𝚂 + 𝚂 𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚜 | 𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝟷.𝟻

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝙽𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝

𝚂𝚘𝚏𝚒𝚊

☆═━┈┈━═☆

The clock on the oven read one in the morning.

I had been sitting at the counter for hours, papers spread around, hastily placed in piles. Moors Jewelry, Moor Real Estate, Rogers Incorporated, my study guides flittering amongst the chaos. My head was killing me, I had a midterm paper due at nine am, and the lawyers needed the contracts signed by midafternoon to secure the transfer of power. I was drowning, I couldn't keep up with everything. Steve was in the middle of his season, and while he tried to help me as much as he could when it came to all the paperwork it was up to me.

I dug the heel of my palms into my eyes, fighting off the sleep.

I had to stay up, I was already three assignments behind in my Psych class and the professor told me if I could score an A on my midterm he'd average those three assignments out to a B. I had been researching for hours on manipulation tactics that convince the brain to produce positive emotion. And while I had an outline done, I still hadn't started the paper. The cursor blinked at me, the word document taunting me. I couldn't even cry, Steve was upstairs asleep after returning home from the west coast, another away game. So I was sitting in the kitchen silently, overwhelmed, and on the verge of a breakdown.

I jumped when arms wrapped around my shoulders from behind, the warmth of Steve's chest pressing against my back.

"Come to bed," Steve's voice was husky, my stomach erupting in butterflies when he pressed his lips to the top of my head. "You're not going to finish it tonight, you've been looking at this document for hours now," my eyes fluttered closed when he pressed a kiss to my forehead, exhaustion settling into my bones, "Just get a few hours of sleep baby girl, rest up and you'll be able to write."

"I have so much to do," I breathed out, turning on the barstool to face him, sleepy blue eyes meeting my face and a lazy smile crossing his lips, "I can't sleep."

"Come to bed and I'll help in the morning with the papers for the lawyers," Steve coaxed my arms around his neck, lifting me up like a small child and I was too tired to fight, his body wash, Armani Code, was still fragrant on his skin. The notes of citrus, mint, and amber helped relax my body instantly. "I hate when you do this to yourself," I was always impressed by Steve's strength, one arm holding me up while he went around turning off the lights downstairs, the golden glow from the city illuminating his path up to our bed, "I can't have you collapsing from not getting enough sleep."

"I'm sorry Stevie," And I was sorry, I had always pushed myself to the brink of exhaustion, there was too much to do and not enough time to do it.

"Sweetheart," Steve laid me down on the mattress, one of his fingers tracing the apple of my cheek when I blinked, trying to keep myself awake to hear what he was going to say to me, but sleep was a monster I wasn't running from, "my shirt or one of your pajama sets?"

"Your shirt."

I felt his lips on my forehead, the feeling so normal yet still so exhilarating. Every night before we fell asleep, Steve had a routine. And I know tonight I broke it, he was expecting me to be asleep next to him, just like I promised five hours ago when I said I would only stay up for a little longer, but time escapes you when you're carrying the weight of two massive empires on your shoulders, and are still a full-time college student. "Strip baby," Steve's words brought me out of my thoughts, his body moving around the room to pull a shirt out of the dresser. I started with my jeans, unbuttoning them and shoving them down my legs, my shirt followed, my bra the last thing before Steve was pulling his shirt over my head, the fabric falling to my thighs. "C'mere," he scooped me back up, carrying me into the bathroom.