Beautiful Mistakes

Plus, there was something about hatred between two people… if she hated him too, there would actually be passion between them.

As it was, there was one-sided hatred, and so there must only be one-sided passion of any kind.

Then she frowned. "Aaron, I just realized something."

Sighing, he said, "So did I. You're never going to let me go to sleep."

"In order to hate somebody the way that you hate me, there has to be some kind of… passion there. You never knew me before, and you hated me practically on-sight, so there must be some other… reason that you hate me so much."

"If I participate in this conversation for just a minute can I sleep?" he asked.

"Yes," she decided.

"There is probably some other reason that I seem to hate you, something that actually didn't even start with you. But it doesn't matter, because I'm not going to tell you what it is—I'm not drunk enough."

Considering that, she said, "Do you have any alcohol in the fridge?"

She heard him chuckle a little, felt his warm breath on the back of her neck. "You're not getting me drunk so you can take advantage of me."

"I won't take advantage of you," she said, smiling as she privately thought he seemed to be a frisky drunk.

"Yes, you will. You will use alcohol to get information from me. Damn women, using any means at your disposal to get what you want."

Oh, in that sense she did want to take advantage of him.

"I'm just curious," she said.

"And you're wasting your time and energy. Close your eyes and go to sleep, or I swear I really am going to smother you."

Yawning unintentionally, Julie said, "But I want to talk."

"And I want to sleep. Whose bed are we in?"

"Yours."

"Damn, looks like I win," he stated.

"We could go out to my boat," she suggested.

"Whose apartment is that in?"

Rolling her eyes, she could see where that was headed. "Yours."

"I still win. Shut up and go to sleep."

"Fine," she said, giving in and letting silence envelope them.

However, after thinking for just another second she said, "I just wanted to tell you… I'm glad that there is someone in the world you like less than me. It makes me feel better."

He grunted at her, and she took that to mean he was done talking, so she finally gave in to the vague pounding in her head and closed her eyes.

It felt like longer, but she knew it was a few seconds later when he finally said, "Want to know a secret?"

Instantly awake, she said, "Sure."

"I'm glad you told my brother to shove his abortion offer right up his ass."

Startled, she said, "You are? Why?"