Page 53 of Fractured Fate
“Not really. I’ll probably get there around two in the morning.”
“That’s too late, especially passing Atlanta. You can stay here.”
“I can’t—”
“You can. You’re gonna be so tired.”
As if summoned by her words, he yawned and she raised a brow at him as if to say “See, told you so.” He groaned.
He had hardly slept, and the situation was deteriorating. He’d hate to fall asleep behind the wheel. Even if the likelihood of him being okay because of his rapid healing, he didn’t want to ruin his mom’s car.
She had told him to keep the car for a couple of days anyway since she didn’t have classes to teach, and she wanted to do some deep cleaning of the house and wouldn’t need to go anywhere.
“Fine. Sure. I’ll take the couch.”
“What?” She looked at the loveseat against the sliding glass doors and back at him. “Tell me you’re joking.”
“No? What’s wrong?”
“What are you, like six three? Four?”
“Six two.”
“Well, it feels like more since I only come up to your shoulders.”
He wasn’t as tall as Lukas and Kai, but he understood. Charlotte was as short as his little sister, and Riley always had something to say about his height.
“What about it?”
“It’s a loveseat, Aiden. It’s not a full-size couch. It’s like the perfect length for me to lie down on, not you.”
“I can make it work.”
“And I would feel uncomfortable knowing I had a full bed to myself while you were subjected to that.”
He scratched his jaw. “So should I go then?”
She set the controller down and stood. “No. You should take the bed and I’ll take the loveseat.”
“I’m not putting you out of your bed.”
“No, you’re accepting my gracious offer of a more comfortable place to sleep,” she said matter-of-factly, as if that solved everything.
“I’m not letting you sleep on the loveseat in your own home.”
Her hands went to her hips. “And I’m not letting you sleep on it, either.”
They stared one another down and for the life of him, he couldn’t understand what the big deal was. It’s not like he hadn’t slept on a couch before. He was trying to be a gentleman by not letting her sleep on living room furniture in her own place.
Seeing that he wouldn’t get anywhere with the firm resolve written all over her face, he sighed. Thishas to be a redhead thing, or maybe a short girl thing, since Riley is just as stubborn.
“I’ll sleep in the bed under one condition.”
“Name it,” she fired back, a triumphant look on her face.
“You sleep in the bed too.”
Her arched brows raised as her mouth gaped. Maybe he shouldn’t have proposed that solution, but he didn’t want to put her out.
