Chapter 4: Can't Sleep

I just stared at him, my face neutral but my head screaming:

SLEEP WITH ME.

My brain short-circuited so hard I swear I heard sparks.

Then he laughed.

Not smug. Not teasing. Just… amused, like he realized exactly where my thoughts had gone and decided to rescue me from them.

“Not like that,” he said quickly, lifting both hands in mock surrender. “I mean actual sleep. Literally. Share the bed. If you’re comfortable. So you can actually rest.”

Oh.

Oh.

Heat crawled up my neck anyway.

I cleared my throat, suddenly very interested in my mug. “Right. Yeah. No. Thank you.”

He tilted his head. “You don’t want to?”

“It’s not that,” I said too fast. “I just… barely know you.”

“That’s fair.”

I relaxed a little at how easily he said it. No pressure. No offense.

Then he added, casually, “Are you scared?”

I laughed. A soft scoff. “Of you? No.”

“Good.”

“I just think it would be weird.”

“Why?”

I shrugged. “You’re Daniel’s brother.”

He smiled at that. Slow. Thoughtful. Teasing.

“So that makes me what to you?”

I hesitated.

“A brother,” I said.

The word felt strange in my mouth.

He hummed, eyes glinting. “Then it shouldn’t matter.”

I opened my mouth to respond and instead muttered, “A brother that hot?”

The silence that followed was loud.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I said quickly. Too quickly.

His smile widened, he definitely heard me.

I took my mug and leaned against the counter, hoping the warmth would calm me down. It didn’t. Nothing about him was calming.

“So,” he said, shifting closer but not too close. “You always do the warm milk thing?”

“Since forever,” I said. “It helps.”

“With what?”

“Not feeling alone.”

His expression softened. Just a fraction. Enough that it made my chest feel tight.

“I get that,” he said quietly.

We stood there for a moment, sharing the quiet like it wasn’t awkward. Like it was normal for two almost-strangers to exist this comfortably in the dark.

“You know,” I said, attempting confidence and probably failing, “this is usually the part where people say something deep or mysterious.”

He chuckled. “And ruin it?”

“Exactly.”

He studied me for a second, then sat back down on the floor, stretching his long legs out.

“You can sit,” he said. “I don’t bite.”

“I don’t know that yet.”

“True,” he admitted. “But I haven’t so far.”

I hesitated… then sat a few feet away, back against the cabinet. Close enough to feel him. Far enough to pretend I was in control.

How can a man I just met in less than 24 hours have such effects on me?

“What are you reading?” I asked.

He held up the book. “Nothing exciting.”

“That’s a lie.”

“Okay,” he smiled. “Nothing I want to explain.”

We laughed softly.

The house creaked again. Somewhere upstairs, a door shifted. Life going on around us while we stayed suspended in this strange, intimate bubble.

“What do you do?”

"I'm a cybersecurity expert."

"Ohhhhh... do you secure hearts too?"

He laughed softly, and I smiled at yet another failed attempt at flirting.

He didn’t call me out on it though, just kept it going. “Fun fact: I actually always wanted to be a tattoo artist.”

“Fancy...” I murmured. It suited him, honestly. Tall, hot, tattoo artist? I’d turn myself into a sketchbook just to visit his shop every day.

I wanted to ask why he didn’t go for it, but I hesitated.

“Mom never approved,” he said, like he’d read my mind. “She wanted me to go to college and stay away from stuff like that.”

I nodded. My dad wouldn’t have approved either, so I got it.

“How about you? What do you do?” he asked.

I sighed dramatically.

He chuckled. “What?”

“I just graduated not too long ago. So... let’s just say I’m embarrassingly jobless right now but I studied marketing and advertising though.”

“Embarrassingly?” he teased, and we both laughed.

“You and Daniel are twins. Two jobless twins.”

I smacked his arm playfully, then instantly regretted it. Just that small contact sent a jolt through me. His skin was so softttttttt.

“Well, I've got something you can help with if you want,” he said. “You just have to get dressed on time in the morning and come with me. So you don't just lazy around.

We both went quiet.

I didn't reply or ask what I could help with, mostly because I wanted to scream YESSSS TAKE ME WITH YOU.

“You should try to sleep,” he said after a while.

“So should you.”

“I will.”

“When?”

“When you do.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re impossible.”

“You don’t know me well enough to say that.”

“Give it time.”

His gaze lingered on me. Warm. Curious. Unsettling in the best way.

“I’m glad you couldn’t sleep,” he said.

“Why?”

“Because I would’ve missed this.”

My heart stuttered.

I stood up before I could think too hard about it. “Goodnight, Nicolas.”

“Goodnight, Anna.”

He said my name like it was something delicate.

I went upstairs, slipped into bed, and for the first time all night,

I slept.