Chapter 60: 60: Day Off with the King

BELLE

My eyes were so puffy from crying all night that they hurt to open in the morning.

I was extremely grateful that I had decided to stay home today instead of going with Minnie.

All I had wanted for the past several days was to get out of Grayson and my wing, but now nothing sounded better than lying in bed and watching movies all day while I licked my wounds.

Groaning, I attempted to roll over, only to be stopped by a heavy, muscular arm wrapped around my waist. I paused.

Grayson was here. Grayson was never here in the mornings. He was sleeping right next to me, pressed close to my body, his grip on my waist tight and unrelenting.

No wonder I felt like I could sleep forever. I always slept better with him by my side.

It occurred to me that I didn’t even remember coming back from Minnie’s apartment last night.

Grayson must have brought me back. I looked down. I was wearing his shirt and boxers. He must have changed me last night too.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had woken up with him at my side. It had to have been weeks ago. I wondered if he knew what time it was. It was nearly nine. Was he late for something?

I was sure he had completely missed his training.

“Grayson.” I shook his shoulder. “Grayson, wake up.”

His brows tugged together but he didn’t open his eyes. He pulled me closer to him with a huff. “You’re disturbing my slumber,” he muttered.

I rolled my eyes. I shook his shoulder again, harder this time.

He groaned and finally peeked one eye open, looking down at me.

“Can I help you with something?” he drawled lazily, seemingly unbothered by my confusion.

“You’re still here,” I said, stating the obvious.

One of his brows rose. “Am I?” He lifted his head and made a show of peering around the room. “Huh. Strange.”

I shoved his chest, my heart fluttering when he let out a deep, sexy chuckle that made my stomach take a dip. “I meant, ~why~ are you still here? Do you know what time it is?”

He shrugged, setting his head back down on the pillow and pulling me in closer to him. “Don’t care. I’m taking the day off.”

I couldn’t help the look of surprise that took over my face. Since when had taking a day off been an option for him?

“But…don’t you have things to do? Aren’t you a king or something?”

He nuzzled his nose into my hair, inhaling deeply. “Exactly. I’m king so I can do whatever I want. And I’m taking the day off.”

I huffed. Was I missing something? “Do you have plans or…?”

“Yes,” he replied. “I plan on spending the entire day with my gorgeous mate.”

Ah. Okay. I understood then. He felt guilty about what had happened yesterday in the hot tub and was going to try to make it up to me by spending time with me.

I should have been happy. A whole day of Grayson to myself? That sounded absolutely incredible. But it made yesterday feel like a big deal. And I didn’t want it to be a big deal.

I didn’t want him to feel like he had to make me feel better when he didn’t do anything wrong to begin with. I wanted to forget the whole thing ever happened and just move on with our lives.

And, most importantly, I wanted him to spend time with me because he ~wanted~ to, not because he felt bad.

“Grayson,” I started, already feeling the all-too-familiar emotion of embarrassment taking over my chest. “You don’t have to do this. I know you’re super busy. You can go to work. You don’t have to stay with me.”

“I know I don’t ~have~ to. I ~want~ to. And there’s nothing that you can say or do that is going to change my mind. I’m spending the day with you and that’s final.

“I have to run to the gym to help Kyle out with some stuff and fill him in on what’s going on, but that will only take about an hour. And then I’m all yours.”

I felt like digging myself a hole and burying myself in the ground for the rest of eternity. Instead, I buried my face in his bare chest and groaned.

Grayson took the opportunity to press his lips to the top of my head, purring in contentedness.

“Let me go,” I grumbled, pushing away from him before his purrs had more than just a calming effect on me. “I need to pee.”

I reached for the TV remote on my bedside table and handed it to him. “You can pick the first movie if you want.”

Grayson laughed and tossed the remote to the foot of the bed. “Oh, no. There will be no movie watching today. I think we both know you need to get out of this apartment. I’m taking you out.”

“Out?” I repeated. “What do you mean ‘out’?”

“It’s a surprise.” He stood—momentarily hypnotizing me with his shirtlessness and muscular legs—and held his hand out to me.

“Come on. I’m running you a hot bath while I go to training and then we’re hitting the town.”