When the day met the night

15

I stood under the shower, leaning my head and arms against the tiles letting the water run down my back, lost in thought. "Oh shit, I'm sorry Harper" I heard Jared's voice as he appeared behind me, he was looking at my hips that were now sporting light finger mark bruises. I turned off the taps and he held out a towel for me, I wrapped it around me, shivering under his gaze. "I'm sorry, I just got caught up..." His hand stroked my cheek tenderly. "It's okay" I said softly. I turned away to finish drying off.

I went back into the bedroom, a few minutes later he came out, I was standing at the closet trying to pick something to wear, my mind was wandering. I felt his arms around my waist and I leaned back onto him, our time was coming to an end. My stomach clenched at the thought of him leaving, I stood there not even thinking about clothes. "So, we gotta go out and get some food, you're a bad host you know" he laughed, "I did warn you, there are only some things I'm good at, being a good host is no where near that list" I said turning around in his arms to look at him. "But I am very good at other things" I said smiling, I ran my finger along his bottom lip, I yelped as his teeth grabbed it half a second later! He let go, "yeah you'll do" he drawled, I pushed him away laughing and started to get dressed. "So did you think anymore about what I said, about Christmas?" he asked casually, he was dressed and stood at the door waiting for me. I took a deep breath, "can we talk later? we should go out" I said trying to keep my voice steady, this subject was putting me on edge. He nodded, "okay sure, I'll meet you downstairs, I'll make tea" he said smiling at me and walked out. I breathed a sigh of relief, I couldn't understand why I was so anxious about going.

When I got downstairs he was on the phone, he held up his hand so I would stay quiet. I nodded waiting for him to finish, he finally hung up and grinned at me. "Why are you looking so smug?" I said curiously, "so I was on the phone with Lucy and then with Emma" he said, I nodded, I didn't speak I just waited. "So here's the thing you finish shooting for the holidays on the 18th, Emma booked you a flight on the 19th and you need to be back by the 4th so you fly out of LA on the 2nd!" He said excitedly, I gasped. "What? But why? Why would you do that?" I said frustratedly, "because I knew you'd never commit, so I did it for you, now you have to come" he smiled widely. "You can't have your own way Jared, that's not fair" I said shaking my head. "But I know you'll love it once you're there, please don't be mad" he said coming over to me and trying to put his arms around my waist. I pushed him away, "don't, I'm really pissed at you, maybe I didn't want to come and I certainly didn't need you to pay for my ticket!" I snapped. He looked at me, surprised at my outburst, then he frowned, "what are you so frightened of? why are you fighting me? I know you can pay for your ticket, I also know you'd come up with every excuse in the book to not come. It's Christmas, I want to spend it with you, because I care about you, that's what you do at Christmas, you spend it with people you like, don't you like me?" he said quietly. I was looking away, my heart was hammering in my chest, did I like him? Of course I did, I think that's why I was so afraid, my feelings for him were frightening me. I looked back at him, he stood there arms crossed leaning against the counter, waiting for me to say something, he looked disappointed. "Do you want me to cancel the flight? If you want to stay and be with your friends I'll understand, sorry I should have realized, I didn't even consider that" he said picking up his phone, I finally shook my head. "No, it's okay... I'll come" I said quietly. He put down his phone and walked over to me, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me in against him. "Thank you" I said quietly against his chest. "You're going to love it, I promise" he said kissing my forehead. I nodded, I couldn't do anything about it now. I shivered, I had a sudden feeling that nothing would ever be the same. "What's wrong? Are you cold?" he said holding me away from him so he could look at me. "No, no I'm fine, we should go" I said finally smiling. He grinned, "let's go!" and dragged me towards the door.

A few hours later we were home, bags on the bench, I stood at the counter eating toast while he ate a lentil something. "Ok, you need to pack your shit and so do I" I said, he looked up mouth half full, surprise written on his face, "um yeah sure, ok" I pushed him back in his seat and straddled his lap, I started planting kisses over his chin, cheeks, down to his neck and then I bit his earlobe and whispered "because once we're packed, you need to take me to bed and thoroughly fuck my brains out" I heard his sharp intake of breath and he almost choked on what was left in his mouth. I giggled kissing the spot under his ear he groaned, I jumped off and pointed up. I hurried upstairs, I didn't have much to take I had left most of my things back at the shoot. I packed up some toiletries, and a few other things I needed, Jared appeared in the doorway. "How quick do I have to be?" he said a sexy smile on his face, "packing, lightning fast, there... slow, but then fast and then slow again" I smiled, pointed to the bed and blew a kiss at him. He bounded in and grabbed me throwing me on the bed, I squealed as he landed on top of me. "Fuck it, I haven't got much, I'll pack it later" he said laughing. All thoughts of packing were forgotten.