Page 58 of Bound to Him
“Is everything ready to go for the morning?” I crawled up his body to kiss his pouty lips.
He cracked his eyes open and leveled a confused stare in my direction. The gears were turning in his head, and after about a minute he cleared his throat and seemed to wake up more. “You’re asking me and not Antoine?” He almost sounded sad, and a pang of discontent stabbed through my stomach, especially after how good I’d just felt.
“You’re my husband. I assumed you at least had a hand in packing our bags.” I gave him my best wink.
He glanced away. “I don’t know what’s in the bags, really. Alice packed our things while I was drawing.”
Concern ate at me. He sounded wrong—sad. There was something not okay in Noah Land, or maybe just between us, and I’d been so fucking busy I hadn’t noticed. Or maybe I’d caused the problem? I tried not to allow the grumpy sigh into the open that wanted to spill between us.
“What’s wrong?”
Noah shrugged.
“Answer me,” I growled out. So much for not letting him know I was irritated. I massaged a hand over his tense belly in apology.
“Nothing out of the ordinary.”
Frowning, I opened my mouth, but I could tell all I would do was start an argument and snapped it shut. Noah closed his eyes again, and I got out of the bed. I stuffed myself away and fixed my clothes before I tucked him in, pulling the thick comforter out from underneath him and taking the time to draw it up around his shoulders, all the way to his chin. His breath evened out and it seemed like maybe he’d fallen asleep again already, which was good because it was the middle of the goddamned night.
Instead of crawling under the blankets beside Noah, I went to my office and booted up my laptop because I knew there was paperwork waiting for me to sign electronically. Antoine was still at the office and he’d be sending me things from his end. Sometime much later, when my eyes were burning with lack of sleep, the door to my office cracked open. Noah waited for permission to enter. Uncertainty tugged down his mouth, and I took a second to appreciate him dressed in a pair of tan jeans and a mint green-and-white flannel shirt I wouldn’t have thought he’d be comfortable in—but was perfect. Mama would love him in it.
My chest went warm as he smiled at me, but like earlier this morning, something was off with him. I couldn’t put my finger on what had him in a tizzy.
“You okay?”
He shrugged. “Our plane leaves in two hours. Did you sleep at all?” He leaned against the doorknob and eased into the room, standing just over the threshold. The way he skittered his gaze around the room was cute. Shy. Had my morning visit to our marital bed taken him by surprise? I was too tired to work out his mood.
“I’ll shut my eyes for a few hours when we’re in the sky.”
He frowned.
“What?” I snapped.
“Tucker has breakfast ready.” With a shake of his head, he slipped back out the door.
“Fuck,” I grumbled, dropping my attention back to the laptop screen. Relief hit me as I signed off on one last work item on my agenda before we left: the greenlight for all my employees’ holiday bonuses. I grinned to myself. This was one of the best parts of being the owner. Whistling as I crossed the T in my name, I was excited to shut down my computer.
Antoine stuck his head in the door, looking only slightly more rested than I felt. His blond hair was wet and freshly combed and he’d changed suits. “The car will be ready in forty-five minutes, sir.”
Feeling pretty good about myself and the world now, I grinned and rode the waves of the sweet holiday vibe. I felt like the school bell had rung and I’d never have to go back to class. “Make sure to send along the boxes in my closet, you know the ones.”
Antoine sighed. “Sir?Allof them? You’ll only be gone for two weeks.”
I shrugged. “Well, maybe half of them. Ship them. Don’t bother with the plane.”
Antoine dipped his head to hide his expression. “Yes, sir.”
Did I detect a flutter of his eyelids? Did he really roll his eyes at me?I let it go with an amused snort. “Is the cabin near my parents’ property rented?”
“Yes, sir. It was done weeks ago, the first time you asked, as per usual.” Antoine sent me a nasty scowl. Maybe I wasn’t the only one who seriously needed some R and R.
“Right.” I yawned so hard my jaw cracked and had trouble shoving to my feet to stand. I swayed in place for a second.
“Would you like me to book you a later flight, sir? Maybe leave tomorrow?” He scrutinized me in a way I didn’t appreciate, one that said I was too far gone to get where I needed to go.Fuck that.
“No, I’m fine.” I sounded even crankier than I felt, but Antoine only nodded and disappeared by the time I managed to get to the office door and yank it open. I was annoyed as I rushed through getting ready. Scarfing down breakfast, showering, and changing into comfortable jeans and a T-shirt, it was nearly too much. My head swam when I bent over to put on my boots, and I allowed Noah to help me get my winter coat on, which was almost embarrassing. Helping him was fine, but he didn’t need to do it the other way around. I was even more aggravated when I left the front doors with Noah’s hand in mine, only to find Antoine behind the wheel of the white Chrysler van I kept around for long camping trips. Apparently I looked every bit as horrible as I felt, and he wasn’t about to give me a chance to drive.
I growled, but Noah held my hand tighter, and I stopped.
