I awoke to something warm, soft, and fleshy pressed against my back, with an arm draped over my waist that was not mine. Someone was in bed with me, and they weren’t supposed to be there.
I disengaged in alarm and after rolling to what had to be a safe distance given the limits of a queen-sized bed, I stared in shock at the intruder. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Long auburn locks flowed in gentle waves across her face and shoulders. Graceful eyebrows arched over long lashes and melded perfectly into a short, Grecian nose. Her mouth was slightly parted, and through those full, pink lips issued a quiet snore that bordered on a purr. The sheet was low enough on her slender, athletic body for me to tell that she was utterly naked beneath it, and after doing the gentlemanly thing by pulling the sheet up to cover her better, only one thing remained on my mind. What the hell was she doing in my apartment?
I considered waking her to ask just that, but she beat me to it. With a quiet, incomprehensible mumble and a flutter of her eyes, she stirred and the moment she saw me, she smiled. It was the biggest, brightest, most beautiful smile I had ever seen.
“Good morning,” she muttered sleepily, a very satisfied expression brightening her face.
I didn’t know what to say. A beautiful woman had broken into my apartment during the night, undressed, and slept next to me, all without my knowledge. I’m not a heavy sleeper. Never was. So, I couldn’t fathom how she had pulled it off without waking me up, and then she had the nerve to act as if nothing was wrong with the entire scenario. It was baffling. But I was certain of one thing. If she had meant me any harm, she would have done it in my sleep. That alone kept me from running to the phone and calling the police. At least, for the moment.
“Who are you?” Even I couldn’t believe that was the first thing out of my mouth. In hindsight, I could have been suave about it. After all, how many guys wake up to a beautiful naked woman in their beds? But I wasn’t thinking about that just then. I needed answers, and her presence was starting to make me nervous. “How’d you get in here?”
Her nose crinkled in momentary confusion. It was very cute. “Very funny.”
Funny? How? What’s funny about breaking and entering? But I didn’t say that, although her cavalier attitude rattled me.
“I’m serious!” That was the stupidest thing I have ever said. When did that phrase ever have the desired effect? I should have already predicted it, but she smiled awkwardly, her nose crinkling again, as she cocked her head to study me carefully.
“Are you feeling all right?” She sounded genuinely concerned, and I was starting to feel the same way. She reached out to touch me, and I withdrew from her. She took her hand back with an even more concerned expression on her face. “What’s wrong?”
What wasn’t? But I didn’t say that either. Instead, I said, “Look, you better get out of here before I call the cops.”
She sat up, letting the sheet slide off, and yes, she was naked underneath. At least, she was topless. I was still uncertain about the rest of her. Like a gentleman, I dropped my gaze to the bed after just a glimpse and resisted the temptation to stare. A moment later, she took my chin and forced me to look her in the eye.
“What’s wrong?” Now, she was really concerned. And a bit afraid, but not for herself. For me. It was genuinely disorientating. “What’s happening to you?”
I didn’t know. Something weird was going on, and it was either her fault or mine. Either she had broken in and slept next to me, or… I didn’t know what else it could have been.
“What’s happening is you breaking into my apartment.” I decided to leave out the part about sleeping naked next to me. It was too obvious. “While I slept.”
Her brow crinkled in concern. “Breaking in? I used my key!”
I couldn’t believe it. “Key? Is that what they call it now?”
The crease in her brow deepened. “What are you talking about? We both got keys when we moved in!”
When we moved in? As far as I knew, I moved in alone. My name was the only one on the lease. I was ab out to confront her on the lie when I finally noticed the bedroom and looked around. That wasn’t my stuff. Or rather, some of it was mine, but the decor was completely different, even down to the color of the walls. They were sky blue, now, and not the mauve from the previous tenant. There were even pictures on them. Sailboats. Kittens. Some of a couple that I couldn’t make out in the dimness of the room. And the trinkets scattered here and there were feminine but neutral enough to be bearable, with a limited scattering of my own trinkets to make the place mine, as well. That wasn’t how it looked last night when I went to bed. Either she had somehow managed to do all of that overnight without waking me, or something very weird was going on, and I suspected the latter.
“Are you okay?” She said it quietly. Cautiously, so as not to startle me, and it broke the trance.
“What?” It was a purely instinctual reply. I was very confused.
“You were just staring at everything.” She was genuinely worried, in her tone and her expression. It was heart wrenching. She reached out and placed a hand gently on my arm, and I made myself not flinch. “Are you feeling all right?”
I was almost tired of that question, but I couldn’t argue that it brought up a valid point. Was I all right? There was no way anyone could affect such a radical change in my bedroom’s decor overnight, but then again, there was no way that a woman as beautiful as her would ever give a guy like me a second glance, much less agree to sleep with me. I had no clue what was going on, and I replied in the only way I knew how. “I don’t know.”
She squeezed my arm. “Maybe we should go see the doctor?”
At that point, I had no ideas of my own, so I nodded. Someone had to have the answers, and I needed to start somewhere. A doctor was probably the best place to begin. There was one little problem. “I don’t have a doctor.”
She smiled and shook her head as if I’d just told a bad joke. “Don’t be silly. Dr. Hamilton will squeeze you in somewhere, I’m sure!”
Dr. Hamilton? I’d never heard of them, but apparently, she had, and her confidence in the good doctor made me nod in unfelt agreement. And it made her happy to see it.
“Good!” She gave my arm another squeeze and slid out of bed, letting the sheet slide off her statuesque figure. I averted my eyes again, but not as quickly as before. I still couldn’t figure out why she had chosen me. She was way out of my league. As she headed for the door, she tossed over her shoulder, “I’ll call him right now. I’m sure his service will pick up.”
That last bit was meant to be reassuring, which meant that she thought there was a real problem with me. And that made me think the same thing. I sat up to process it and discovered that I was as naked as she was. I’m not sure why I hadn’t noticed earlier.
“He’ll see you this morning,” she said the moment she came back. She hadn’t bothered to put anything in the interim, and she wasn’t bothered about being naked in front of me. it made me uncomfortable, but it helped drive home the very unsettling idea that I should know her better than I did.
“That was quick,” I remarked, looking at the closet to keep from staring at her. I wondered how I was going to get dressed without her watching me.
She put her arms around me, and I could feel her breasts pressing against my arm. “You’re his favorite patient. Why wouldn’t he make time for you?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Why would he?”
She squeezed me tight. “Are you kidding me? He loves having a prizewinning author for a patient.”
That threw me for a loop. “Prizewinning?”
Then I noticed them. Some of the pictures on the wall were of me in a tuxedo, holding a medal or award of some sort with her right at my side, beaming proudly. I never participated in any of those events. It wasn’t that I didn’t remember them. They had never happened.
She let me go and stood up. “You better get dressed. We have some time, so we’ll stop for coffee along the way.”
That sounded more expensive than I could afford. I knew what coffee cost in the city. “I’ll brew some here. I think I have some muffins left over, too.”
She paused on her way to the closet, then turned to give me a concerned look. “What?”
That look on her face drew my attention off her butt. “Um… I mean, coffee’s so expensive. I thought…”
Her brows knit in worry. “Since when did you worry about that?”
I wasn’t quite sure how to reply. “Well, I mean, I have coffee here, and I just made muffins a couple of days ago…”
Her brows knit tighter. “Since when could you bake? Or even make a decent cup of coffee?”
That was a bit offensive. “Hey, I can make coffee!”
She looked very worried. “I think the sooner we see the doctor the better.”
