And When The Sun Rose, They Had Coffee
Sara felt the sun warming her back and opened her eyes.
And promptly shut them again when she saw Nick Stokes sitting by her bed, looking at her. But it wasn't her bed. She certainly wouldn't have chosen a teal bedspread and oh God that wasn't her carpet.
"Wmergle?"
"Articulate, Sunshine." He was smirking and she was cringing and screwing up her eyes because her head felt like it had been steamrollered and set in tar.
"Where am I?"
"You're in my bed, Sara." He winked. Oh no. "You don't remember what happened last night?"
"Anything I said wasn't true."
"You mean you're not madly in love with me?"
"Oh funny Nick. What really happened?" She was dreading the answer because, well, it was Nick and he was a work colleague and she didn't mean it to turn out this way and her head was really really hurting now.
"Well, it's like this." He grinned at the expression of horror on her face. "I woke up late at night and found you on my doorstep, drunk and confused. So obviously I took full advantage of that, which is why I spent the night with a crick in my neck, sleeping on the couch while you comandeered my bed."
"Can you just kill me please?"
"I'm not having a crime scene in my bed. It would open up so many awkward questions with Ecklie."
"Ew."
"I'm making coffee. You want some?"
"So much." Coffee. Celestial goddess. "What would I do without you, Nick?"
"Drink caffeinated sodas?"
"Probably."
She clambered out of his bed and padded into the kitchen behind him. Nick was pouring coffee into two mugs. The smell of the fresh beans almost got rid of her hangover. Almost.
"Here you go Princess," Nick said, handing her a mug. "Black?"
"Yes please."
They sat around Nick's kitchen table in uncomfortable silence, drinking their coffee. Sara tried desperately to think of something to say.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" Nick downed the rest of his mug and moved to the sink.
"For invading your privacy like this. I don't know. For ending up on your doorstep. For anything I might have said." She shrugged. "I'm really sorry this had to happen."
"I'm not," he replied.
"Well, this has totally killed my reputation as in-control." She laughed awkwardly.
"Hate to break it to you, but none of us think you're in-control. We just hope we'll be there to catch you when you fall."
"We or you?"
"Both."
She felt a smile bloom across her face and she moved next to him at the kitchen sink. "Thanks," she said, wrapping an arm around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder.
"Anytime, Princess."