Chapter 235.

Sunlight slipped through the curtains in thin, golden ribbons, spilling across the living room floor.

It touched the edge of the coffee table, crept over the abandoned popcorn bowl, and illuminated one of Christian’s shoes lying beneath the sofa.

The other shoe was nowhere to be found.

Neither was Kylie’s hoodie from last night, or Christian’s shirt.

Kylie blinked at the ceiling. Then she blinked again.

Jesus Christ.

What in the intensity had happened last night?

She was naked beneath a burgundy bedsheet on the floor of her living room, with her cheek resting on the only pillow they had managed to find. Christian was wrapped around her as though someone had threatened to steal her in his sleep.

He had one arm circled around her waist. His other hand rested near her shoulder, and his fingers loosely curled into the sheet. One of his legs was tangled with hers beneath the fabric, and his chest pressed against her back with a warmth that made the morning air feel unnecessarily cold everywhere else.

There was absolutely no reason for two grown adults to be sleeping on the floor when her bedroom was perfectly available.

Except, apparently, neither of them had been particularly interested in locating the bedroom last night.

Or locating anything, really.

Kylie pressed her lips together.

A smile threatened to escape her lips. She caught it. Her eyes widened, and the smile completely disappeared.

Her heart promptly did something ridiculous inside her chest.

She had not survived an emotionally exhausting twenty-four hours, several humiliating tears, a devastating conversation with her father, and one spectacular argument with a billionaire only to wake up and start mentally assigning possessive pronouns to the man.

Christian’s arm tightened around her waist.

Kylie froze.

His breathing remained slow and even against the back of her neck. His face was buried somewhere between her shoulder and the pillow, and the only indication that he had noticed her moving was the firm, almost instinctive way he drew her closer.

’Oh, that was adorable.’ Kylie thought.

Absolutely unfair, but adorable.

She turned her head slightly, trying to get a better look at him.

His blonde hair was a disaster. One section stuck up at the back, while another fell over his forehead in a way that would probably make him look like an expensive advertisement for a man who had never experienced a difficult day in his life.

Except she knew better.

Kylie looked at his face again.

His lips were slightly parted. His eyelashes rested against his cheeks. Without his usual amused expression, he looked younger.

More like a man who had finally allowed himself to rest. Tender feelings unfolded inside her chest.

She wanted to keep him like this.

The thought was so soft that it frightened her more than it should have. Not because she wanted to control him, and not because she wanted to keep him from the world.

But because, for the first time in a very long time, she wanted to stay somewhere. With someone.

She wanted to wake up and find the same face beside her. She wanted to learn what his hair looked like when he had slept badly, and whether he would still insist on making tea when he was half asleep.

She wanted ordinary things.

That was the terrifying part.

She had learned to enjoy things in small, temporary doses.bA good party, a beautiful dress, a stranger’s appreciative smile, and a night when she could forget everything waiting for her in the morning.

Those things had been easy.

They had required nothing beyond the present moment.

But this?

This was Christian sleeping with his arm around her waist, completely unaware that he was making her question every single rule she had ever established about keeping her heart to herself.

This was dangerous. This was deeply, profoundly unfair. And she was smiling so hard her cheeks hurt.

’Get yourself together, Benneth.’ She inwardly cursed.

Carefully, she began to shift.

She had barely moved an inch when Christian’s arm tightened around her waist like a steel band.

Kylie stopped breathing. A low, sleepy grumble vibrated against her back. She slowly looked down at the arm holding her in place.

"Excuse me?"

Christian made another sound.

Kylie pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. "Christian?"

Nothing.

"Baby?"

His fingers flexed against her waist.

Her heart tripped. Oh, that was not fair calling him that. That was absolutely not fair.

She turned carefully in his arms, moving just enough to face him. The sheet rustled around them, and Christian’s brow furrowed as though the world had personally inconvenienced him.

"Hey," she whispered.

His eyes remained closed.

"Christian, sweetheart, I need to get up."

His arm tightened again.

Kylie stared at him. Then she leaned forward and pressed a tender kiss to the hard muscle of his bicep.

"I’m just going to the bathroom," she murmured against his skin. "Go back to sleep. I’ll be right back."

For a moment, he didn’t move. Then his arm loosened.

Kylie carefully slipped free.

She was almost upright when Christian made a small, dissatisfied sound and reached toward the place she had occupied.

Her heart melted again. Then she remembered she had a reputation to maintain. She fixed her expression immediately.

Christian remained asleep.

She gathered the sheet around herself and stood.

The floor was cold beneath her feet.

Her living room looked as though two people had attempted to rearrange it during a minor natural disaster.

The coffee table had been pushed toward the wall. A cushion lay near the television. The abandoned popcorn bowl sat beside a glass of water, and a throw blanket had somehow ended up draped over the arm of the sofa.

Kylie looked down at herself.

Then at Christian, and at the pillow. She covered her mouth, remembring last night. The idea of having sex wigh one man three good times scared her.

She padded toward the bathroom, trying not to look back.

She failed before reaching the doorway.

Christian had rolled onto his side, his arm stretched across the empty space where she had been. His face was turned toward the pillow, and his fingers were curled into the sheet.

He looked so peacefully ridiculous that Kylie had to bite the inside of her cheek. She wanted to take a picture, but that would be cruel.

He was butt naked.

She grinned. And then, she stepped into the bathroom and closed the door. For a few seconds, she simply stood there.

She looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess, her eyes were puffy, and her lips were swollen from kissing.

There was a faint crease across one cheek from the pillow, hikeys around her neck, her breast, and her chest. She had absolutely no idea what had happened to her dignity.

A slow smile spread across her face, and then she immediately shut her eyes.

Kylie drew a slow breath, and parted her eyes. "Okay," she whispered to her reflection. "We are going to be normal about this."

Her reflection looked unconvinced. "Completely normal."

She turned on the tap, and splashed water on her face. Her reflection continued to look unconvinced.

"Don’t test me."