Page 77 of Say It Isn't So

Suddenly feeling very guilty, I shook my head and leaned across the bottom of the bed to look down at him, now sitting on the floor, his arms around his bent knees. “That’s wrong. You’re going to have a neck ache or a backache. You can’t sleep on the floor. Come on, it’ll be okay, we’re adults,” I said, trying to forget about the attraction that was almost palpable between us now. I slapped the mattress beside me, as if that would be enough to convince him to get up here.

He laid back down, adamant to sleep on the floor, and slipped his hands behind his head. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine.”

“Knox,” I tried again, hoping he’d be reasonable. I never meant to see him sleep on the floor. Of all the scenarios I’d imagined, I never thought that’d be the one that played out.

* * *

Knox

The irony was definitely there. I was sleeping on the floor while Bianca laid in a comfortable bed. And that was exactly where she belonged. I didn’t regret taking the floor for one second.

It was just funny how things happened.

I was nothing, came from nothing, and this floor was actually cleaner and nicer than the house I’d grown up in.

Sometimes I wondered who I was kidding.

If I closed my eyes, I could still see—and smell—the house. Frankly, if I thought about it for too long, I broke out into a cold sweat.

Maybe you thought I was being dramatic, but that was how I felt.

It was the one thing that kept me up at night—would I end up back there?

Was it inevitable that I’d mess up and wind up living like that again? With no money, a house that didn’t even deserve that title and no way out.

I didn’t want that.

That was why I worked as hard as I did.

And that was why I’d stayed away from Bianca two years ago.

I was playing where I shouldn’t have been playing and I’d gotten burned. Bad. Angelo was powerful, and who knew what he would do this time if he found out I was going behind his back and sleeping in the same room as his daughter?

“Knox.” The sound of my name coming from Bianca was something I’d never tire of. I loved the sweet sound of her voice and couldn’t help but think what it would be like to hear my name on her lips for another reason. I shut my eyes and shoved those thoughts—that I had no right to be thinking—to the back of my mind. “Are you up?”

I shifted, placing my hands on my stomach as I stared up at the ceiling. “Yeah, I can’t seem to sleep.”

“Me neither,” she responded. “I might sleep better if you’re next to me.”

We had never slept next to one another before, and I didn’t think it was a good idea to start now. There would be too much temptation there. For both of us.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

There was a moment of silence before Bianca asked, “Knox, would you tell me about your childhood?”

My throat clenched and it was like my airway was being constricted. That was the last thing I wanted to talk about. And yet it was one of the first thoughts I had as I laid down on the floor. Could she read my thoughts? “I’m afraid if I tell you about that, you won’t sleep at all tonight.”

“It’s a long story. I know.”

No, she wasn’t understanding. “What I mean is it’s a nightmare.”

She didn’t respond, but I heard the rustling of sheets and then footsteps before she towered over me with a pillow in her hand.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked, cocking a brow and lifting my head off the ground.

She shrugged. “I’m sleeping on the floor with you.” Setting down the pillow first and then sitting beside me, she crossed her legs and turned to me. “You know a lot about me and my family, but for as much as I know about you, I’m really not all that knowledgeable when it comes to your childhood.”

For this, I needed to sit up, so I did. I raked a hand through my hair, contemplating how I wanted to handle this.

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