The Final Rose

Chapter Eleven: Giiwanaadingwaam

Content in this chapter is intended for mature audiences only. Kindly skip ahead to the next chapter if you are not of age.

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A long day of kayaking out on the open water had left my muscles sore and had chilled me to the bone. Candace's tiny shorts had been a good choice in theory, but they turned into an ill-advised outfit when the sun had hidden behind a cloud bank and the temperatures had dipped during our return trip.

Dinner that night had come and gone with limited drama, although I sensed that Gwen—the contestant with the young daughter—was ready to go home. By her own volition, her time on the show was limited. She had yet to get a one-on-one date, and she'd confided in me how much she missed her daughter. The once-a-day video chatting had been intended to minimize the trial of separation, but it had only served as a painful reminder of what she'd left behind.

I, too, was beginning to feel the acute pang of homesickness. I hadn't spoken to my mother in over two weeks. It was the longest we'd ever gone without communicating even when I'd been away at school. I couldn't help my brain from wandering during dinner when I should have been focused on Jacob and his dimples. What was my mom doing at that moment? How was she spending her days? Had she remembered to pay the water bill?

I retired to bed early that night. The next day would be filled with the anxiety of a cocktail reception and a rose ceremony. Fifteen women remained, and we'd received no indication of how many women would be going home this round. Candace was convinced that I'd done enough—with her help, of course—to stick around for another week, but I didn't share that same confidence.

A few hours after falling asleep, I woke up to the sensation of someone standing by my bed. When I opened my eyes, I jolted awake; Lee was standing near my head.

"Lee?" I rasped in a voice thick with sleep. "What is it? What's wrong?"

She lifted a single finger to her lips.

My confusion only heightened when she peeled back the comforter under which I slept. I twisted my head in the direction of Candace who slept beside me in the queen-sized bed. My roommate's eyes were firmly shut, and her chest rose and fell in the long, rhythmic motion of sleep.

The edge of the mattress sank beneath me as Lee began to climb into my bed. I lay in place—frozen and confused. She crawled onto the mattress and swung one leg over my body so that she straddled my hips.

An alarmed, strangled noise caught in my throat, but she only smiled with a white, gleaming Cheshire grin pulled across her perfect lips.

I noticed for the first time that she was wearing my t-shirt—the one I'd used to cover her when I'd found her topless and sleepwalking in the Santa Fe mansion.

What was going on? my brain screamed at me. Was Lee sleepwalking again?

All thoughts and attempts to make sense of the situation came to a crashing halt when Lee's fingers hooked under the bottom hem of the grey t-shirt and she pulled it up and over her head. She tousled her fingers through her white blonde hair once her head had cleared the garment.

I tried to sit up, but Lee's firm hands against my sternum pushed me back down. She silently shook her head; I wasn't going anywhere.

Pale moonlight spilled onto her profile, casting an eerie shadow across her face and upper torso. I swallowed hard while my greedy eyes took in the sight of her half-naked form. The soft, rounded shoulders, the jutting collarbone, the pale breasts capped with light pink nipples, the flat abdomen, and tapered waist. I hadn't allowed myself the indulgence before, guilt mixing with propriety, when I'd found her sleepwalking.