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Chapter Sixteen: Annika

I wait outside the powder room for Silas. I pace back and forth.

I don't know how I'm going to say this. I don't want it to be taken the wrong way. I hope he understands what I mean and want by what I am going to be asking him.

After talking to my mom, I made a decision, and I need to say it now before I change my mind. I can't chicken out because it will affect not only me but him as well.

"Shit!" He barks out. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting you to be standing right there."

"I want you to sleep with me." I blurt out and quickly add after hearing how that sounds. "As in sleeping... not sex." He lights up in a way that makes me smile and feel warm inside.

"Obviously." He says. "Are you sure?"

"I think we need to go through the motions of our normal routine and you across the hall isn't that. I didn't sleep well last night either. Maybe I need you with me."

"Whatever you want." He says with a toothy smile. "Ready for bed?" He asks eagerly. I nod, and he leads the way.

"Walk me through everything." He pulls me to the bathroom.

"We normally come up, and both wash our faces, brush our teeth, you know, the normal bathroom stuff. You like to floss at night." He is the encyclopedia of my life.

After we finish cleaning up, I walk over to my walk-in closet. "What do you and I wear to bed?" Do we wear clothes to bed? I don't know how married people work.

He coughs pausing. Yep, we sleep naked, and that is not happening. "You wear these silky gown things." Another pregnant pause. "I normally just wear my briefs, but I'll find some sweatpants or something, so you're not uncomfortable."

"I don't mind. Nothing I haven't already seen. Which side is mine?"

"The right side." That's the side I have been on. "We keep the door open so that Ponce can come and go. If we close it, we close him in here cause his litter box is in our bathroom."

I go to the closet to change in privacy. When I return, the lights are out, and he is already under the covers. His bare chest exposed. I'm in a light blue gown that has lace on the top edge. You can see my free nipples through it, so I go under the covers quickly.

He stuffs a pillow between us. "I'm a cuddler in my sleep."

"Man the barricades."

"You can just shove me off if I on you or in your space."

"Right, because the pillow won't stop you." He laughs, moving it back behind his head. I roll to my side, facing him. He mirrors me. Brushing my hair out of my face and I get a lump in my throat. I can't speak. He paralyzes me with his green gaze. His hands skim down my neck, shoulder, arm, and to my side. I'm covered in goosebumps. My nipples harden under the silk. The glow from the outside that billowed into the room shuts off, meaning that it 11:00 PM. "Night Silas."

"Night Annika. I love you."

I squeeze his hand. "I'm in strong like with you." I decide to say; it's honest. He needs to know how I'm feeling. I not in love territory yet... but I'm getting close. Is it too soon? I haven't even been awake a week, but I can't deny the feeling bubbling inside of me.

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I wake up with my head on his chest. Our arms around each other.

I guess I'm a cuddly sleeper as well.

I don't want to move, but I need to before he wakes up.