Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 198: As Artists Do

Chapter 198: As Artists Do

In the world that they lived in, there were many artists. People who could make something out of nothing. Those individuals who could just pick up a random rock on their path, and be able to carve it into something so beautiful it made even the most hardened souls weep.

If Emily had been gifted in any of those disciplines. Then she would have been using them to express herself. If she could have, she would have written a poem about sleep. Stanza after Stanza, just dedicated to the wonders of slumber.

She would put in rhymes, and throw in metaphors and similes. Just using words to string together her thoughts, and bring alive the emotion that she felt whenever she thought of sleep, and how wonderful it was. But unfortunately for her, Emily was not a poet. She could not move people with just her words.

So when it came to describing how she felt about sleep, at most all that she could do was say, "Sleep is fantastic," and smile. Hoping that just her expression would be enough to portray to whoever it was that she was talking to, how wonderful she thought sleep was.

With words failing her, Emily wished that she was a fine artist. If she could hold a pencil in her hands, and be able to just touch it to a piece of paper and have the galaxies bursting in her mind at the thought of sleep, come alive on parchment. Then she would have.

If she could have traced out all of the wonder that she felt with a paintbrush in her hand. Letting the colors come alive on canvas, then she would have. But unfortunately, Emily was once again not gifted in that regard. But she felt that given enough time, if somebody were to give her a chisel, and a rock. Then tell her to sculpt her feelings for sleep. To just carve something out of the rock. Chipping away at it bit by bit, until all of her emotions were laid bare with every scrape that she made.

Then Emily felt that maybe she might have had a chance then. But she did not have time to learn sculpting. She was way too busy. And so sculpting was also crossed out as a way for Emily to show just how much she loved sleep.

But, even without all of those other talents. One thing that Emily was very good at...was embroidery.

So to express herself, she had begun yet another embroidery project. But this one was different from all the countless others that Emily had done during the long nights when nightmares had kept her awake.

For starters, this one was not being done at home in the middle of the night because she could not sleep. Instead, Emily had brought materials over to Derek’s place, and she had slowly been bringing it to life. Not working on it in the middle of the night, but doing it in snatches during the day.

Embroidering when people were supposed to be awake....a new experience for her.

The first time that she had brought out the project, Derek had looked at her in shock. "You can embroider?" He had asked. And Emily had simply nodded at him. "It is how I used to pass the nights," She had told him.

Derek had looked at her with terrible understanding in his eyes. "I swim," Was all that he had said. And that had been the end of that discussion. But just because it had been the end of that discussion. It did not mean that it had been the end of Emily’s embroidering project.

Being that it was a project born of love, and not something that she was doing to keep herself occupied. Emily was putting way more care into that project than she had ever done for any other embroidering that she had come up with in the past. It was slow going, but it was not a race. What mattered most to her was making sure that the project came out as perfectly as she could make it.

After all, it was not just some random thing that she was embroidering. It was all of her joy, all of her fear. Every single emotion that Emily had ever felt when it came to sleep poured into a piece of cloth.

She wanted it all to be reflected at her when she looked at the fabric. So, rather than going for the simple designs that she normally came up with. Emily decided to go all out.

The sky in the night time with the moon reflecting in the waters below. In those waters there was a boat and on that boat if one looked closely enough.

Then they would be able to make out two figures. But that was only for people who knew what to look for. To the average person, it would just look like the boat was empty. And that was Emily’s intention. The figures in the boat were not meant to be seen by just anyone.

They were representing Emily and Derek. And just as their sleeping arrangement was secret. She wanted that to translate onto her project. But not just the fact that they were secret. But also the fact that what the two of them had was sacred. Something that they only shared with each other. Which was why they were in the same boat.

Their sleep was a secret. Something not to be easily shared, with anyone. To show that aspect, the two figures in the boat, were only visible under the light of the moon.

As the weeks passed, Emily worked on it diligently. Stopping for the three days when she was not at Derek’s penthouse, and then resuming when she returned.

During the brief hours when she and Derek were awake during the day. The two of them would sit side by side. Derek either reading a book or busy on his laptop, and Emily would have the project in her hands. Just working away, letting her mind wander through happy thoughts.

Some days they did not even have to be indoors for Emily to be continuing with her work. Her favorite spot was quickly becoming the lounge chairs by the rooftop pool. Emily could just spend hours there, working, looking up from time to time, and just enjoying the view of Derek in the water.

Swimming as though he had been born to it.

They were tiny, inconsequential moments. They should not have had an impact on her. But the more time that Emily spent with Derek doing little things like that. The softer she became towards him. She was already soft towards him.

Emily had already acknowledged having a weak spot when it came to how she dealt with him.

But seeing him without the armor of CEO, and just seeing Derek Haven. The man who loved to swim. The secret sleep cuddler.

Those were added layers that somehow made it harder and harder for Emily, who sometimes woke up before him, to not just lean in and place a kiss on the tip of his nose.

It was only due to the fact that Emily often made a point of reminding herself that she was only there, because Derek needed her for sleep. That she was able to stop herself from doing something so foolish.

If it were not for that reminder. She would have given into weakness long before.

But with each day that passed, with the two of them sharing a bed, it became harder and harder for Emily to recognize the boundaries that they had put in place in the first place. After all, if you slept with a man and you cuddled with him.

It made it easier to cross over the other lines too. But Emily knew that if she ever did that. Then there would be no going back. And whatever it is that would happen then. She did not believe that her heart would survive if things went south. And so, she kept quiet, and reminded herself that she was only in it for the sleep.