Love In Unexpected Places ✓

Chapter Twenty-Two

The next morning I awoke in Jean-Paul's arms. The closeness of him and the aroma of his spiced cologne put me into a warm fuzzy feeling mood. The fact that he cared enough to come into the room last night to check on me and stay when I asked him to was enough to warm my heart and make me feel important.

I looked down at the phone and realized it was now 1 PM in the evening. We had slept in past breakfast. I had forgotten to set the alarm on my phone the night before, and even if Jean-Paul had set his alarm, he couldn't hear it because he was in the room with me.

I walked into the kitchen in my pajama shorts and a tank top, and decided to whip us up some quick blueberry muffins before we went about our day.

It was now day three of our trip and we had decided to spend the day shopping around for souvenirs to take home from our travels.

Over the course of the next few days, we walked nature trails, visited some of the waterfalls, visited an abandoned park, and traveled to Pigeon Forge. There we visited the wonderworks museum, the Hollywood wax museum, and Dollywood.

After we got off of the last ride at Dollywood we had decided to grab a sub sandwich at a restaurant before driving back to the cabin.

We had one last night to listen to the quiet of the woods before saying goodbye and traveling back to the hustle and bustle of the city.

We cozied around one last fire before saying goodnight to each other and making our way to our respective bedrooms. Although Jean-Paul asked if I wanted him to bunk with me for the night, I had decided that I needed to sleep alone. After all, after tonight I would be going back to my apartment and wouldn't have Jean-Paul by my side any longer.

Although I tried to lay still and fall asleep I just couldn't seem to. I got back up out of bed and walked back into the living room to make another fire and sit in front and read a book.

After I got through about ten pages, Jean-Paul walked back into the living room.

"Couldn't sleep?" He asked as he came over to sit next to me on the couch.

"No, I couldn't. Could you?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

So I marked the page I was on in the book and cuddled into Jean-Paul's arms. Taking in his closeness and his spiced scent one last time.

In order to make it back to New York at a decent hour, we would have to be up and dressed with our belongings packed back into the car by seven AM.

It had already started to get late. I peered over at the time on the stove which read 11:30.

I snuggled up closer to Jean-Paul as my eyelids began to get heavy. I dozed off a time or two before finally giving into sleep.

The next morning I awoke to Jean-Paul cuddling me in his arms on the couch and the fire from the fireplace had gone out, leaving smoke in its wake.

I looked up at the clock and realized that it was nine AM instead of seven. We had slept in again.

I ran into my room and began to get my belongings packed up and dressed before waking Jean-Paul up from his sleep.

If we were able to be on the road by ten, it would leave us getting into New York around nine-thirty at night if we drove non-stop.

Jean-Paul hurried to his room and got changed while packing up his belongings. We made sure all of the dishes were cleaned and put back where they belonged while also making the beds as best as we could. I called for Dave to meet us so we could give him the keys back to the cabin.