Chapter 8 : In One Bed

“Just go out there and get dressed,” I muttered, trying to hype myself up.

The steam had all gone from the room and I was now beginning to get cold.

“Okay.” I stared myself down in the mirror. “Just get out there, get your pajamas, and then get dressed.”

Simple. The plan was easy. A simple three-step process that I could easily accomplish if he just wasn’t there. I just needed him to be far away from this place.

I rolled my shoulders trying to ready myself for what was to come.

I walked to the door and opened it ever so slowly.

He wasn’t there.

I breathed a sigh of heavy relief and raced to the bed to retrieve the pajamas that had been laid out for me and then raced back to the bathroom and changed. When I was done brushing through my hair, I walked out ready to tuck myself into bed but stopped short when I saw a freshly changed Miles in his chair beside the bed.

“Bed time?” he said with a small smile on his face.

“Umm, yes—for me. Should you not be in your own room?”

“I am in my room.”

I blinked. “What do you mean this is your room? This is not your room. This is my room. Greta showed it to me when I got here.”

He ran a hand through his hair, the movement seeming rather attractive in my eyes. “Well, the thing about that is your room is undergoing some renovations. I forgot I was having them done when I agreed to this whole plan of ours—a spur-of-the-moment thing as you know.”

“So,” as my brain caught up to what he was saying I could only just stare at him, “that means we have to share a bed? Don’t you have like five bedrooms in this place? Can’t I just stay in one of those rooms? Do I have to stay in here with you?”

He shook his head. “I’m afraid not. All the rooms are being renovated. I moved into this place just three months ago and it has been a constant work in progress. I didn’t like a lot of the layout.”

I raised a brow at him. “But you designed the building.”

“My brother did actually. I built the rest in the country.”

The way he said that was like it was the most normal thing in the world to say.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “So we have to share a bed?”

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

“Until one of the rooms is done.”

This day just kept getting worse and worse. First, he had seen me naked and now I had to share a bed with him. I was mortified. The embarrassment had only just left my body and now… oh, God.

When I opened my eyes again he was staring at me with those eyes of his. It was crazy how he didn’t even have to speak but yet his eyes said a million different things. They were so expressive yet you could not decipher exactly what he wanted to communicate.

“Okay, okay…so we share a bed. That’s fine.”

It was not fine. I had not shared a bed with a man since…a long time ago that I would rather forget. But this was not him and I was safe here.

“I’m sorry, Dove. It was never my intention to make you feel uncomfortable,” Miles said.

I shook my head. “No don’t worry about it. As long as you don’t kick me in your sleep I will be fine.”

He looked down at his legs which were very much paralyzed and that mortification that had washed away came flooding back into my system.

Oh, my God.

“I…I didn’t mean. I’m so sorry,” I stammered, my heart racing.

God, I’m an idiot.

He was serious for another beat before he threw his head back and let out a boisterous laugh. The sound traveled all the way into the marrow of my bones, hitting me right in the center of my soul.

I loved his laugh.

“You are too funny.” He had calmed a little but the bright smile on his face remained. “Come on, help me into bed.”

Okay, so he wasn’t mad. Thank God.

“Okay,” I said, breaking our eye contact. “I can do that.”

This day just kept going from bad to worse.

I stared up at the ceiling. I was so hyper-aware of him, it was crazy. I was trying to relax but I just didn’t know how. His being this close to me in the bed was unnerving.

“I can hear you thinking.” His thick voice filled the silence.

“I’m not thinking. I’m…breathing.”

“Well,” he turned in the bed his eyes boring into the side of my head, “you are breathing very loud. Do I make you nervous sweetheart?”

“No,” I said a little too quickly. “I mean, you’re the first man I have slept with since…”

I couldn’t even say his name out loud like he was Voldemort or something. It still hurts to this day.

“Since?” he pressed, his eyes shining in the darkness of the room.

I sighed. “It’s nothing. I don’t want to talk about it.”

The silence washed over us again but this time it didn’t feel as thick and intense. It was comfortable.

“Bad ex?”

He was really not going to let this one go.

I sighed deeply, my mind drifting to the last time I saw my ex-boyfriend’s face. The way he had looked at me with disgust and anger. I had tried to tell him that it was not me. I was not the woman he was making me out to be but he chose not to see reason.

“Something like that.” I turned onto my side. I was shocked to see that he had already turned his head and was staring at me. The moonlight hit those beautiful eyes of his at just the right light. The blue in his eyes danced like the ocean on a full moon. They were so gorgeous.

“Do you miss him?”

“That’s a little invasive.” My voice came out far more breathless than I had intended.

“I’m your husband. I should know stuff about you. And I know our marriage may not be a real one but I would like you to think of me as a friend you can confide in. I don’t want you to feel alone in this.”

He was not at all what I had been expecting a billionaire to behave like.

“Thank you.” I searched his eyes seeing all the kindness and goodness in them. He was being genuine when he spoke to me. It was rare to find that quality in people these days. “And you can count on me as a friend too.”

The tips of lips tilted upward. “Thank you, Dove.”

“Tell me something about yourself?” I wanted to know more about him. I had seen little glimpses of who he truly was on the inside during the interview but I wanted to know more. I wanted to know what he was truly about. I wanted to see the real him. Miles was this giant mystery that not a lot of people knew of.

“Like?” His eyes searched my face like he was trying to take me all in.

“Are you happy?”

He arched his brow. “I’m a billionaire.”

“That isn’t answering my question. Money doesn’t make a person happy. It only magnifies what is already inside of them. So if you are an unhappy person it will amplify that and if you are a miserable person then it will amplify that. So I’m going to ask you again, are you happy?”

His eyes bored into mine. “I don’t know how to answer that. I cannot lie to you and say that I am the happiest man alive because I’m not. I haven’t been happy for a while now. But I’m not depressed.”

I nodded. “Okay, that’s a fair answer.”

“And what about you?” I felt his hand brush against mine. “Are you happy, Dove Scott?”

It was weird hearing him say my new name. I was not used to it yet but I guess I would need to get used to it for the next year.

“Am I happy? I would say yes. My mother is getting her surgery which she badly needs and I have a good job. I love my job and I’m happy there. I have good health. I have good friends and I moved into a penthouse that would likely cost my entire life, so…yeah. I am happy.”

The last part was meant to be a joke but I guess my joke didn’t land well because he frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just…you’re so appreciative of the smallest things in life,” he answered.

I shrugged. “The little things end up being the big things when they are no longer there. I just live to appreciate all that I have while I still have it.”

“I love that.”

Talking to him now felt so easy and natural. I didn’t feel as nervous as I had been before. It was nice talking to him like this. Where he didn’t feel so all-consuming and I didn’t get swept up in him.

Here we could just be.

“I’m still mad at you about my bedroom.” I yawned. “You said we could have separate beds.”

“I’m sorry.” Miles chuckled lowly. “Your room will be ready within the next two weeks, I’m sure.”

My eyes began to flutter closed. The tiredness had finally found me, and sleep was calling my name.

“Better be. I…” But the words never came after that because sleep soon found me and took me into her warm embrace.

I don’t know if it had been a figment of my imagination or not but I thought I felt a slight brush of a finger against my cheek. Little sparks kissed my skin at the contact but as soon as it came, it quickly disappeared.