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A M A Y A

Carter Bell's office penthouse opens right in the hall. A modern style flooring with the walls painted pale greets me as the elevator doors open. Carter walks in first while I follow him quietly, my eyes taking in every nook and corner of the room we are in.

This place doesn't have much furniture - just a black couch with a tea table positioned right opposite a Wall TV occupying the hall. A short spiral row of stairs leads upward right from the middle of the room. Carter stalks towards those stairs after having thrown his suit ideally over the couch.

He hasn't spoken to me another word since we got in the elevator. Dawson chose to stay behind and join in later after having sorted the people downstairs to their rooms. My heartbeats were frozen in the silence of the elevator and they are still frozen now as I climb the stairs after Carter, my hand curled over the cool steel railing.

The stairs lead to a beautiful wooden door at the end. Carter turns the knob on it and enters the room, leaving me to follow behind at my leisure. I peek into the room as he switches on the lights; the darkness disappears to leave behind a large square-shaped space with a bed in the center of it.

This must be Carter's bedroom. Although it doesn't look anything like him. The walls are painted a neutral beige, the tiles forming the floor of the same color. There is a bed and a wardrobe while on one side of the room, there are huge floor-to-ceiling windows made of tinted glass, through which the stormy weather outside is visible.

"Come in, Miss. Sommers." His deep baritone echoing inside the room brings me back to the present. "You don't have to wait for an invitation. You aren't getting any."

With a frown cast over my face, I step inside the room, seeing the warm lights falling over his broad figure as he skillfully begins undoing the top buttons of his shirt.

He stares at me - deep green eyes fixed upon every movement of my body. I remain rooted to my spot on the floor, swallowing a gulp as he unbuttons himself completely, his shirt parting to give a glimpse of the toned torso beneath; a body I had once been used to peppering with my kisses every night,

I look away quickly as he keeps himself like that, not bothering to discard the shirt off his shoulders or attempting to go and change somewhere else.

"What are you doing?" I ask when the irritation growing in my nerves becomes uncomfortable.

I can't deal with this silence between us. It's worse than him being obvious and shamelessly flirting with me. This silence is like a trip to the past; the trajectory of which I do not wish to cross.

"What am I doing?" He crosses his arms over his bare chest, crossing his ankles at the same time as he leans against his wardrobe. "You tell me what I am doing."

"You're being a jerk," I say, sensing the slight edge in my voice as I look back at him. "You're behaving like a kid who has been denied his favorite candy. Grow up, Carter. This.." I point towards his bare chest with my hand and then wave it to gesture to all of him. "This...isn't going to work on me."

He looks down at his body, dark eyebrows narrowing to portray confusion which I know he doesn't have. He knows perfectly well what I am talking of. He lifts his gaze back to me, the tiniest of smiles playing on his lips.

"Miss. Sommers, are you trying to say that I invited you here to seduce you?" The tiny smile turns lopsided, the glamour in his eyes frighteningly wild as it makes my stomach drop. "I assure you, I thought we're past that by your words in the elevator."

"You know what you're doing, Carter." I find my fingers curling around my handbag tighter as my belly starts to tickle me from the inside. "You said I could sleep in the bed tonight. Where do you plan on sleeping?"

We both turn to the bed at my words, taking in the king-sized furniture and its plush mattress, covered with fresh white linen with an upholstery seat on one end where piles of business magazines are kept stacked over one another. There is a small table with a stack of drawers on one side of the bed where a jug of water and a glass sit untouched.

The sight of the bed is so welcoming and my body is aching for rest.

"This is my room. I'm sleeping on the bed too," Carter states, making me jerk my head towards him.

I find him looking at me, the glint in his eyes waiting for my reply. He is starting to enjoy this game between us and now that he knows about Jeremy, he is trying to show me that he has given up on us too just as I have. I know he is. If he is anything like what my Carter was, he wouldn't let me go so easily. He would keep pursuing me until he gave up.

And I know he hasn't given up yet.

There is a reason he invited me here tonight. It wasn't just to show his concern for his secretary but to make me as uncomfortable as he could by being close to me - alone, in a bedroom where no one could interrupt us.

I sigh, shutting my eyes for a moment as a headache starts to build behind my lids, the first signs of it being the light ice-prick aches above my brows. A thunder cracks outside and I look out of the glass wall, to the sky outside where the hailstorm is still going on at full speed.

I wish I didn't have to do this but I am too tired to fight with him this late at night. I hate sleeping without knowing if my son has slept first and tonight, I can't be in touch with him either because of these stupid tower troubles. An argument with Carter isn't the thing I am looking forward to.

"Fine," I let out with a grunt. "You can take the bed. I have no problems sleeping on the floor."

That seems to bother him. His cool facade breaks, the tension in the irises giving way to concern. He unfolds his hands, runs a hand over his face, and then turns around to face his wardrobe. He opens it and takes out a T-shirt and a pair of trousers.

"No need. Take the bed."

His words are a strict order, leaving no room for argument. He gives me one last glance and proceeds towards a door to the other end of the room, which I believe is an attached bathroom. He slams the door shut behind him, causing me to flinch at the sound.

When I am alone in the room, I finally let out an exhale of relief. Being in company with my thoughts for a little while always does me good.

I drop the bag to the floor, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. Tired and cold, my legs have begun to ache after the hours of work today, and the coming and going around with Carter first and then Jeremy took a chunk of my strength. The muscles in my shoulders cramp so I move my head from side to side, reaching down to rub my legs to relieve the pain a little.

It has been so long since I had a good night's sleep - five years to be exact.

Having to take care of a child single-handedly is a huge task. I have gotten used to waking up twice or thrice every night whenever there is a slight coo on the baby monitor. I wake up with sudden jolts, thus it's difficult to get back to sleep again. If it gets too much, I pick Parker from his bed and make him sleep with me instead. That doesn't work too because he likes to climb over my face and sleep then as if Mommy is a better pillow than a real one.

The other thing which doesn't let me sleep is the constant nightmares. Those feel so real at times that they leave me on edge for days.

God...I already miss my son. When will this hailstorm end?

Another thundercrack and even with the Air Conditioner off, I feel goosebumps on my flesh. It is too cold and the sound of the storm with the thunder causes my eyelids to become heavy.

Perhaps I can lie down just a bit before Carter returns. We can discuss who gets to sleep where after that.

I let out a yawn, covering my mouth with my hand as I began to lay myself on the bed. As soon as my body meets with the plush mattress, I find myself stretching in absolute bliss. I turn to a side, sliding my hands under my head as I keep an eye on the bathroom door, waiting for Carter to return.

I don't even realize when my eyes close and I fall asleep.

***

I wake up to the sound of someone whimpering.

As I said, my sleep has grown so thin over the years that even the slightest disturbance breaks it. For seconds, I have the illusion that I am back in my own bedroom and reach absently for Parker's baby monitor. My hand meets with the air, making my eyes jerk open.

My face is to the glass walls wherein the hailstorm has stopped. The weather, however, remains chilly and my extended hand gets greeted with gooseflesh. Groaning, I turn to face the ceiling, clearly remembering that I was right on the edge of the bed when I fell asleep.

I am not there though. Instead, I find myself lying in the center of the large bed with a dark grey quilt covering my body right up to my neck. Furrowing my eyebrows, I lift myself on my elbows, taking a peek down the bed to find Carter sleeping on the floor instead.

He is lying above a mat, turned to his side, and hugging himself. Only a thin blanket covers him and the trembling of his body is clear. His soft whimpering is the one that woke me up.

My heart suddenly fills with remorse, seeing this billionaire man who thinks he has the world in his hands, sleeping on the floor because I told him that I wouldn't share a bed with him. He must have found me dozing at the edge of the bed and put me back properly. He didn't even try to wake me up.

The temperature in the room is down; it adds to the cold which must be torturing him in his sleep, while I am here under a warm quilt, on his bed. This is unfair. I should have woken up sooner; I wonder how that didn't happen.

Feeling my body flushed at the thought of Carter sacrificing his comfort for me, I drop the quilt from my body and climb down the bed. Gathering the large quilt in my hands, I walk towards his sleeping form on the floor.

If he has given me the bed, the least I could do to return the favor is get him under something warmer.

His body is tense in his sleep, a crease formed between his forehead. I kneel before him, spreading the quilt in the air and letting it fall over his body. The crease on his forehead disappears slowly as the warmth of the material gives him some relief. The tightness in his muscles loosens as he slightly parts his lips, letting out a small sigh.

I watch him for a while, admiring the way his hair falls over his forehead and the fact that in his sleep, he looks just like my Parker. The resemblance between the son and father is uncanny. There is no need for a DNA test. I start to ponder how many employees in the office must have doubted something. Almost all of them have seen my son.

When I move to get up and go back to bed, I find something hard grabbing me around my waist. I yank my head towards the source of the hold just as Carter pulls me towards him in his sleep.

He shifts with the pull, making me fall over the mat with a gasp, and without having any clue of what is happening, I find myself trapped between a strong arm and a hard body.

I gasp, my hands grabbing Carter's forearm in an attempt to push him off but his hold is firm, stronger than mine like always. He groans something inaudible while pulling my back closer to his chest, pressing our bodies so hard together that I nearly stop breathing.

One of his legs swoops into the space between mine, causing my body to get fully trapped with him on the floor.

"Please...Snippy..." I hear him mumble slurpily, his voice so close that it captures my attention. "My heart still beats...for you."

I stay still, unable to move, unable to breathe. Not because I can't but because I don't want to. Because, in truth, my heart is beating so fast that I am afraid it might break the restraints of my ribcage. Jolts of current rush through me, heating my body as I slowly move my head to look at him.

He is still asleep. The quilt has found a way over to both of our bodies and I am too exhausted to deny myself that it feels good to be like this. I am warm, I feel safe and I know he wouldn't hurt me. The energy in my body starts to drain as the heat of his body in this cold weather causes me to relax in his hold.

My hands fall from his arm as my eyes shut themselves. The comfort is too warm to resist when I find my sleep catching me by its claws again.

This time though, I sleep like a baby - with no nightmares to steal my dreams.

•••

author's note

Wow! Can't believe I actually managed to update in time. This has been a crazy day.

What did you think of the chapter? It's a little casual but I think it'll be an important moment in the plot. Any thoughts?

Do vote and comment if you enjoyed! Also, I suck at describing surroundings. Lol.