Page 489 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
She grabbed my wrist when I made to leave. “Chadwick? I’m sorry.”
“Again with the apologies?” I sat back down and, without thinking, reached out and ran my fingers through her hair.
Her eyes filled with tears. “I ruined everything. It was too much. I thought… I thought…” She trailed off and shook her head, too tired and too drunk to make sense of her own words. “I don’t know what I thought.”
“It’s okay. Listen, we can talk about all of this tomorrow, okay?”
Her grip tightened on my wrist. “Do you promise? You won’t avoid me?”
I smiled, leaned over, and kissed her forehead. She closed her eyes and didn’t open them.
“I promise, Tinsel.”
CHAPTER 33
TINSELY
“Why?” I groaned through dry lips with a tongue that felt like the Sahara. I rubbed it against the roof of my mouth, desperate for moisture, and when that didn’t work, opened my eyes to get my bearings.
Had I not woken up in Chadwick’s spare bedroom before, I might never have figured out where I was. But I recognized the fluffy duvet, the plush pillows, the smell of fresh laundry, and the bathroom.
Water, I thought as I pushed myself up. The blanket fell away from my shoulder and the room swayed.
How much had I had to drink last night? I remembered sitting down at the bar feeling sorry for myself, and I remembered ordering a Manhattan or three, but this hangover? This was the work of more than a handful of cocktails.
I rubbed at my eyes and found that they hurt. Not only that, but my nose felt congested.
I knew immediately that meant I’d been crying.
Grumbling with self-loathing, I threw the blanket off and looked down at myself. I still had the cocktail dress on. Chadwick hadn’t undressed me.
What does that mean?
Would he have undressed me and made me more comfortable if I hadn’t asked him for space? Was he unsure about how to be around me now? How to help me? What kind of boundaries were being put in place that I didn’t even know about?
Why had I opened my big fat mouth and said anything in the first place?
Stumbling out of bed, I spotted folded-up clothes on the bathroom counter. I hurried to them, stripped out of my dress, and took a hot shower. It alleviated some of the drunkenness that still seemed to cling to me. The room no longer threatened to fall out from under my feet and I didn’t smell like I was sweating booze. I scrubbed my makeup off from the night before, raked my fingers through my hair, and put the lounge clothes on that Chadwick had placed out for me.
Feeling a bit more like myself and not at all happy about it, I went downstairs.
I found Chadwick in the kitchen. He hadn’t heard me come down the stairs, and he stood with his back to me using a blender. He had no shirt on. His back glistened with sweat. His ribs expanded and shoulders swelled with every labored breath from what must have been a recently finished workout. When the blender stopped, he took the cup off the base, turned it over, and tipped his head back to drink nearly half the green blended concoction in one go.
He spied me over his shoulder with one eye, turned, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and smiled. “Good morning. How are you feeling?”
I dragged my feet to one of the bar stools at the kitchen island and sat down. “Like I might throw up if I merely yawned.”
He chuckled. “Last night was rough.”
“You could say that.”
Chadwick put his smoothie down and poured me a glass of water from the dispenser in his fridge door. He slid it to me and encouraged me to drink with a nod.
I drank.
“Can I make you something to eat?” he asked. “I don’t think you had much to eat last night and something in your stomach to soak up all the lingering liquor might help.”
My stomach rolled. “Don’t say liquor.”
