Strike ( Book 4: Stronger Series )

34. Sneak Attack

"Darren, wake up."

I stood five feet away from the bed, enough distance so that I was well outside of his reach and waited for Darren to wake. He was notorious for being a light sleeper, yet all my quiet shuffling hadn't even disturbed him. Selective hearing much?

"Darren," I called a little louder. "Come on, wake up."

He just groaned into his pillow. Was he fucking with me right now?

Thinking quickly, I stepped over to my side of the bed, grabbed the sheets and ripped them off the bed. "Come on, sunshine! Get up! Let's go for a run!"

I was wearing my tight running shorts and a sport tank top with a built-in bra, and my hair was already in a ponytail. Not to mention I was wide-awake. We were in Rome, for fuck's sake, and I was ready to explore.

Darren jerked slightly, but his eyes finally cracked open as he scowled at me. I smiled back at him in triumph.

"What are you doing out of bed?"

I shook my head. "The question is, what are you still doing in bed?"

"What time is it?" he asked, his voice surprisingly clear after just waking up.

"Five a.m. Come on, let's go!"

He glared at me before relaxing back into his position. "Get back into bed, crazy. I had a long night last night. We are not going for a run this early."

Bitch, you can bet we are.

I crossed my arms over my chest. I would not be deterred so easily.

With as much authority as I could muster in my voice, I cleared my throat. "Darren, you better get your ass up right now or there will be consequences."

He snorted. Fucking snorted.

Dick.

"Last warning," I declared.

"Remember who you're messing with, sweetheart. That's your only warning."

If messing with him meant it would get him out of bed, even if it meant to chase me down and punish me, then I would do it. At least it got him up. In the end, I'd still be the winner.

"All right," I drawled casually, my voice light and airy, "but remember, you brought this on yourself."

And before he could prepare, I grabbed several of the generous number of little throw pillows and began chucking them at his head. Only one hit its intended target before he was already rolling over and returning fire with my discarded missed ones.

I ducked quickly, rolling to my side for cover behind the couch, grasping two more pillows, one in each hand. I tossed both when I saw Darren's head bob up from behind the bed.

And then there was silence. And silence was never good when he was around.

I crouched along the edge of the couch, my heart beating wildly as I hunted my prey, two more pillows at the ready. Keeping low, I crept around the end of the couch, my head raising above the armrest when a pillow suddenly came barreling into view. I managed to block it with the pillow in my hand, but the second one I hadn't seen came down at the top of my head.

I quickly moved back to the safety of the couch, catching my breath while I waited for the inevitable. I continued backing away, my eyes scanning everything in front of me for movement, but there was absolutely nothing. And just when I thought about attacking again, I felt strong hands grip me from behind under my arms and haul me into the air.

I suppressed my shocked scream into a loud gasp as Darren carted me off back into bed, his entire body curling around me and locking my back against his chest, keeping me completely immobile. I struggled for a minute to figure out what I could and couldn't move, what might give and might not, but there really wasn't much to work with. Darren just sighed in satisfaction while he buried his nose into my ponytail.