The Color of Her Lips

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ariana

My eyes snap open when the annoying ringtone of my iPhone blasts in the room. I reach out to grab the phone. I was sleeping peacefully and—

Oh, Sally is FaceTime-ing me. I answer, but as soon as her face fills the screen I realize that I'm naked under the covers. And Michael is sleeping beside me. Shit, I did it again.

"Hey!" She says cheerfully. "Good morning and merry Christmas Eve, Ari!"

Then I see Holly's face. "Merry Christmas Eve!" she tells me too.

"Good morning, girls." My voice is thick with sleep when I talk. "Merry Christmas Eve to you too!"

They say thank you, and I snuggle further under the covers. "Let's call Kim too, what do you think?" they suggest.

My eyes widen. "No, no, I'll—" call her later, I wanted to say before Kim answered and her toothy smile welcomed me.

"Ariana!" she nearly screams. "I miss you, sweetie! How are you? How are you spending Christmas Eve? Oh, merry Christmas Eve, by the way! I love you!"

Oh my God, this is going to give me a headache.

I try to smile. "I'm good. I'm spending Christmas Eve at a fancy restaurant. Merry Christmas Eve, Kim. And I love you and miss you too." I replied to all her questions.

Then Kim frowns, while Sally and Holly giggle about something. "But why are you still in bed? We're about to have lunch and New York is like three hours ahead of here."

My eyes widen again. Then I close them, feeling ashamed of this whole thing.

"You okay?" she asks me.

"Uh...yeah! Everything is just fine, I might have overslept a little..." I say.

I feel an arm circling my waist, and that's when Michael scoots closer, his face coming into view, and he mumbles, "What's all this noise?"

I freeze. Kim, Sally and Holly's lips are spread into a huge grin.

"Oh, my God! I knew it!" Kim squeals.

I think that never in my life I've blushed this much. I'm embarrassed, and I rarely am. This is a nightmare coming true.

Without saying a word, I hang up and let the phone fall on my lap. I cover my face with my hands.

"Oh Jesus," I mutter under my breath. "Sweet baby Jesus."

Now that they've seen him in the bed with me, they'll think that we hooked up—which is true—that we are dating, together, soon to be married and pregnant. Oh my God.

I adjust the covers on my chest and cover my face with my hands as I shake my head.

An arm snakes around my waist, sending shivers to my body. Michael makes a throaty noise and places his cheek on my shoulder. "Everything alright?" he says with a husky voice.

I roll my eyes and sigh heavily. "Yeah, everything's perfect!" I tell him sarcastically, and his body shakes with one single soft laugh.

I need to get up, it's too late to chill in bed. I prop myself up on my elbows, holding the covers to my breasts.

Michael mumbles some complaint and pulls me closer by the waist, his long fingers splayed on my hip. "Stay a little longer, please."

I sigh again and let my head fall onto the pillow again. My eyes close for a moment and I might fall asleep again, if it wasn't that I'm hungry.

When I open my eyes I find Michael's amber ones staring at me. "What?"

The sketch of a smile appears on his beautiful lips. "You're...an unbelievable woman," he says, chuckling and shaking his head.

I try to hold back a smile but end up laughing with him. "That's a lie. I am an amazing woman."

He looks up at me. "Yes, you are," he says softly, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear.

I have to tear my eyes off him because that simple gesture...made my heart skip a beat. And this terrifies me.

"Oh, my God," Michael says, adjusting himself so that we're facing each other.

I frown but my skin heats up as I look at him.

He's smiling again. "Ariana Scarlett Quinn..." he says with a teasing tone. "You've really outdone yourself." His smile turns into a mischievous grin.

"What? What do you mean?" I ask him, confused, my skin all tingly and hot.

He touches my cheek with the back of his large hand. "You're blushing. Because I touched you." I glare at him. "You're all red, you should look at yourself in the mirror. This is as an epic moment to mark on the calendar."

I shoot him another dangerous look and he bursts out laughing, his head falling backwards. "What are you laughing at, jackass?" I grab a pillow and throw it at him. It hits his handsome face but he doesn't stop laughing.

Slowly, as I look at his body shake and his muscles flexing due to too much laughter, a smile appears on my lips, and I burst into laughter too.

"Ha!" He points a finger at me and throws the pillow back at me. "You're laughing too now!"

I roll on my stomach and sink my face into the other pillow, my body trembling with laughter. "Your laugh is contagious, Michael. You make me laugh," I tell him, the words coming out all muffled because of the pillow.

Suddenly his hand comes into contact with the bare skin of my back. "That's all I want, baby. Your laugh is beautiful, I want to hear it more often."

I lay on my back and pull the covers to cover my chest. I look at him, there's the hint of a smile still painted on his lips.

There's something in my stomach, but it's not hunger anymore.

He plays with a strand of my hair absently, then he smells it. "You smell good."

I chuckle. "Yeah, I smell like sex."

His forehead falls on my shoulder and his breath brushes my skin. "Me too," he says with a laugh.

His hair are ruffled and he has the wrinkles of the sheets printed on his cheek. He's adorable right now, laughing like this and touching me—

Oh God. I just thought Michael is adorable. What's wrong with me?

He sits up, the sheets covering him up to the waist. He puts two fingers under my chin and forces me to look at him. "Tonight, dinner, you and I."

I open my mouth to say something but he doesn't let me. "No, you can't say no."

"Actually..." I say slowly, "I was going to say that I'd gladly accept your invitation, Mr. DeAngelis."

He grins. "That's perfect, Miss Quinn." He gets up from the bed, and his ass and built back fill my view. "I'm going to take a shower."

I clear my throat. "Sure."

Something weird is happening inside of me. I can feel it. There's something odd right in the center of my chest, something I've never felt before.

And I'm so fucking scared of it, because I don't know what it is.