'Tis the Season

Chapter 17: Sugar Plums

Chapter Seventeen: Sugar Plums

Waking up in Carson's embrace as he hums an undistinguishable tune in my ear gives me a wave of calmness that I've never experienced before. It's like all the drama from the past 20 hours fades away, leaving just the two of us in our own little bubble of contentedness.

"You stayed with me?" I shift in his arms, relishing the warmth emanating off of his body as I scoot even closer to him.

"Of course."

"Carson, you must have things to do. You've gotta be hungry, at the very least. We did say we weren't going to treat this like playing house, you didn't have to stay."

"Actually, beautiful, I think me being able to comfort you whenever you need it falls under the pros section of this arrangement," he counters and I let him win the argument just like that. I'll never protest his cuddles.

"What time is it?"

Carson reaches around me to the bedside table and checks his phone. "About noon."

"Carson! You were here with me for six hours?" He chuckles as I sit up and pushes himself to be sitting too.

"I fell asleep for a bit too, Naomi. Onto more important things, we need to get you unpacked again." He gets off the bed and walks over to the doorway where my bag is laying, unzipping it.

I groan a little, not wanting to get up.

"Can we eat first? I'm so hungry," I sidle over next to him, leaning my chin against his chest and looking up at him with my best puppy dog eyes.

"Nope. C'mon, the quicker we get this done the quicker we can go eat."

I frown and lazily pick up one of my tops, folding it halfheartedly and throwing it into a drawer.

"Do you have anywhere to be for the rest of the day?" I ask, picking up another and repeating the process.

"No, but I did promise my mom that I'd run and do some grocery shopping for tomorrow. Don't forget that we have the gift exchange," he reminds me as he neatly winds up my laptop charger and puts it in the drawer of the nightstand.

"Oh, that's right. I have to go get another dress since someone got chocolate all over the other one I bought," I throw Carson a glance over my shoulder and he laughs.

"Well, it's a party with the same people, so you really couldn't wear that dress again anyways. You should be thanking me, I'm saving you from what would've been a fashion tragedy," he passes me on my way back to the dresser, kissing the side of my head playfully.

"I hadn't thought about that. Ugh, you're right. Any more parties I should know about, I might as well stock up on my evening wear all at once," I place the last pair of my jeans in the drawer and shut it before meeting Carson's eyes.

"Nope. We do ugly sweaters for Christmas here, but I've already got you covered on that front," he winks. I roll my eyes and push past him to open the door.

"Let's go eat, please. I'm practically starving here," Carson rolls his eyes and we head downstairs to find something to make for lunch.

"Oh, good, you're both up. Naomi, I trust you've unpacked?" Emilia calls to us from the living room as we pass it. I give her a grateful smile.

"Don't worry, Carson wouldn't feed me until I did," I let her know and she gives us a firm nod.

"That's a good boy. Carson don't forget-"