Envelope Challenge

Chapter 19 - Recovery

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The word "Hey" greeted Polly when she woke up. Her eyes flickered open and looked into Nathaniel's deep brown eyes leaning over her. "You sure slept well."

She stretched her arms up over her head and started to twist her neck to crack it, but the squeaking and pain somehow managed to stop her from doing her daily routine. Her vision suddenly blackened and she got light headed. A second later, the room came back and she decided not to crack her neck anymore. Instead, she stretched her legs out and reached over to the hand Nathaniel still held on her waist. Her fingers wove through his and she smiled.

"Sleep well?" she asked.

"Except for my arm falling asleep, just great," he informed her and she flushed before lifting up her waist. He slipped her arm out from under her and stretched his arm up, returning blood flow. "Thanks for that."

"Were you stuck here all night?" she asked in guilt.

"I can think of worse things than being near a beautiful girl in the middle of the night," he stated suggestively.

His eyes raked down her body. She looked to see her disheveled clothes and to learn that her shirt slipped down in her sleep, now showing the top of her bra quite obviously. She unlaced their fingers quickly and tugged it up with all of her willpower, the blood rushing to her face in the process.

"I'm going to hope that happened because I was tossing and turning," she growled in a whisper. "If you did it, you won't see tomorrow."

He leered at her playfully and winked, still working the kinks out of his arm. "Trust me, if I'd been the one, your shirt wouldn't be on right now." Reaching over, he plucked at the neck of her shirt only to have his hand batted away.

Glancing over at the door to the hotel, she realized there was something she was missing, something she was forgetting. It was important... something that happened yesterday night and changed everything...

"The game thing!" she gasped. "Did he seriously come here and tell us it was over? Is it seriously over?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

Horror filled her eyes and then sadness took its place. "So, it was a dream after all. I knew it couldn't be true."

"I'm sorry," he hurried and smoothed down her hair. "I was joking... like you did at the hospital. He really did come here and explain everything. This thing is over; we can head home now."

A smile broke out across her face and she abandoned all worries over her hurt neck. With a light laugh, she jumped off the bed and looked back over at him. With a loud clap of her hands, she danced around the bed until she was standing directly in front of his very amused self. He grabbed her hands and she kept smiling wildly.

"This is awesome!" she squealed. "It's over!"

With another giggle, she pulled on his hands and he stood up. Chest to chest, she kissed him without hesitation. He stood rigid for a moment in shock before winding his arm around her waist. Unlike the other times, this was ten times more intimate as he pulled her closer to him. He deepened the kiss roughly and she squealed in pleasant surprise. When he turned them around and pushed gently so he was sitting on the bed with her straddling his lap, her eyes snapped open and she realized exactly what she was doing.

With a feminine hand on his chest, he broke the kiss slowly and only lifted his head away from hers that they weren't in physical contact. He was still close enough to be considered intimate.