Chapter 1: What Happened Last Night?
The pain in my head was the first sensation to arouse my senses, a throbbing, dull ache reminiscent of a cheap champagne hangover. I groaned, beginning the mental calculations of figuring out exactly what I had done last night to warrant the hellacious day I was obviously about to have. I yawned, extending toes and fingers in opposite direction, eyes cautiously blinking open against the dim morning light breaking way through the curtains - wait. This wasn't right. The lighting was off, the light filtering in too dim and - yes. This was all wrong, this was not my room at all. I groaned again, hands rubbing my face as I took a deep, shuddering breath. Obviously, my errors were more than just some bad champagne last night, if I had managed to tumble into a bed that was unfamiliar to me.
Fighting the waves of dizziness and nausea, I slowly sat up, gripping the sheet to my chest as I realized that I was completely naked underneath. I cursed softly under my breath, taking stock of my surroundings. It appeared to be a rather bare and unimpressive basement, two small windows up high letting in enough low light for me to make out a wooden staircase approximately six feet to the right of the bed. Across the opposite direction, an out of place bathroom of sorts sat exposed. A toilet and a shower, if you could call it that. Great - I'd really picked a winner this time. What was this, mom's unfinished basement? It just needed a table full of empty beer cans and pizza boxes to complete the scene. I slowly stood, clutching the sheet tightly to my chest as I began to search the cold floor surrounding the bed for my clothes. Whoever - and wherever - Mr. Wonderful was - I didn't want to give him any impression should he happen to reappear that I was interested in a repeat of whatever had occurred last night. I wanted a hot shower and my own bed for the rest of the day.
I jumped, startled, as the door above let out a creak of protest, rusty hinges working to allow entrance. "Shit," I muttered, readjusting the sheet to make sure I was as covered as I could be, squinting my eyes to try and make out features on the dark shape descending, the dim basement light doing little to help my cause. I stood nervously near the end of the bed, shifting weight from one foot to another, futilely glancing around still for any sign of my missing clothing.
"Good morning," he spoke as he stopped in front of me, strong arms casually crossing over his wide chest.
I briefly shut my eyes and took a breath, doing my best to calm the nervous flutters in my stomach and the screeching voice in my head that wouldn't stop telling me what a complete and total fool I was to have gotten myself into this predicament. "Umm, good morning," I muttered, feeling the crimson rush of extreme embarrassment make its way from my toes all the way to the top of my head. "I, um, where are -" my words cut off as I finally worked up the courage look up at my mystery "Mr. Wonderful." He was tall - at least a foot taller than I - and clearly strong. He wore a simple white shirt, fabric stretched tautly over his muscled arms and chest. He was smirking, clearly amused by my discomfort at the situation. HIs eyes, though, were the most disconcerting. They were calm, watchful. I suddenly felt like a rabbit about to be caught in the wolf's snare.
"...My clothes," I finished quietly, dropping my eyes away from his intense gaze, knuckles whitening as my grip tightened on the soft sheet wrapped around my body that suddenly felt more exposed under his presence.
He chuckled softly, taking a quick step towards me. He towered over me, his presence and scent overwhelming my senses. Embarrassment, desire and annoyance all battled within my mind as I, in turn, attempted a step back to try and clear my head from his influence. With a squeak, my knees hit the edge of the bed that was much closer to me than I had realized, and I tripped, flopping ungraciously back onto the bed on my bottom, scrambling to maintain my hold on the sheet that still protected me. My options were clearly limited at this point - turn and scramble across the bed away from him, likely losing my protective sheet in the process, or refuse to give in to his intimidation tactics and put on a face of bravery. I chose the latter.