Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 119548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 398(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 398(@300wpm)
“Did you raid my bedroom?”
“Your bedroom?” He snorted. “Since when was it your bedroom?”
“Please, nobody else has slept in that room for at least fifteen years,” I said around the toothbrush. “Hold on.”
I rushed back in, spat into the sink, and quickly finished washing up before going back into the bedroom.
“Yes, I got them from your room,” Fred said, putting his phone on the bedside table. “Are you aware you have a miniature wardrobe in there? Why are so many of your belongings in my house?”
I got into the bed next to him and paused. “I don’t actually know. I think it just kind of happened. Aunt Vi told me to leave some essentials.”
“Delilah, those are not essentials. You’re stocked for a full weekend stay and then some.”
“Huh. Does that mean I have some skincare here, too? It’s a bit dry around my nostrils.” I poked at the crease of them and frowned at the slight roughness there. “I could really use some moisturiser.”
He turned off the bedside lamp and lay down, shaking his head slowly. “Goodnight, Deli.”
“Wait, is there some?”
“Lie down and go to sleep.”
With a huff, I shuffled down the bed until my head was on the pillow. “I wish you’d told me this twenty minutes ago.”
“Go to sleep,” he grumbled. “Don’t make me roll over and cuddle you.”
I shuddered, scooting closer towards the edge of the bed. “Don’t you dare.”
“Shut up and sleep, then.”
A yawn forced its way up, and I let my eyes close as I let it go. “Night, night, sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”
A tired, breathy chuckle danced through the darkness towards me. “Night, Deli.”
“Get off me.”
I groaned. Sleep was still heavily clinging to me, and I shuffled into the warmth, burying my face into smooth, hot skin.
Wait.
Smooth, hot skin?
I forced one eye open, only to see the pale, taut skin of Fred’s toned back.
Oh, no.
I’d done it again.
“Get. Off.”
“Oops,” I muttered, untangling my legs from his as I released his body. “Sorry.”
“How could I have forgotten about that pesky habit?” He was finally free, and he shoved me across the bed.
I let loose a tiny whine, but it didn’t stop him manhandling me to the other side of the bed.
“If we have to share a bed regularly when we’re married, I’m going to put up a barrier. That, or I’m going to have to chain you to the damn posts.”
“That’s too kinky for our celibate marriage,” I replied, yawning. I snuggled back under the covers and pulled the blanket over my head. “Sorry. I’ll work on it.”
“You say that every time, yet I always wake up with you wrapped around me like a koala.” He pulled the blanket down. “Wake up. It’s eleven a.m.”
“Noooo. Lies.” I reached blindly for the blanket, but when I didn’t grab it, I was forced to open my eyes. My vision was still cloudy with sleep, and I had to blink firmly several times before it cleared. “Ooft, that was a good sleep.”
He glared down at me. “I’m glad you were comfortable.”
“It’s not my fault. I gravitate towards heat, and you’re like a human hot water bottle.” I grabbed for the covers again, but he yanked them away, exposing me completely. “Fred!”
“Nana is downstairs,” he replied. “Mel just knocked on the door.”
Well, now I was awake.
“Does she know I’m here?” I sat upright and stared at him.
“You didn’t go home last night, and she is the culprit behind your tyres, so what do you think?”
I paused for a second. “Oh, good. Then let her keep waiting and she can imagine we had a long, hot, steamy night full of debauchery and kink.” I snatched the covers back as he gaped at me, and I wrapped myself up in the blanket. I hummed happily as warmth spread through my body yet again, and I smiled up at Fred.
He rubbed his hand down his face. “Never mind an annulment. You’ll be a widow if this is how things carry on. You’re going to kill me.”
“Ooh, wouldn’t that mean I inherit everything? How kind of you.”
“Should you be that flippant about me dying?”
I snorted. “Oh, please. You’d survive out of pure spite. As if you’d ever die before me.”
He smiled, leaning down so our faces were close together. “That’s right. I can’t die first—you’d never be able to live without me.”
“Hey!”
He ruffled my hair and got up before I could remove my arms from my blanket to beat him. He disappeared into the bathroom, the sound of his laughter following him, and I stayed happily curled up as the sound of the shower filled the room.
Well.
He wasn’t entirely wrong.
There was perhaps a hint of co-dependency in our relationship, but that was how it’d always been. I’d once been taller than him when we were kids, so he’d overcompensated for it by taking extra good care of me. Even when he’d surpassed me in height, he hadn’t stopped.