THE SMITHS

Chapter Forty-three

The first thing Cameron sees when his tired eyes pull open, was a framed picture of his secretary on a wall. Then almost immediately, he takes a long drag of air, the sheets he was most probably laying on smelt really nice, but they definitely did not smell like his very specific choice of fabric softener. With that final realization, he springs up from bed, almost falling off it in the process, -because wow, this was a really small bed.

Before he gets a chance to survey the room more closely though, the door pushes open, causing him to jump slightly.

“Good morning, Boss!” Iris casually walks in with a mug in hand. His eyes never leaves her frame as she comes to drop it on the bedside drawer and looks at him with a smile.

Cameron looks down at himself, face twisting into a frown at how disheveled he looked, “Wh- What is going on? How did I end up here?”

“I had to bring you here after the bartender called me over to the club you were at last night...." Her jaw falls open, noting how Cameron tilts his head in further confusion, "You..... You don't remember anything from last night, Boss?”

It was then that Cameron feels a headache that he felt like he'd been ignoring this whole time. His eyes widens as that seemed to trigger his memories from the night before.

.

{A FEW HOURS AGO}

Iris pushes the doors open as quietly as she could with a man almost twice her size slung over her smaller frame, every successful step feeling like she had dodged a bullet as the boss seems to continuously trip over her own ridiculously long legs but somehow always manages to catch himself before he took Iris to the floor with him.

Iris huffs loudly when she finally pushes him down onto the three-seater sofa and makes to walk to the front door to shut it when all of a sudden, fingers close around her wrist and she is not-very-gently dragged backwards. Iris slaps a palm over her mouth before a loud shriek could escape as she falls right on top of the boss.

He didn't seem to mind though. Iris could smell the alcohol in his breath as he smiles breathily before it turns into a grin, blindingly white set of teeth almost knocking the breath out of Iris who suddenly comes to the realization of how close their faces had come.

A warm palm cups her face soon after and Cameron, still blinking very tiredly, suddenly mutters a 'Cute' under his breath. Iris blinks, her own breath growing heavier while Cameron takes his time to trail his thumb lower down her face. Her breath hitches when it finally stops on her plump heart shaped lips. He uses his pointer finger this time as he gently traces the length of her lips and suddenly, as if in a daze, he begins to lean in.

Iris finally snaps out of the trance she'd fell in when the boss' face gets so close and it didn't seem like he had any plans to stop. Almost like he'd wanted to kiss her!. When she abruptly pulls away, forcing herself back to her feet, the boss chuckles, his head lulls back against the sofa and in the next few seconds, he was out like a light.

.

Cameron is now sat for breakfast with Iris and her parents, staring intently at the food he'd been offered and not daring to look up at Iris or her parents.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed. It‘s a normal thing.” he hears a male voice say comfortingly. That had to be Iris' father.

Cameron finally looks up, first at Iris and then to her father who was sitting right next to Iris, her mother on the other side. Both parents caging Iris in almost protectively.

“I’m truly sorry, Sir.” He mumbles an apology, truly feeling too embarassed to even hold their soft gazes for too long.

The door suddenly begins to beep as if someone was entering a passcode and Iris leaps to her feet, hurrying to it. She meets Jacqueline, who had just stepped in, raising a few bags to show Iris who rushes to her side.