GRACE
Iwipe my tissue across my nose before going into a sneezing fit. I moan as I toss yet another tissue into the wastebasket. Not only do I have a cold but I have a terrible migraine. My head pounding and looking at a computer screen is not helping. I have barely gotten anything done today and I know that when Carson gets back from the courthouse, he will not be happy. He asked me to get a to-do list done before he returned and I’ve only crossed off two things.
I lay my head on the desk and close my eyes for a second. I just need a bit of darkness, I tell myself.
I wake up feeling a hand on my back. I’m confused and startled. Then I hear my name on his lips. “Grace.”
I sit up, blinking as I do and look over at the clock. Shit, I fell asleep for like two hours.
“You okay?” Carson asks me.
I sniffle and grab a tissue. “I’m fine, I just have a cold.” I wince as I blow my nose, my migraine worse than it was before I fell asleep.
“You don’t look fine.”
“Gee thanks,” I say sarcastically as I rub my temples.
He sits on the table in front of me, pushing my computer aside. “Hey,” he says, grabbing my chin so I can look at him. “You look beautiful, Grace, you always do. You just look tired.”
I yawn as he says it. “I am tired.”
He brushes a piece of hair off my face. “Maybe you should go home and get some rest. I’ll have the other interns work on this.” He gestures to the open files on the table.
I shake my head. “It’s fine. I can work. Besides, it was always loud in Owen’s house but now with the baby, it’s even worse. The newborn is always crying and the other kids constantly screaming. It’s hard to get any sleep.”
“You need to rest. And by the way you keep rubbing your temples, I can only guess you have a headache too.”
“It’s quieter here.”
“That doesn’t mean you need to work.” He stands up and grabs a Post-it note from the table and scribbles a number onto it. “Here is the code for my door. Go sleep at my house.”
I push the paper away. “No. I’ll be fine. I can work. Besides, I’m already feeling better. That nap help—” I can’t even finish the sentence because another sneeze comes barreling out of my nose.
Carson chuckles and pulls me out of my chair. “I need you at one hundred percent, Grace. Please just go get some sleep.”
“I feel like this is crossing a line.”
“How so?”
“This seems more like relationship stuff, not employee-with-benefits stuff.”
Carson wraps an arm around me and pulls me toward the closet to grab my coat. “One, I think of our relationship more as friends with benefits. Two, you are of no use to me in the office when you pass out on the desk. Three, you’ve been to my house quite a few times. It won’t be awkward.”
I let him help me put my coat on and watch as he walks over and grabs my purse. “I just feel like I am intruding.”
“How so? You know I will be at the office late. Might as well let someone use my house for a good purpose.”
I reluctantly grab my purse from him. “Okay, but only for a few hours. I’ll come back here after a nap.”
He shakes his head. “Grace, you work almost as hard as me. Take a nap, then go home. You don’t need to come back here until tomorrow and only if you are feeling better.”
I open the door to his office and look back at him. “Thanks, Carson.”
He smiles at me, then shuts the door behind me.
I walk into his house and it’s eerily quiet. It’s weird to be here alone. I am only ever here to get laid. Yes, I have spent the night but I am usually out of here by five in the morning so my brother doesn’t catch me sneaking back into his house.
The bright lights from outside only make my head hurt worse. I toss my purse onto his couch and move toward the floor-to-ceiling curtains, closing them until it’s dark.