Inconveniences

Chapter 21

When I woke up, the first thing I realized was that I didn't want to wake up.

Bloody hell, I've never slept on a bed this comfortable!

The next thing I noticed was a slight, comfortable pressure below my waist, right at the top of my leg. I tried turning around, but I was not able to since there appeared to have been something in my way.
I heard a slight, complaining grumble.
That's when I realized what was going on.
Looking over my shoulder, I saw Mr Lancaster sleeping on his stomach, his face turned towards me, with his arm tossed over my hips. Since my chemise rode up during the night, his hand rested on my upper thigh. I was sleeping on my side with my back to him in a fetal position, with my injured wrist propped up by a pillow- the exact pose I fell asleep in.
Heat rose up in my body.

It's not like either of you did this on purpose! We can't control our bodies while sleeping!

I felt that my reasoning was slightly hypocritical, since I managed to do it just fine.
Mr Lancaster's hand would once in a while grip my thigh... I found myself getting distracted when he did that.
On accident, of course!
There were some more unhappy grumbles behind me and I felt the bed shift. Mr Lancaster removed his arm from me and turned over to lay on his back. The bed shifted some more as he stretched out and popped some joints.
"Miss Hemmings, I know that you are awake."
Sighing defeatedly, I slowly turned around to face him.
"How could you tell?"
"You snore, and when you were not snoring, I figured you were awake."
"What? I don't snore!"
"You were not the one hearing it all night."
That must have been amusement I heard in his voice.
I finally opened my eyes. I squinted a bit to get my eyes to adjust to the light faster.
Then I wished I closed my eyes.
Mr Lancaster was sitting up in the bed, back against the headboard, and the blanket fell to his waist. I averted my eyes a fast as possible, but the sight of his hard, muscular, masculine chest was emblazoned into my occipital lobe. It was not a sight that my hippocampus would ever let me forget.
Reminding myself that I had to defend my honor as a non snorer, I snapped out of my thoughts.
"At least I don't sleep like an octopus! You sprawled out all over the place like you owned it!"
"I do own it-" he broke off before he could finish his thought. Old habits die hard. I rose a questioning eyebrow at him. Without my permission, the corner of my mouth quirked up into a smirk.
"Mr Lancaster, I'd love to remind that I own the place."
"But what do you mean by sleeping like an octopus?"
He seemed slightly flustered, so I acquiesced to his hidden plea to change the subject.
"You were all sprawled out like the files in your office. Just... All over the place! And and your hand was on me!"
"What? You mean like... This?"
Mr Lancaster lightly traced along the bottom hem of my chemise, barely touching my skin. Without my permission, I felt my eyes widen in surprise.
"M-Mr Lancaster, n-no! It wasn't like that!"
"How about... This?"
He firmly and... Possessively... grabbed my upper thigh.
"No! Well, I mean, yes, it was like that, but you can't just- !"
He started to hungrily, but very gently, run his hands up and down my legs and all the way up to my waist. Mr Lancaster shifted his position until he was looming over me, straddling my legs for better access to my entire body.

My body...
Oh god!

I pulled the blanket up to my chin. He was probably able to see my entire body through that chemise!
Mr Lancaster let out a low chuckle.

A chuckle?

There was definitely amusement behind it.
"You said that I cannot just- what? You never seem to finish your sentences. You should learn to be less distracting. DistractED! You never know what might happen to you when you are unaware."
"You're saying that as if there was something I should be aware of right now, sir," I said, confused. Sitting up, I put my good hand on Mr Lancaster's chest (what a feeling that was!) and gently guided him off me.
"We must get to work, sir. We can't just laze around all day! We already slept in too late. Wait a minute..."
My eyes went wide again.
"Well? I do not have all day, Miss Hemmings."
"We slept in!"
"We did."
"Past 4 am! Both of us!"
"Indeed."
"And you're okay with that?"
"Pretend that I was not okay with it. What could I do about it now? Go back in time?"
"No! Um, well, actually... You're always full of surprises, sir, so I couldn't guess."
"The answer is no, Miss Hemmings. I cannot travel back in time. What has happened is over and we cannot do anything about it."
His steel silver eyes held mine powerfully captivated. His eyes spoke volumes, but his lips would only ever utter sentences. In Mr Lancaster's eyes, I could see the events that have happened over the past few days... But I didn't see any regret.
In fact, all I saw in his eyes was a desire to make another memory like that, um... Kiss... again.
Mr Lancaster tugged the duvet down from under my chin, exposing more od my body. And I let him! What was happening with me?
Then I didn't do a single god damn thing to stop his eyes from wandering over my body.
"Jesus Christ..." He whispered softly to himself. He put a hand on my waist and urged me closer. I followed willingly, like he was Jesus and I was one of his Apostles.