Ezekiel's POV:
Getting out of the car to hug a teary Bailey, saying our goodbyes and "I love you"s.
It's finally the day of the business trip, and I am so excited for it.
"Good morning Z," Aven whispers placing his head on my shoulder from behind, making me smile and blush, of course, "looking forward to our trip, are you?"
"Absolutely," I smile, turning my head to look at him.
I ignore how close our faces are when I do and just smile at him, my eyes dropping to his lips for only a moment.
His eyes look at my lips for a moment longer and the blush on my cheeks gets worse.
"Hey V," I whisper, he hums in response, "I've never been on a plane."
He chuckles, moving his head away from my shoulder, "it's alright, I'll be right next to you," he smiles warmly.
My eyes connect with the floor, I'm not very good at eye contact, especially when he's making faces like that.
We head onto the plane and I've never seen one like it.
"This is another one of the company projects, a plane that gives back. The solar panels on the roof produces energy, and we are working on making the engine not only produce less CO2, but we are working on different engine systems that will produce limited to none at all." (I am not a plane expert, I have no idea if this is possible, but for book purposes, it is.)
"That's so cool," I say looking up at it. I probably look like a kid in Disneyland.
We get on the plane and Aven holds my hand the whole way through, the view was amazing, but it freaked me out being on the plane.
But Aven made me feel safe.
Once we all make our way off his plane we get in the car, all of us smiling wide at each other and at the view. We're in London.
"So, once we get to the hotel, I can sign us in. We got one couple room, for Sandra and I, and then I got you two a room together. The bedrooms are separate and all, but you will be sharing the living space, is that alright?" Leanne informs us.
Aven and I nod at her, both of us being fine living together for a week. I don't think I've ever connected with a person so quickly, but it just feels like we were meant to meet.
"Wow, good choice on the hotel Leanne," Aven says as we park out the front, all of us looking up at this beautiful building. It's not a city skyscraper that Aven is probably used to, but it's a gorgeous old style, almost castle like, building.
"Good morning, two rooms for Earth Energy, under Leanne."
The look on the man's face when she says this makes it obvious that he knows who we are. "Of course," he says typing away on his computer.
"If you follow me, I can take you up to your rooms," he says, getting up from his desk.
Once we're in the elevator he leans over to me, "you are so lucky."
"What?" I ask, shocked and confused.
"The way Aven holds you and looks at you, I wish I had that," he sighs.
"I don't really know what you're talking about sorry, I'm just his assistant."
"Really?" he asks, looking genuinely shocked.
"Yeah, really," I smile at him, sneaking a glance at Aven.
"By the way," he continues, "I can see why he hired you, you're really damn attractive."
My mouth drops open, heat spreading over my cheeks. I stutter trying to get a response out of him while he chuckles quietly.
"Thank you, you're not bad yourself," I say, smiling at him.
This elevator ride seems a lot longer than it looked like it should be.
"oh, silly me," he says next to me, "it would help if I chose the floor we were going to."
We all chuckle slightly.
The elevator finally starts moving, and we ride in silence, the colour on my cheeks finally fading.
"Right this way," he says, walking out first.
He gestures to two doors next to each other halfway down the carpeted hallway. "Here are your room keys, there is only one each so don't lose them."
"Thank you for your assistance," I smile at him.
"Anytime sir, let me know if you need anything, I am the host of this floor so you can contact me directly through your room phones. Enjoy." He smiles heading back to the elevator.
"We can get all settled in and hang out in our rooms, then maybe meet up for dinner?" Sandra suggests.
"That sounds like a good plan," Aven says and the three of us smile at her.
We open the door and it's just as gorgeous. Despite the old-fashioned exterior, the rooms are modern and very fancy.
While I'm looking through the kitchen and the rest of the living area Aven comes out of one of the bedrooms with a serious look on his face.
"We have a minor issue."
"What's wrong V?"
"Well," he grabs my arm, pulling me into the room he just came out of.
When I walk in my face drops, "oh," is all I can manage to say.
"Yeah."
He opens the front door and walks across to the girls' room, and I follow close behind him.
"Yes, my dear?" Sandra says opening the door.
"I think we got the wrong room," Aven says.
"I mean, I'm pretty sure this is the couple room, but you can take a look and swap if you'd like?"
Aven walks in and freezes, looking from the wine and flowers on the counter to the candles and rose petals leading to a bedroom.
He walks out without another word, "sorry about him, we got a room with only one bed," I try to explain. Leanne chuckles slightly and Sandra smiles, I smile at them both and leave their room.
Once I'm back in my room I go and sit next to Aven on the couch.
"I can sleep on the couch if you'd like," I say, not wanting to make him uncomfortable.
"No don't be ridiculous, I can sleep on the couch," he looks over at me, "the last thing I want is for you to be uncomfortable."
I look away, unable to keep eye contact when he's looking at me like that.
"I mean, we're friends, I don't think it'd be that big of a deal if we just shared the bed," I say shyly, "as long as you're comfortable with that?"
"Yeah, that's fine," he smiles.
We spend the rest of the day on the couch watching different movies, I wasn't really paying attention to anything but his arm around me, fingers softly caressing my side, and the sound of his heart beating under my head. I laughed whenever he laughed, and acted shocked every time he did, loving the smile he would give me with each different reaction.
I wake up to a gentle kiss on my head, fingers softly running through my hair.
"Good morning sleeping beauty," Aven smiles down at me.
"How long was I asleep for?"
"Long enough," he laughs, "it's about 6 o'clock so we have to start getting ready to go out with the girls."
I try to get up, but his arm stops me, "V, if we're getting ready you have to let me go."
"Just a little longer, I like you in my arms," he mumbles.
I snuggle closer to his chest grateful for the position I'm lying in so he can't see the blush spreading on my face.
With a final kiss on the head he moves his arm from around me, moving to the bedroom to get dressed without another word.
I sit on the couch a moment longer wondering what just happened. It probably didn't even mean anything and I'm just overthinking things, but my mind can't help but wonder what's going through his head right now.
Knocking on the bedroom door, not wanting to walk in and see something neither of us want me to.
"Come in," Aven's muffled voice calls out from behind the door.
"What kind of outfit should I be choosing?" I ask, trying to sound as calm as possible with the glorious sight of Aven's bare back staring back at me, the muscles moving as he does up his pants.
"What do you mean?" He says turning to look at me.
I have to force my jaw not to drop, hoping he didn't notice my eyes glancing down.
Shit he's hot.
"Like," I move my hands trying to form the words, "how fancy should I be dressing?"
"Ummm," he looks down to finish doing up his pants, and I use this as an opportunity to take a proper look.
"Not a full suit, but still dressy," he answers, looking back up at my face.
"Alright, I can do that," I smile.
I try to ignore his eyes on me as I undress, thinking about what I'm going to wear.
I look up at him shyly, hoping he gets the hint.
He clears his throat and walks out, closing the door behind himself, letting me get changed in peace.
"You look incredible," he stands up from the couch as I walk out of the bedroom.
"Not too bad yourself," I say, trying to hide the blush his words created.
*time skip to after dinner*
"Well, that was fun," I laugh as he pushes the door open.
He chuckles when I stumble into him when he doesn't walk into the door as fast as I was expecting, both of us holding onto each other while we laugh our way into the room.
We stumble our way into the bedroom, him dragging me down onto the bed making both us laugh even harder, his arms tightening around my waist.
"V, we have to get changed, we can't sleep in our clothes."
In response he grunts and moves his arm. I get up to change into my pyjama shorts and oversized shirt while Aven just strips down to his boxers on the bed.
I turn off the light hoping he didn't notice the blush on my cheeks. I cautiously walk over to the bed, trying not to trip over anything.
He grabs me when I'm close enough, making me let out a surprised yelp, which makes him chuckle.
"V?" I say, sounding more like a question, as he pulls me into him, his arms wrapping around my waist again.
He pulls away suddenly, "are you ok with me cuddling you?"
I chuckle slightly, snuggling into him, "of course."
"Goodnight Z," he says, kissing my forehead again.
I give up trying to understand what he's doing and just snuggle closer into him, making myself comfortable.
I love being in his arms, we just fit together.