20 Bedtime story

Jackson wanted to stay, but I made him go home letting him know I needed a good nights rest for tomorrow. He relented without much of a fuss but made me promise to call him tomorrow morning before I went in.

Now, I'm laying here wide awake in bed as all I can think about is him and how relaxed I feel around him. I would have already been asleep if he had been here. I flipped, flopped and cuddled the pillows that still smelled like him. The pillow was not helping, his scent was turning me on and making me blush.

Oh dear lord... I'm already smitten. I can not fall asleep and I'm smelling the pillow to try and relax because it smells like him.

The sound of my phone chirping pulls me to push myself up like a cat and grab it off the nightstand. It's from Jackson.

-I am finding it very hard to fall asleep without you.-

-You are not alone in your endeavor.-

-I was not expecting you to actually respond till in the morning. Is it selfish of me that I'm happy to know I'm not the only one?-

-Yes, but at least we're suffering together.- 

I sigh, still in disbelief that this was my Jacks from childhood. Who apparently cared about me even back then. I knew he cared but not like this. 

My phone rings and it's a video call from Jacks. 

"Hey you." I answer sitting up a little farther.

"Hey. I thought maybe looking at you might help me fall asleep." He smiled. I could tell he was laying down sideways on his bed, a dark grey pillow under his head.

I smiled and propped my phone against a pillow facing me laying sideways as well. I placed the pillow that smelled of him under my head.

"There now it's like we're laying next to each other. I can even smell you." I giggle when his eyes widen.

"That's not fair. I don't have anything that smells like you." He gives me the cutest pout I ever seen on anyone that has me giggling harder.

"I'll have to remedy that soon." I say shyly, blushing like the girls in school used to. I was always annoyed when those girls would get all bubbly and giggly. I thought they were just a bunch of giggling hyenas. Now here I am giggling and blushing just like them, more proof I'm starting to fall in love with him...

Jackson hums, "I'd rather just have you in my arms."

I laugh, "Then we'd never get any sleep." 

"Oh why is that?" He asks, still smiling at me.

"Because," I start, "we can hardly keep our hands off each other."

"Is that a bad thing?"

I shake my head, "Only when I want to get some sleep."

"Ah... but see I'm not even there and you are having trouble getting to sleep as it is." His eyes are partially closed, practically smoldering at me, it's making me want to squirm in my seat.

I scoff, "Only because I'm thinking about the ways you make me feel.." I bite my bottom lip before I spill out any more of my thoughts.

His eyes pick up at that in curiosity, "Oh? What are the ways I make you feel?" 

I blush and cover my face, "Embarrassed right at this moment." I get out around my hand.

"Why are you embarrassed? It's just me and you." 

I peak out from in between my fingers and sigh, lowering my hand, "Because I don't know how to explain it."

He smiles, "I can understand that. Why don't you try to explain simple things first. What happens to your breathing first?"

"It quickens. I want to take a deeper breath but my lungs just won't do it. Which makes me feel lightheaded." I say quietly. 

"What else happens?" 

I look at my hands that play with my bedsheets, "My heart beats like crazy. My mind seems to slow down, like it's awestruck. I still am finding it hard to believe that you, who's so successful and can have any woman he wants, that you care about me. I mean I know I've always cared about you, that's why it hurt so bad when I didn't see or talk to you anymore, but you care about me, more than just a friend."

"Lita?" His one word cuts me off and I look into the phone.

"Yes?" I ask meekly.

"If I can have any woman I want, I want you. What's so unbelievable about that? Do you think just because you had a fucked up childhood that you don't deserve to be with me? I was present for some of it and had my own childhood that was not a walk in the park either. None of that blemishes my opinion of you as a person. The fact you survived through all that on your own and made something of yourself only solidifies in my mind that my opinion of you has always been correct." He's so serious that I can feel his dominating aura through the phone.

I'm breathless as the thought forms in my mind and immediately comes out, "And what is your opinion?" 

"That you are stronger and smarter than you give yourself credit for. You have a will that many only think they have, and a spirit that shines bright even in the dark. You have always been the light on my darker days." 

Wow. I don't know what to say to that.

"Thank you." I murmur, blushing and nestling my face in the pillow that smells like him, wishing I could kiss him right now. I take a deep breath and return my gaze to him on the screen.

"Close your eyes, Lita. Try to get some sleep. I'll watch over you until then." He's gentle with his words but I am not ready to sleep yet.

"Jacks, can you still tell stories like you used to?" I ask, hoping he can.

He chuckles, "Like I used to? Gosh you mean those horrible stories of dragons and knights and princesses you used to beg me for?"

I huff, "They were not horrible. I liked them, especially the one about the red haired princess who saved her kingdom from the black dragon, even though her whole kingdom would accuse her of being useless."

Jackson chuckles, "Alright. Gosh I need to think for a moment... "

I pipe up, "She stood in the garden, staring down her cousin Galanea who dared her to eat from the royal vine."

He chuckles, "Maybe you should tell it then."

"No..." I whine, "You tell it please?" 

He smirks, "Okay. She stood in the garden, next to the royal vine, her cousin Galanea staring daggers at her. "I dare you to prove you are of royal blood! If you eat it and are royal you'll survive, if not well..."

Soon the sound of Jacksons voice retelling me my favorite story he said he read in a book for school, has me dreaming of defeating the black dragon Mar and falling in love with the man that found me and healed me after nearly being destroyed. Nader in my dreams looked exactly like Jackson though.

I awoke just before Nader kisses me in my dream, to the annoying sound of my alarm. I stretch and reach out for Jackson, but find nothing but my pillow and phone. Remembering I sent him home last night, I sit up and turn off my alarm. I grab my phone to put it on the charger before I have to leave for work and find a text message from Jackson that I must have received along with my alarm by the time.

-Good morning beautiful. I hope you enjoyed your bedtime story last night. I will be coming by your offices today around noon. Would you like to join me for lunch under the guise of signing the contract?-

I consider it for a moment.

-Good morning. I did enjoy it. So much so that I dreamt of it all night. Lunch sounds great. I'll see you then.-

I jump up and hop in the shower and start getting ready. I eat some yogurt with granola and nuts for breakfast with some fruit before I gather everything I need for work and get a hold of an Uher. 

I arrive at the office with plenty of time to spare and once again, I see that Annie is at her cubicle and working diligently. 

"Good morning Ms. Xenos, I'm already working on the Morgan Contract. I found it in the incoming fax box with all the notes." She smiles at me when she spots me and I nod.

"Good morning. Excellent, thank you Annie! I'm going to get a juice from the cafeteria? Would you like anything?" 

She avoids my eyes shyly, "Umm no, thank you. I forgot my cash at home."

I wave her off, "I can buy you a juice dear, that's not a problem, it's on me." I offer.

She chews on her bottom lip and swallows hard, before smiling widely, "Um.. an Orange juice would be great. Thank you Ms. Xenos." 

I swear as I'm walking away, I hear her stomach grumble, like she has not had anything to eat. When I come back up from the cafeteria, I have her juice but I also brought back a large blueberry muffin, a yogurt and an apple.

"Here you go, Annie. Thank you for working so diligently." I tell her and that's when I notice that her eyes have bags under them, even though she tried to hide it with the makeup, her eyes are slightly red. Either she had a rough night, or it's been a rough weekend.

"Thank you Ms. Xenos. I really appreciate this." She smiles, reaching for the yogurt. 

I head to my office and as I close the door, I notice she's already finished off the yogurt and is halfway through the large muffin. Something is going on in her personal life, but I can only do so much if she doesn't say something to me about it.

It's half past ten before I get the message that Eric, Mr. Dornell is requesting my presence in his office. The dreaded meeting. I ready my phone to record audio, making sure it is before I knock to enter his office. I stick the phone in my suit jacket pocket, keeping the mic to the top of my pocket.

"Mr. Dornell, you wanted to see me?" I ask as I take a seat.