Chapter Thirteen
Silas
As suspected, I didn’t sleep well. Far from it. This was a pity because if there was one thing that could get me to sleep well, it was good sex. It was the only thing that usually helped me to sleep easily. And the sex had been incredible. I wasn’t surprised, though. Riley was absolutely beautiful, and I didn’t for one minute think that she would be bad in bed. I knew she’d be amazing. In fact, she far surpassed my imagination. And that tattoo! That had taken me by surprise. I liked that it went so against the way she portrayed herself to the world. I liked that there were elements about her that not many people knew about. I knew I should be feeling good that I was privy to this. But Riley had acted strange after we had sex, and it had left a sour taste in my mouth. I’d walked back to bed wondering what on earth had gone wrong. We’d both enjoyed it. I had no doubt in my mind about that. And considering she had taken her dress off without me asking her to do it, I had not forced the matter. So, why the sudden change of heart? Had she regretted it? It had taken me forever to fall asleep with all the millions of questions milling around in my head.
It was no wonder I woke up late the next day. I felt a bit better after having slept. Perhaps Riley was just worried that sleeping together would affect our living arrangements and I supposed I couldn’t blame her. Maybe she was right. Maybe we had jumped into this too quickly. I didn’t want her to suddenly feel uncomfortable around me, especially when the two of us were getting along great. I took a shower and made a promise to show her that nothing had to change. It was going to be hard not to think about her without any clothes on, but I’d have to just keep it to myself.
As I made my way to the kitchen, I saw Riley making breakfast. She smiled nervously when she saw me.
“Just oats today. Do you want some?”
“Nah, I’ll make some toast. Coffee?”
“Already have a pot. Let me warm it up,” she said.
She handed me a cup of coffee while I made my toast, and together we went to sit in the living room to eat. I could tell that she was nervous and she kept throwing glances my way. I resisted the urge to tell her how cute she was in the morning.
“Look, Riley, I just want you to know that last night was amazing, but I don’t want it to ruin what we had going here. It isn’t going to change anything around here. The last thing I want is for us to feel nervous around each other.”
She looked relieved that I had brought it up. “Thank you, Silas. I . . . I was worried.”
“I thought so. But you shouldn’t be. I know you regret what happened and that’s okay.”
She looked at me in surprise. “Regret it? I don’t regret it. Well, I mean, I don’t know. You’re right. It was amazing. But I want to keep you as a roommate, and we probably shouldn’t do that again. I happen to really like living with you.”
I chuckled. “I like living with you too. Okay, no more awkwardness?”
She grinned. “No more awkwardness.”
“So, what are you up to today? You said you had a busy day ahead.”
She looked embarrassed, and I burst out laughing.
“You just made that up, didn’t you? You don’t really have anything going on, hey?”
“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have lied. I just felt so nervous about everything last night.”
“It’s okay. But you can just be honest with me, okay? I promise I will always understand.”
She nodded. “How about you? Got any plans?”
“Yeah, I’m actually heading off to Lawrence.”
“Lawrence? What are you doing there?”
“My brother, Dominic, stays there. He plays football for Kansas University. I said I’d go over and meet him for lunch. You’re welcome to join.”
She shook her head. “I think I’m going to spend some time working on my illustrations. I want to finally start working putting all my ideas together. I have the character and the rough outline of the story. Now I just need to get it together.”
I grinned at her. “You’re finally going to do it! That’s great news, Riley.”
“It’s all thanks to you. You gave me the inspiration to do it.”
“I’m so glad. You’re super talented. Will you personally sign my first book?”
She chuckled. “Hell, Silas, if I get published, I’m going to dedicate the first book to you.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
I was glad that things were back to normal. It was going to be hard not to flirt with her, but I was glad that we were at least talking like we had before. She was so easy to talk to, and it would’ve been a shame to ruin the friendship that was building up between us. When I left a little later that day, I found her at the big table, with a cup of coffee, a plate of cookies, and paper all around her.
“This look suits you,” I said as I popped my head around the door.
She looked up and grinned at me. “Thank you. I’m excited for today. You off?”
“Yeah, I’m about to head out. Just wanted to say bye. I’ll see you later.”
“Have fun!”