“Okay. If you wake up and beat me to his room.”
“This isn’t a competition, Rylie.”
She yawned, loudly. “Everything’s a competition, Jarrett. You know that.”
“We really are too much alike, aren’t we?” He chuckled.
After a few moments of silence, he heard a soft response. “We are.”
Why did she sound so sad?
“Rylie? Are you okay?”
Only her steady breathing answered him. She must’ve already fallen asleep. He told himself to sleep lightly, so he would hear Gabe if he woke during the night. But when the first rays of dawn hit his face, he bolted upright and looked to discover the bed empty. Creeping down the hallway, he once again found Rylie curled on the beanbag. Gabe was snoring softly, one leg extending out of the covers. Jarrett tucked the blanket around him and turned his attention back to Rylie. He scooped her up and cradled her in his arms, moving quietly down the hallway.
“What time is it?” She murmured, burrowing against him.
“Time for you to get a few more hours of sleep. We don’t need to be on time today.”
As he laid her on the bed and pulled the covers over her, she barely stirred, already sound asleep. She was exhausted—Gabe must’ve had a bad night.
He couldn’t let this keep happening night after night. She would soon wear herself out. Fortunately, one of the R&D teams at Phantom had just what he needed to solve this issue.
He pressed his lips to her forehead, savoring the lingering fresh scent of soap and shampoo.
Tonight, you’re going to get a good night’s sleep because, whether you admit it or not, it’s my job to take care of you.
CHAPTER 14
The words on Rylie’s work computer screen blurred, and her head bobbed. She jerked it up, forcing her eyes open. Yawning for the umpteenth time, she gave her head a shake. She’d had a sleepless night.
Gabe had wet the bed during the night and woken up in tears. He’d been so distraught she wondered if he might’ve been punished when it had happened in the past. She’d spent almost as much time comforting him as she had in stripping the bed and putting on new sheets and changing his clothes. Since he’d clung to her with wet pajamas, she’d also had to sneak into her bedroom to find new PJs for herself. She’d lost a lot of sleep, but Jarrett had looked well-rested the next morning. As that had been her goal, she was pleased. Jarrett had seemed fairly disgruntled about her getting to Gabe first, though she’d pointed out, as the CEO of Phantom Enterprises, his rest was more important than hers.
Twisting the ring on her finger, her mind drifted away from her reading material. Legally, Jarrett was her husband, but for all practical purposes, they were roommates. Maybe she could come up with a new term for him. Husband plus pal… huspal? Husband plus friend… husbend? Buddy plus husband… busband? Hmm… she liked the last one best.
“Rylie?”
She jumped, fortunately not injuring herself this time. Her husband stood in the opening of her cubical.
“I think it’s time we made an announcement.”
“Today?” she asked, with what felt like a mouthful of cotton sticking to every surface.
“I don’t want them to hear it on the news.”
“You haven’t even had your meeting with Carlie to come up with an official story.”
“I’m not planning to mention Carlie at all. Just you and me.” He held his hand up beside his face and wiggled his fourth finger. “But it can’t wait. Two people have already noticed my ring.”
“No one’s noticed mine,” she mumbled, thinking how she would miss her anonymity. “If we tell everyone, people are going to want to congratulate us and stuff.”
If he was trying not to laugh at her, he failed miserably. “Yes, you’ll probably have to make eye contact with a few dozen people and say thank you.”
“A few dozen strangers,” she corrected.
“It won’t be so bad,” he said. “Almost all of them are computer nerds, just like us.”
“That’s true.” Chewing on her lip, she wondered at the sudden pained expression on Jarrett’s face.
“Are you ready?”
Those eyes! Did he know how she melted inside every time he gave her that intense stare?
“Now?” she rasped.
“I already sent an office memo for everyone to gather in the auditorium. I assume you didn’t see it.”
She scrunched her nose in apology. “I kind of ignore those during the day. I usually check them at lunch and right before going home.”
He gave her a crooked smile and held out his hand. She could only stare at it. Touching him in front of all those people would be a really bad idea. Maybe, if her attraction showed, Jarrett would think she was performing for the benefit of the employees.
She put her fingers in his and let him pull her to her feet and tuck her hand in the crook of his arm.
“Here goes nothing,” she mumbled.
He propelled her down the hallway, bending to bring his mouth close to her ear. “What we have is not nothing, Rylie. It may not be conventional, but it’s important. You’re amazing, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make you feel appreciated.”