Less than Perfect

Epilogue {part three}

Despite the fact that Skye had no desire to cut their night together short, she could feel her exhausted body crumbling from the pressures of the long, thoroughly eventful day, and wrapped her arms around herself, yawning, while she tried her best to stand on her own two feet. And with the air-conditioning in the house now hitting her wet, partially exposed body at full blast, she couldn't stop herself from shivering erratically under the waves of cold, teeth chattering and body quivering.

Her stomach did a little flip when realization dawned across Jules's face, eyes softening, and he snatched a dry towel from the rack, wrapping it around her and crushing her in his arms. "Skye, you're freezing," he pointed out, voice deep and gentle. "You should take a hot bath. It'll fix you right up."

Even though she'd instantly felt better just by being in his arms again, with a warm towel wrapped around her, she nodded her head anyway. "Okay. Sounds great."

Without saying another word, Jules pulled her free hand (the one that wasn't clutching the towel to keep it in place) in his, entwining their fingers together, and lead her up a stairwell just around the corner, leading her down the hall and to the master bathroom, where, after showing her where everything was and filling the tub with warm, sudsy water, he kissed her forehead and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

AFTER A LONG, soothing bath that left Skye feeling rejuvenated—warm all over and suddenly quite perky again—she padded her way down the hallway, once in awhile poking her head into the bedrooms, on the lookout for Jules. He hadn't been in the master bedroom like she'd expected him to be, and there hadn't been a sign of him since he'd left her in the bathroom to herself. Now she could only wonder where he'd disappeared to.

"Looking for something?" a warm, familiar voice said from behind her, stopping her in her tracks. She turned towards the voice, turned towards Jules, who, now dressed in sweatpants and a fitting white t-shirt, had his arms crossed over his chest, book in one hand, while his bright eyes roamed over Skye's body innocently, and he snickered. "Like me, maybe?"

From her spot in the middle of the hallway, a few feet away from where he was, she couldn't tell whether he looked sleepy or not, but she could only guess from the tousled locks of hair curling around his face to the casual sleepwear he now wore that he was ready for a little rest, and soon. And, having been caught off guard from his sudden appearance, she bit her lip and calmed her rapidly beating heart, ran a hand through her own damp, wavy hair.

"I wasn't looking for anything," she finally said, and when the words came out too small to pass as truth, she cleared her throat and tried again. "I mean—I wasn't looking for you. I was just looking around."

He grinned. "Sure you were," he said with a hint of sarcasm, chuckling. "You were just looking around . . . for me."

"Fine," she admitted, and took a couple steps forward to close the distance between them, "you caught me. I was looking for you. But really it's your fault; you didn't tell me where you'd be."

A smug smile tugged at the corners of his lips, and he took two steps forward, also, filling the gap. "I was in the den, reading." He held out the book in his hand, so she could catch the title, and said, "See?"

"Well," she huffed indignantly, "you still could've told me. It's not like I wanted to wander around the house all alone, looking for you."

"What did you want to do, then?" he asked her, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. "Were you planning on cuddling with me? Or talking to me? No wait—you didn't want to sleep with me, did you?"

Before she could stop herself, she gaped at him, mouth hanging open, eyes wide, as she put together what he'd just said. Knots were suddenly forming in her stomach, and, because of the intensity of his taunting gaze, she found herself unable to form words. But after an agonizingly long moment of floundering, she finally said, "No. I—I just wanted to be with you. I—"