Love, me.

Sleep

George

My phone buzzed, signalling that I had an incoming message. When I saw that it was Rae, my heart leapt in anticipation. I had not heard from her in more than a week, since we texted through the night and she suddenly stopped replying. I had not reached out either, respecting that she might had wanted to dedicate her time to her family. And then we worked opposite shifts as I had to cover another senior Registrar and the last stretch of nights killed me in every literal sense. I had not even had the will to get back on my indoor trainer for a session today as I had just woken up feeling rubbish.

"Hey there stranger, been a while." A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth, as I thought of something witty to respond.

"I have a request, do you mind if I bunk in at yours today? I know I live near the hospital but I've just finished my nights and my housemates are having a party at theirs. I really am not in the mood to socialise or interact with them and I desperately need to sleep and have been trying for an hour now and failing miserably."

I toyed with the idea of having her in my room. I was lucky enough to rent a one bedroom flat to myself after years of shared living, and I understood the pain of having to put up with noise when sleep-deprived. It has been six months since I had another woman in my bed and I did not know how I felt about it. 

"Don't worry if you can't, I just thought I'd ask."

"It's fine, I'm up so you can have my bed."  I responded before I could change my mind. Sending her my address, I hopped onto the indoor trainer to release the tension I felt settling in me, hoping it would improve my mood for when she arrived.

As I chose my favourite workout tracks, and started peddling, I found my rhythm and relished in the burning ache in my legs.

The  sound of the doorbell disrupted my thoughts. Glancing at the workout, I had barely a minute left to it so I slowed to an easy spin before hopping off the bike and tried to slow my breathing as I opened the door.

"Hey! Thanks for having..." Rae's breath hitched and she let her sentence hang as she let her eyes rake down my body, not caring that I was fully aware of what she was doing.

"You look wet, I mean hot!" She fumbles, blushing furiously. 

I knew I was a sight as I was in fact, dripping with sweat as I had unzipped my jersey to cool down. I also knew that I was not leaving anything to imagination in my outfit but I could not care less. It was her fault for disrupting my day, I rationalised to myself.

"Come in then, let's get you to bed." I drawled lazily as I led her to my bedroom as she followed me silently.

As I showed her my bed, I could see her taking in her surroundings and looking at the photos on my wall.

"I didn't realise you were into photography," she breathed out in awe as she gazed at the photo of the black and white photo of the Dolomites on my wall.

"Yeah, it's something to balance the science and heartbreak of our work." I shrugged my shoulders in response.

"Well I'm just going to take a quick shower and head out so you can have some sleep," I mumbled as I pushed her away from my wardrobe and towards the bed.

As I got into my shower, I realised that I had only took my towel in with me out of habit. I never had to worry about showing my nakedness to anyone in the last six months, and now with Rae in my room, I felt a little self-conscious about having to put on my clothes in her presence.  Memories of how she stared at me in the changing room when I first started working in the hospital made me flustered as I blasted the cold water onto my body in attempt to slow down my racing heart.

When I was done, I towelled dry my body before wrapping the towel around my body and headed into my bedroom.

As I entered the room, I felt my heart stop as I held my breath.

She was naked and not ashamed of her body as she laid there on elbow scrolling on her phone.

I felt heat rise to my neck and cheeks and tried not to stare at her smooth, flawless skin, and perfect set of breasts and rosy pink nipples. Her hair was down, and she looked breathtaking.

Snapping myself out of a trance, I kept my emotions in check and scowled at her.

"Why are you naked?" I barked impatiently, flicking my wet hair out of my face as it did not alleviate my annoyance at my own behaviour.

She glanced up in shock, her emerald green eyes widened at the sight of my hostility.

"I umm, I normally sleep naked." She responded sheepishly, staring at my lips. "Also, I thought you would like to lie down with me," she whispered, her cheeks flushed.

"Don't you have to work tonight? How are you going to have any sleep at all if I laid down beside you? I wasn't planning to go back to bed this early in the day!" I choked out, my heart pounding as if it wanted to escape the confines of my chest cavity.

"No, I don't," she responded meekly to my question as she reached out to pull me into bed with her.

Not knowing how to respond, I hesitantly climbed into the bed, still clutching my towel. Chuckling, she removed it and tossed it on the floor in one movement, her eyes filling with lust and desire as she stared at my body.

"You look so much better than I've imagined," she breathed out as she tilted my chin, bringing our gazes together. 

As she leaned in towards me, I closed my eyes and prayed that I would survive what she had in stall for me.