“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 pourus 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.”