Irresistible Deception

26

Ameo opened his eyes, it was the next morning. He had never slept this well in a long time. He often experienced night terrors of his younger years that he refused to even sleep longer than 3 hours if they got worse.

Ameo's muscles flexed when pushing himself up to sit, he looked over at his digital clock on his nightstand and it was already nine. He sighed, letting a hand run over his hair. He undoubtedly needed to start his massive pile of paperwork soon, it would be a hell lot of trouble if pushed any further.

His mind shifted to Blair; she had insisted he should go to bed. But how she managed to convince him was beyond his understanding. He never allowed someone to change his mind drastically except for his mother and sometimes sister.

Ameo then caught something moving in the corner of his eye.

And there she was, in the far corner of the edge of the bed, fast asleep in the fetus position.

What the hell was she doing here?

Ameo attempted to move closer to her and pull her away from the edge, but Blair's face frowned in discomfort to his movement and shifted even closer to the edge of the bed. Ameo became anxious that she might fall off.

Attentively, he scooted closer, pulling her from the corner. A tiny sound escaped her lips as soon as she laid there on his chest, quite contented in his arms.

He caressed her face, his fingertips brushed away strands of hair that fell over her face. Her eyelids fluttered before her round eyes stared up at him. Ameo couldn't help but admire the way she looked up at him, so transparent, with no hidden agenda behind them.

He then placed his lips on the top of her messy head of hair. "Good morning, Blair. "

His gritty, lazy voice vibrated through Blair, giving her a sense of comfort. "Good morning, Ameo..." Her voice was quiet, but was heard nonetheless.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah..."

"Mmm, good." Ameo muzzled his face further into her sweet-scented hair, and his arm rested on her back. A blush painted Blair's cheeks when she felt like they were perhaps a couple. Were they lovers now?

As fast as that thought came, she threw it out. She shouldn't be so dreamy, they were just comfortable with each other, enough to... kiss? Do friends of the opposite sex kiss? Was it normal?

"You should sleep more, you stayed awake last night," he said before pulling away from her, stepping out of the bed. And his warmth left her.

Blair sat up and saw Ameo grabbing a robe from the walk-in closet. "But where are you going?"

He was already headed to the door when he responded. "I have some unfinished work to do."

Blair stood up and hurried over to him and held his shirt, hindering him from going any further. "No, come sleep with me."

Ameo's jaw tightened, he turned and stared at her with an expression that was hard to read.

They stayed in silence for a few seconds. Her eyes went wide, her cheeks reddened with the realisation that the phrase came out wrong. "N-no, not that kind of way. I-I meant--"

She let out a shriek when he threw her over his shoulder. He went back to the bed and lowered her down.

"Blair, are you tempting me right now?" he said in a placid tone, his now dark gaze drilled into hers.

Blair wrinkled her brows in puzzlement. "Tempting you?" she asked.

He studied her for a bit, his face then going suddenly soft. "Be careful of those kinds of statements, because they can be taken as a hint of something else. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Blair blushed and averted her eyes away from his.

Ameo took her silence as a yes before walking toward the door. Blair felt his presence move further away. She then heard the door close shut and once again, she was alone.

***

Ever since she came to this place about 3 months ago, she watched Ameo and wondered where his room was. Until a few days ago, when she asked where his room was. There was a secret floor above the third that she didn't even know existed.

From that day on, Blair continued to insist on Ameo sleeping, she would even stay in his room and wait until he fell asleep.

Although Ameo found her stubborn behaviour entertaining, he worried about her lack of sleep. There were many instances where he would pretend to fall asleep for Blair to get some rest, which worked when he shortly discovered she was a fast sleeper.

He would carry her to his bed whenever she fell asleep on any nearby chair.

And tonight, Blair was deep asleep in the chair again. She was curled up on the chair as usual with a thick blanket which was a surprise to Ameo, she usually forgot to put a cover over herself.

Sighing, he picked her up with little to no effort; it was like she was getting lighter and lighter. That concerned Ameo. Didn't she eat enough proper food? He took a mental note to inform Alina about this.

He walked over to the bed to put her down. But Blair held on to his shirt, not letting him go.

Ameo watched as she opened her eyes in a panic. "Ameo, is that you?"

He then noticed that her eyes were unfocused. She was still half asleep.

"Ameo?" She tried sitting up to see him clearer.

He immediately placed a hand to her forehead, covering her sight too and pushed her gently to the bed. He removed her hands that were clinging onto him. "You're tired. Get more sleep, it's early."

After a while of silence, Ameo lifted his hand away from the now fast asleep Blair.

He softly touched her cheek, watching her sound asleep. Although their relationship has improved, that she no longer saw him as a threat was a good thing. But an invisible wall between them was still there; she never told him about what her past was like... and neither did he.

Ameo then retrieved his hand away when remembering he had a great amount of work to do and this would be discussed on a much later date.