Last Night

Part 13

I woke to a painful bubble in my chest so I burped to release it. Pulling my covers up to my face, I buried myself deeper into the cool sheets. I always had bad indigestion after drinking that much.

"That was attractive." An uncomfortably close and familiar male voice said.

I shoved back with all the force I could muster and fell out of bed with my legs tangled in the sheets. Struggling to right myself, my eyes shot to where the voice originated.

Ian sat upright in my bed with one of my current reads tucked in his hands. He had a teasing smile plastered on his face as he took in my disheveled appearance. "If that's how you wake up every morning with a bedmate, it's no wonder it's been unoccupied for so long."

I wanted to retort with some snarky comment, but the fact that he sat there in my room, in my bed was still a difficult reality to accept. "Why?"

"Why indeed? Why are you such a bad big sister, Nicole?"

I gripped my forehead as my hangover headache began pounding. I did not want to throw up again. "That's none of your business. I know we've been getting along better lately, but this is too far."

"Let's see here. You're the one who wandered up to my place. The hall reeked of both you and alcohol. I couldn't help, but be curious about why you wanted to see me so I stopped over to find you delirious and about to walk out of your apartment at three in the morning." He slid out of bed, still completely dressed in now wrinkled khaki pants and a navy dress shirt. "You were a danger to yourself."

"So you stayed the night to keep an eye on me?" I asked, brushing my tangled curls from my face and trying to put last night's timeline back together in my head. "That sounds awfully nice of you."

"Yeah, well, you can just call me Mr. Freeze. And furthermore, you're getting into a really bad habit of not locking your door again. Someone could just waltz right in and rob you blind, or worse." He walked around the bed to my side and extended a hand to me.

I grabbed hold of his hand and pulled myself up, kicking the sheet off of my foot. "I'm not sure there's anything scarier out there than you. I think I might have lost a few years off my life waking up like that. What were you doing out at three am?"

"Coming back from work." He released my hand and took a step back. "You really should call in, by the way, it's almost nine."

"I took the day off." With that I wandered over to my dresser and grabbed a few articles to make an outfit. "Shouldn't you be passed out or catching fire or something?"

I froze, timidly peeking over my shoulder at him. "Um, sorry, that came out harsher than I intended."

He just smiled at me, impervious to my morning-hangover-grumpiness. "That's direct sunlight and I'm awake, aren't I?"

I continued to the doorway and paused so I could face him. "Please, tell me you don't sparkle."

"I don't sparkle."

I released a breath and my shoulders loosened. "Thank God. I honestly don't know what I would've done if I found out that was true."

He shuddered and followed me out of the bedroom. "Yeah, I probably would've tried harder to off myself if that were the case."

My feet fumbled and I stumbled into the door frame, tripping forward. The clothes flew from my hands as I attempted to catch myself on the sink.

"Are you sure you're not doing that on purpose?" There was a hint of annoyance in his voice. Ian had a hand tucked under my arm and righted me before my hand ever reached the sink.