“What?” Cade turned to her, and she could barely keep her eyes open as she kept falling in and out of sleep; she was drunk. He stretched over and took out the cu from her hand. He began clearing the table because he had to clean up and get her to bed so she could be up for tomorrow. He had not had the chance to tell her that he wanted to be at her event tomorrow, but he was sure that she would not disagree if he said he wanted to be there; it would be good for their image as well.
She was no longer responding and there was no struggle from her to keep her eyes open. Cade cleared the table and put a kettle on the stove so he could have hot water. He needed to make something for her to drink so she could cure her hangover fast. He had given in to allow her to take alcohol because she said she was going to have only one glass, but at the end of the day, they had almost the entire bottle while he tried to stop her.
He had his back to her for a moment, and he felt a hand creep up his torso and hold it tight. He jumped in fear because he knew that Ophelia would never do that in her right mind, and he did not know what to do.
“You are mean,” she murmured again into his back. He could feel the vibration of her voice in his chest.
“Ophelia, you will regret this tomorrow morning, so let go,” he murmured.
“No,” she said as if he were trying to argue with him but with a cute voice. Cade did not like what her tone did to him; he did not want to feel like a pervert who kissed a woman while she was drunk. If he was going to do that, he had to do it right and not because he would look like a pervert when he did it.
He tapped her hand gently and she let go but made a dissatisfied sound at the back of her throat. “Why are you doing this?” she asked, taking a step back as she stumbled on her step. However, Cade was faster than he thought, and he held her by the waist and pulled her in.
“Careful or you will fall,” he said, and his voice was deep. However, Ophelia could not tell if it was because she was drunk or because that was what he was like. She stared at him with so much intensity that his golden brown eyes shined at her.
“Let us get you to bed,” he said, steadying her to her feet and taking her hand off her waist like it was fire.
“To bed? I don’t want to go to bed; I want to drink more wine,” she said in a stammer.
“You have an early morning tomorrow, so you cannot have any more, and you already finished the bottle and I washed the cups,” he pointed to the sink. Even though it still was lying dirty in it.
“Oh, you did?” she asked and he nodded. “Okay, then let us dance,” she said, like she was ready to challenge him to a dance-off.
“It is late,” he said, glancing at his watch. It is dangerous for us to dance while drunk; let us dance when you are sober, and that way we can both show great dance moves,” he said, like he was trying to convince an adamant child to do what they had set their heart on.
“All you have been saying is no; do you ever say yes?” she asked, followed by a hiccup. She tried to open her eyes but it was not working. “Can you turn off the light? It hurts,” she groaned as she squeezed her eyes.
He turned to the stove and turned it off, He poured the water into a cup before putting honey into it and mixing it with a spoon. He poured the honey water into a hot water flask and held it with the handle. “Let us go to bed.”
“Together?” She gasped like he was asking her to commit a sin.
“Not together,” Cade said as he held her hand tightly. He remembered the last time he carried her and how it turned out. He did not want the same events to repeat themselves and cause her to feel weird, so he held her and tried to steady her so he could take her to bed.
“Not together?” Ophelia’s voice was sad and he wondered why. Wasn’t I the one who wanted them to have separate rooms? Why did she sound as if he was wrong to say that?
He refused to reply and walked to the stairs. He knew this was going to be the most difficult part, but surprisingly, after much difficulty, they got to the top, and then he dragged her to her room and got her to the door. “When you get a bit sober, wake up and drink from this,” he said after he dropped her to the bed and put the flask on the bedside table.
He pulled out the blanket from the other side and covered her up. He sat beside her and whispered. “Your hair looks good; I like what you did with it.”
“What was that?” she asked, opening one eye and trying to make a full image of him from her blurry eyes.
“Nothing,” he pressed his lips together and tried to stand up. Ophelia stood up and wrapped her hand across his neck so abruptly that he almost shrieked in shock.
“What are you doing?” he asked, blinking slowly. He was trying to make sense of the situation while also trying to catch as much of a glimpse of her as he could.
“I thought you liked my hair,” his eyes widen. He thought she was already sleeping, and he did not hear what he had said. “Why don’t you take a closer look?” she asked, leaning in.
“Huh?”
“Let us kiss.”