He sounded too confused to have been awakefor any length of time. “Do you remember what you’re supposed to be doing thismorning?”
Several seconds passed. “Getting up?”
“That is something you were alreadysupposed to have accomplished.” I waited, shaking my head. When he saidnothing, I sighed. “You were supposed to be meeting me at eight to go overthings before Jonah comes later.”
“Oh.” I heard him moving around and assumedhe got out of the bed. “Um, let me…there’s a key behind the flowerpot on thatlittle table by the door. Just let yourself in and I’ll…I’ll be ready in just asecond…I’m…I’m just getting out of the shower.”
For a writer, he was a surprisingly badliar.
And who put a key behind a flowerpot?
At the very least he should have used somekind of fake rock. Mentally adding that discussion to the to-do list, Ichuckled. “Do we need to talk about lying? It seems like you’re already beggingto be punished again. That’s not the best way to end our first week together.”
A groan came over the phone. “I’m sorry. Ijust got this idea last night and so I started working on it and I don’t knowwhere the time went. I’ll be right down. Promise.”
Letting myself in as the phone went dead, Ilocked the door behind me and set the key on the side table. Getting a copymade of that was on the to-do list as well. Making my way through the house, Iheaded up the stairs and followed the grumbling to what seemed to be Dakota’sbedroom.
“Why the fuck didn’t the alarm go off? Iknow I set—shit.” He looked so dejected, slumped on the bed just staring at hisphone, I wanted to give him a hug.
“What happened? And how late were you up?”I raised one eyebrow when he just sat up looking guilty. “Well?”
I got a dramatic sigh that made me realizejust how little he was wearing. All I could see was a nearly smooth chest and adark blue sheet that was suspiciously tented. “Um, well, I accidentally set thealarm to go off at seven tonight instead of this morning. And…do I really haveto confess that?”
Grinning, I walked in, stopping just shortof the bed. “What time were you supposed to go to bed?”
Last night we’d talked about the plans fortoday and reviewed what the rules were just to make sure he was sexy and hardbefore I left. The main thing was that he’d agreed to go to bed before midnightand to be up and ready to work when I showed up, but it looked like that hadn’tgone according to plan.
“The deal was you stopped working at tenbecause you said your goal was to see if you could keep a more regularschedule.” That’d been his goal…not mine for him.
Dakota nodded and his expression washonestly frustrated—he wasn’t playing games with me. “I don’t know whathappened. I told myself I was just going to write for a few minutes and then Ilooked up and it was…well…it’s a short, but it’s really cute. It’s a sequel tothat one with the three guys and the—”
His voice stopped and he shook his headlike a dog shaking off water. “That doesn’t matter.”
I chuckled. “Okay, you can tell me about itlater. For now, you’re going to get a shower and I’ll make you some coffee. Thenwe’re going to plan out the rest of the morning.”
He nodded, still looking dejected. “I’msorry.”
He was so fucking cute.
Closing the distance between us, I ran myhand over his head and down his neck. He looked even younger than normal withhis hair going in every direction and his sleep-fogged expression. “Do youstill think the plan was reasonable?”
He nodded against my touch. “Yes, I want tomake sure I’m awake and ready to work with you in the morning.”
“Then we’re going to have to come up with anotherplan, aren’t we?” I was expecting a nod, but he looked up at me with big puppyeyes.
“You’re not mad?”
“No, I know you tried.” He was too earnestand too fuzzy brained still to even think about punishing him. “We’re going tocome up with another plan that works.”
Making sure he was tired by the end of theday would probably help.
He perked up, smiling, and wrapped his armsaround me. “I’ll do better. I didn’t even play with myself last night either.”
And that had probably played into thelate-night passion-filled project as well.
More exercise and an orgasm before bedwould probably go a long way toward getting him to sleep at a more reasonablehour.
Mentally I’d prepared myself for work andfor the fact that he would be in charge, but that clearly wasn’t the case.Switching gears, I stroked along his back and over his head. “I’m proud of you.I know that must have been hard.”