The Love I Need

Chapter 33

Theo has the loudest, most obnoxious alarm I have ever heard, and the giant still manages to continue sleeping for a few seconds.

The noisy beeping had my eyes flashing open in a heartbeat to find my hand curled tightly in a thick beard, and a rugged face with long, dark lashes resting against its cheeks, inches away from mine.

I wait for him to open his eyes, and when he doesn't, I give his beard a gentle tug. "Theo?"

A blaring alarm he can sleep through, but either my quiet voice or the soft tug on his beard has him awake in an instant.

"You okay?" are the first words out of his mouth.

"No," I grumble, only to immediately feel bad when he lifts his arm off of me and starts trying to give me some space. "Your dang alarm is loud as hell," I add, and watch as he calms down and allows his arm to rest against me again.

"I'm a heavy sleeper," he tells me while sliding an arm beneath my head to reach toward the floor. I wonder what he's up to but then his alarm stops screaming, and his eyes drift close again. He must have put his phone on the floor last night.

I can't say that I blame him for closing his eyes. I'm exhausted too. "If you were going to allow yourself to be late, why did you insist on keeping your alarm set?"

"I won't be late," he mumbles without opening his eyes, "I have two more alarms."

"Oh, okay." I turn my face to rest my cheek against the arm that he's wedged beneath my head. His bicep flexes beneath my skin when he curls his arm up to lightly stroke the hair above my ear.

Is he drawing me in for a kiss?

I wait with bated breath for his hand to press against the back of my head to pull me closer, or for him to move his face forward to close the gap between our lips, but nothing happens.

His fingers in my hair move more and more slowly until they stop altogether and his eyes remain closed.

The fucker just fell back asleep.

I have the sudden urge to shake him awake, but it turns out I don't have to. His fucking alarm starts screaming again.

I jump at the sound, not having expected it to go off again so soon, and the action startles Theo awake.

"What's wrong?" he asks, pressing his palm to my cheek while he searches my eyes.

"Your fucking alarm, Theo," I complain, ignoring the fluttering feeling in my stomach. "If it's going to go off every two minutes, just get up now."

He lets out a tired grumble and closes his eyes again. "It's the worst, right?"

"Theo!"

He chuckles and moves his hand from my cheek, dropping his arm that is curled around my head to feel around on the floor for his phone again.

"Okay, okay," he draws out after silencing the loud beeping. "But you're going to have to get up for a minute too so that I can get off the couch."

Now it's my turn to grumble and close my eyes.

Theo laughs and tickles my side. "Come on, Milia," he coaxes, "You can go right back to sleep after I get up."

I try to squirm away from his tickling, but it's impossible to get away and remain laying down next to him. Begrudgingly, I sit up and push his hand away from my ticklish side, then stand up from the couch with my hands on my hips. "Okay, get up," I demand, wanting him off the couch so that I can lie down again.

He gives me a lazy grin as if he has all the time in the world, but when I glare down at him, he lets out an old man grunt and uses the back of the couch to hoist his body into a sitting position.