Page 60 of Billionaire Unexplained: Kaleb

Luckily, she’d seen the movie before, so it didn’t matter that she had missed the end of it.

I shut the TV off and tossed the remote on the side table.

Anna had been quiet all day.

I wasn’t sure if she was wiped out from her hangover or if I should have kept my mouth shut about the words she’d said the night before when she was drunk.

I would have avoided the whole subject if she hadn’t asked me outright what she’d said last night.

Because we were friends, I couldn’t lie to her.

Hell, I’d tried to make light of her comments, but I could tell by the look on her face that she’d been upset about it.

We’d skipped riding this afternoon because she was still a little under the weather.

Instead, I’d done some more work in the barn and Anna had read a book most of the afternoon.

I’d gone into town to grab a pizza this evening, and we’d settled down to watch a movie.

She’d been feeling better by the time we’d turned on the movie, but she must have still been feeling the effects of her hangover because she’d fallen asleep, and she never did that during a movie. Even if she had seen it before.

I got out of my recliner and walked over to the couch where she was sleeping.

“Anna,” I said as I picked her up. “I’m taking you to bed.”

She instinctively wrapped her arms around my neck and sighed. “Is the movie over?” she said, her voice a little confused. “I’m sorry. I guess I fell asleep.”

I grinned down at her. “You fell asleep over an hour ago.”

“Damn,” she said as she opened her eyes and looked back at me. “I missed the end. That’s my favorite part.”

“You’ve seen it before.”

She nodded sleepily. “Yeah, but I wanted to see it again. Put me down, Kaleb. Are you planning on lugging me up that long flight of stairs?”

“That’s the plan,” I told her, ignoring her request to put her down. “I did it last night.”

Anna was a lightweight. I might be getting older, but it wasn’t a burden to carry her small form up the stairs.

“Yeah, well,” she said in a disgruntled voice. “I wasn’t coherent last night. I missed the whole thing.”

I stopped at the entrance to the living room, and Anna turned off the light like we’d done this same thing a million times before.

Sometimes it felt like we had. We were so in tune with each other at times that it felt like I’d known her all my life.

Hell, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when she wasn’t around every day.

I’d gotten used to being with her so damn quickly that it wouldn’t feel right when she was gone.

As a single guy, I’d never really been lonely without a woman around.

Then again, I’d never met a woman like Anna.

I carried her upstairs, put her down on her bed, and got her pajamas from the bathroom.

She took the pajamas from me as she said, “You don’t have to take care of me anymore, Kaleb. I’m fine.”

She looked more awake as she got up and went to the bathroom.

---