She sighs forcefully and drops her arms before walking over to start plumping up one of the giant pillows. The pillows are probably two feet thick or more—each one of them—and there are about sixteen hundred on the bed.
“No.” She punches her fist into the pillow. Hard. Like she wishes that it was my face instead. “It’s not that.”
“Not what?”
“It’s not…It’s not you I don’t trust.”
“Hmm.”
“What’s hmm?” Her eyes narrow like she expected me to be surprised. I am shocked, but I’m obviously doing a good job of hiding it by feigning boredom.
“You trust me, even after my problem from earlier today.”
“I—yes. Obviously. It’s not like you could help it. It’s just basic biology. And—uh—you went and hid. You didn’t attack me with it.”
“Very true.”
Sutton shakes her head. She quickly whirls to hide the scarlet on her cheeks, but of course, I still see it. She grabs her clutch, rips out her phone, and punches at the screen. Probably dialing her grandma’s number.
Sure enough, she leaves a halting message. “Hey, Granny, it’s me. I’m actually staying here at the hotel tonight. There was a—uh—room booked for me I didn’t know about. I thought it would be too rude to turn it down because it was already paid for. I’ll be back around noon tomorrow. Please don’t worry about me. I’m fine, and yes, I do know you think this is how babies are made, but I can guarantee there aren’t going to be any made tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you. Bye.”
“That was interesting.” Of course, I can’t resist the urge to bug her as soon as she hangs up.
Sutton’s nostrils flare. She tosses the phone onto the bed, stalks over to the pillows, and starts beating them furiously again. “Well? Are you going to help me make this pillow wall or not? I think we should turn out the lights and go to sleep. The sooner morning comes, the better. And this better not be spoken of again either.”
“Speak of what?”
“This. Sharing the same bed. Sort of. Even with the damn wall.”
“What wall? What night?”
“Oh. I get it. Very funny.” A pillow goes flying to land somewhere mid-bed, and a second soon follows. A third and a forth quickly follow that, and the wall starts to take shape.
I walk calmly over to the other side of the bed and pitch in, heaping pillows on top of each other and making a neat and tidy line of pillows from the head of the bed straight down to the foot. Since the pillows are so thick, the wall is at least three feet tall.
“Do you think it will hold?”
“Yes.” But just for good measure, Sutton adds another, right where our faces could potentially turn and see each other.
“Even throughout a ferocious attack in the middle of the night by a fearsome admin assistant who doesn’t trust herself? Do you ever sleepwalk? Sleep molest?”
“Shut. Up.”
Sutton marches over to the wall where the massive light switch, which is more like a light panel, is and kills all the lights in the room. It’s dark, but not overly dark because the Jacuzzi actually glows, and the heavy dark burgundy drapes are still open at the wall of windows.
“For freaks sakes,” Sutton mutters under her breath. When she reaches the bed again, she roughly rips back the covers and climbs in. Dress and all. For all I know, she kept her shoes on too.
There’s no way I’m getting in there with my boots or this stupid jacket on. It’s bad enough I’ll have to keep my jeans on, which are uncomfortable to sleep in. I shed the footwear and jacket but leave the jeans and t-shirt on. When I get into bed, the mattress is hard but also plush—one of those mysteries money will buy. The pillows don’t even shift when I get in. The mattress is probably one of those things designed not to flex a millimeter, even if an entire herd of cows jumped up and down on the other side. Not that a herd of cows would actually come and jump up and down on the bed.
Anyway, the pillows don’t move.
So I close my eyes.
And I feel myself relax.
Maybe this will be one of those rare nights where I actually get a few hours of sleep.
I can hear Sutton breathing beside me, and it’s oddly calming. Maybe tonight there won’t be any nightmares. I fucking hope there isn’t. Or at least, that I’ll wake silently, soaked in a cold sweat, and alone in my misery. I really hope I won’t wake Sutton up. Well, one can always hope.
This was a bad idea on every level. #InsaneNotInAGoodWay.
It’s too late now. I’ll just have to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
CHAPTER 12
Sutton
I guess I have a good sleep, once I finally drift off. I listened to Philippe’s even breathing after he was down for the count, and it was oddly comforting. I fell asleep a few minutes after he did. All is well in dreamland with the pillow wall between us and the Jacuzzi glowing like an alien spaceship in the background, burbling away soothingly, when all of a sudden, the bed turns into a murder scene.
At least, that’s my first thought when a scream pierces the room, tearing me out of a deep sleep. I jerk upright in bed and flail my limbs in my sleepy stupor at the sudden terror I’ve been drenched in. Pillows fly all over the place. In my panic, I flail some more and get myself tangled in the sheets. I try to get the hell out of
