting pounding like an out of beat drum.
Not quite sure what to do, I freaked out and turned over exactly like I’d done last night. There weren’t manuals tailored to guide you through bizarre scenarios like this. The best I could do was improvise—my idea of improvising was to pretend I was asleep.
The bed dipped beside me as Nick soundlessly climbed under the covers. At first he didn’t move, and I was tempted to turn around just to see what the delay was, but then that would ruin my sleeping façade so I decided to wait it out.
Finally, after an agonizing minute had dragged by, the bed shifted as Nick moved closer to me and placed his arm over my body like he’d done the previous night.
Once again we were spooning.
His forehead was touching the back of my head and his lips were close to my ear. There was a fresh, crisp scent about him, like he’d just showered. There was no lingering smell of alcohol or cigarettes or cheap perfume on him.
Had Nick actually taken my words to heart? Or was this some ploy to get me to sleep with him?
I was one of those people who always needed answers, but I was too scared to ask him what was really going on between us. This was definitely not normal. Something was changing in our relationship and I wasn’t sure what to do about it.
I think the thing that was really affecting me the most was knowing that Nick wasn’t in bed with another girl. He wasn’t banging someone else—instead he was choosing to lie in bed with me and not do anything.
That was out of character for him, and I couldn’t understand where we were going with this. Too bad he didn’t seem to want to talk about it.
All these confused thoughts were racing through my head, muddling my feelings towards him. I focused on the way his firm body felt against mine. The warmth of our bodies was one. Our breathing was one. We were one.
I just didn’t know for how long.
Why was I even contemplating the idea of Nick even touching me in a non-platonic way? Why was I considering taking things further with him? Why was I dreading the day this would be over?
In the darkness, I imagined Nick’s fingers gliding across my thigh. I imagined his warm breath that was brushing against my ear, shifting to my neck just before he kissed it.
I thought about him flipping me onto my back and pressing down on me.
I thought about being beneath him.
Chapter Twelve
Sky
Even though I knew Nick would be gone in the morning, I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed when I woke up alone.
I knew I was being stupid, but a pathetic part of me was starting to get used to him sleeping beside me every night. There was a weird sense of comfort in it that I couldn’t describe. We didn’t need to speak to each other; holding each other was enough.
What was even more pathetic was that in the darkness of the night as he held me, I imagined him do
ing more. I imagined his lips grazing the back of my neck. I imagined his fingers teasing my hair. I imagined him claiming me with his mouth and making me his.
Which was ridiculous of course. I shouldn’t even be thinking about him on that level. In the morning whatever we had faded like smoke. This was going to mess me up. This could ruin me mentally and emotionally.
I was smarter than this. I had to create some kind of boundary that we didn’t cross.
Shaking away thoughts of Nick, like he was a ghost story that wasn’t real, I dragged myself out of bed to shower and get ready for the day. I put no effort into my appearance at all before heading to Madeline’s room to wake her and take her downstairs for breakfast.
As usual, she was her chipper, enthusiastic self which was something I adored about her. I wasn’t sure what this kid was so happy about all the time, but I was glad she was upbeat. It really made it impossible for me to have a bad day when I was around her.
“Would you like to bake cupcakes today?” I asked, after we were done eating.
I really wanted to introduce Madeline to baking and figured that starting with cupcakes would be the best way. They were delicious and she could get creative and decorate them for her family.
Madeline’s face practically glowed at my words as though I’d told her she was going to have ten birthdays today. “Cupcakes? Yes!”
“I had a feeling you’d say that,” I said, taking her by the hand and leading her towards the kitchen. “We can make them for Mrs. Potts, Emily, Nick, and your uncle and aunt.” Otherwise known as The Evil Queen.
“Is it tricksy?” she asked, that adorable lisp getting me every time as we entered the kitchen.
“No, not at all. It’s easy peasy.”
“Easy peasy,” she repeated with a giggle, clearly amused by the new phrase I’d introduced to her vocabulary.
“You sit over here.” I directed her to the kitchen table. “I’ll get together everything we need for the cupcakes.”
I’d already purchased all the necessary ingredients when Nick had taken me to Walmart, so I went about getting them from where’d I’d stored them. Butter, flour, eggs, sugar, milk, and vanilla essence. That was really all this recipe took.