He flew through the slides of the PowerPoint, not really paying attention to them anymore, only wanting to shut his eyes for a few seconds for a power nap. After fighting the urge through the last few frames, he finally succumbed when a soft “Vincent” escaped Lexi’s lips, drawing him to her side. He knelt beside her as she twitched in her sleep.
“Harry,” she whimpered as her dreams continued, her body becoming more restless with each passing moment.
“Shhhh, it’s okay. Harry’s safe, don’t worry.” For some reason, her distress cut through Vincent, and he found himself compelled to try and comfort her. He ran his hand down the side of her face, his fingers lightly brushing the soft, creamy skin. Careful not to wake her, he sat down on the couch, patting her leg as he closed his eyes for the briefest of moments, hoping to get in a quick power nap before dawn. As he settled in and got comfortable, Lexi unconsciously curled up beside him like a kitten.
His head tipped back to rest on the couch, and a smile of masculine satisfaction played across his lips when she breathlessly said his name one last time. Then he drifted off to sleep.
∙ 15 ∙
Ma dison’s tiny feet zoomed across the plush carpet before she abruptly stopped. She turned to her mother, who stood in the doorway wide-eyed with shock.
“Mommy,” Madison whispered, her head slightly tilted to the side, “is it nap time?”
Anna chuckled. “No, baby, it’s not nap time. And I thought Leigh was making this up,” she mumbled to herself as she stepped into the room.
“Is Uncle Vincent dead?”
“Well, he might be soon,” Anna snickered, imagining what would have happened if Jade walked into the room and made this cozy discovery. Lexi’s head was nestled against Vincent’s chest, his arm draped protectively around her, holding his jacket in place over her body. The look of peaceful contentment on his face alone would have sent Jade into orbit.
“Why is Lexi laying on Uncle Vince?”
Anna quirked an eyebrow and wondered about that herself. “I think they had a lot of work to do last night.” She glanced around the room and took in the presentation boards and scraps of paper littering the floor.
“Ooh, they stayed up past their bedtimes? Lucky.”
At the sound of his niece’s high pitched laughter, Vincent’s eyes popped open and darted around the room, trying to locate the source of the noise.
“Who died?” A very disoriented Vincent stretched his arms high over his head and waited for his sister to answer. He paused only for a second to look down and find Lexi nestled at his side. A little stunned, he looked up at Anna and found her with her hands planted on her hips, grinning.
Madison’s high-pitched voice brought him back to reality. “My pet fish Ariel died the other day, remember? Mommy said she gave him a burial at sea, but really she just flushed him down the potty.” Madison crept closer to the couch. “Lexi, Lexi, wake up. Did you and Uncle Vince have a nice sleepover?”
Lexi stirred, but kept her eyes tightly closed. When she finally moved, she began patting Vincent’s chest, as if trying to figure out what, or rather who, exactly she was curled up against. Anna snickered when she heard Lexi repeating “No, no, no.”
“Morning, sunshine!” Anna sang as Lexi’s eyes slowly opened to find three faces watching her closely, waiting for a reaction. Madison smiled as she crawled into Vincent’s lap, nestling up on the other side of him and mirroring Lexi’s position. Lexi looked scared while Anna remained silent, but she looked even more terrified when she dared to look up into Vincent’s eyes.
“You snore like a freight train,” Lexi said as she pushed off of him and perched herself on the opposite end of the couch, smoothing out her hair and tugging at the bottom of her wrinkled shirt.
“I do not,” Vincent said indignantly as he placed a kiss on the top of Madison’s head. “Anyway, you talk in your sleep.” He cast a mischievous glance in her direction.
Lexi’s face went white, and her eyes got huge, as if she remembered quite clearly the wildly vivid fantasy she had been frolicking in all night long.
One that possibly involved her legs wrapped around Vincent in the back seat of a long, black limousine. Her cheeks flushed pink, not even wanting to imagine what she might have said, or God forbid, moaned in her sleep.
Vincent tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. I couldn’t understand a word of it. You just mumbled a lot.”
Lexi let out the breath. She didn’t have time to worry about the dream or if he was telling the truth once Madison began asking questions.
“So do you guys have sleepovers a lot?”
Anna snorted as her daughter’s question made both Vincent and Lexi’s cheeks turn red.
“No!” they said in unison.
“Oh,” Madison’s face fell. “Well, next time you have one, can I come?” The hopeful smile on her face was impossible to resist.
“Um, sure?” Lexi replied, looking to Vincent for some guidance, but he was busy glaring at Anna.
“You can be the chaperone, baby. Someone needs to keep an eye on these two, I think.”
“Do you ever have sleepovers with Miss Jade and Lexi at the same time?”
Vincent’s mouth fell open at his niece’s innocent but probing question. Anna didn’t even try to hide her amusement as Vincent sputtered in shock.
“Madison, who Uncle Vincent invites to his sleepovers is none of our business.”
“Anna, you’re not helping here.” Vincent was interrupted when Lexi let out a yelp.
“Wait, what time is it?” Lexi glanced over at the window and for the first time noticed the bright sunshine streaming into the room. She was on her feet in a matter of seconds, Vincent’s jacket falling to the floor at her feet.
“Shit! I mean shoot. Oh hell, sorry, Anna!” Vincent apologized and swept Madison into his arms, kissed her cheek, and handed her off to his sister.
“When the school calls about Maddie’s language, I’m making you go in and meet with the principal, Vincent,” Anna scolded, waving her finger at her brother, who was paying absolutely no attention.
“It’s almost nine thirty. We have three hours until the presentation,” Vincent said and sat down behind his desk to begin typing as Lexi ran around the room picking up all the wadded up pieces of paper.
“It will take you at least twenty minutes to get there,” Lexi offered as she hastily stuffed the papers into the trashcan beside Vincent. “Traffic won’t be a problem at this time of day. I used to work in the same part of town as his studio,” she said in answer to Vincent’s quizzical expression.