Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 69: No Closure

Chapter 69: No Closure

Now that she had acknowledged that there was a very high possibility that the reason her nightmares had stopped for that one night, was most likely because she had been sleeping with her boss. Emily should have been feeling better. She should have at least been feeling some sort of closure.

She had found a possible solution and had also come to terms with the fact that she could not have that solution. It was so close, and yet so far away...simple.

In reality, there was no such thing.

On Monday morning, after accepting that she could not ask such a personal favor from her boss, Emily had walked into work bright and early, feeling determined. She could do this, all she had to do was find something else that made her sleep and then she would be set. There would be no need to risk her job by asking him such a personal thing.

The feeling of having it all under control crashed and died a horrible death the moment that Derek had walked into the office, and as the week progressed, it continued to die in various horrifying ways.

"Good morning, Emily, did you have a lovely weekend?" He had said on Monday.

"Yes, I did. I hope that you did too," She had told him, as professional as ever. But her internal conversation had been going in a totally different way.

’It would have been better, if I’d had a man like you sleeping next to me,’ Her inner self had said, and Emily had barely fought back the urge to start blushing.

On Tuesday, he had called her into his office. The two of them discussing his schedule, moving things around, adding some, and removing others where necessary. A normal thing that they did on a regular basis. But that particular meeting had been hell for Emily, every time Derek had leaned in, his cologne enveloping her, she had wanted to follow him back when he retreated.

"Cuddle me, Derek! Cuddle me, right here. Just for a little while. I need a nap so bad," She had imagined herself saying.

On Wednesday she had caught herself staring at his chest, wondering what it would feel like to use it as a pillow. Would it be that same welcoming firmness that she vaguely remembered(Curse her sleep addled brain! How could she have missed out on such an important detail!). Or would she discover new soft areas that she could sink into and sleep for hours? When she had been caught staring, she had let her hair down, pretending like that was what she had been focused on.

On Thursday, she bumped into his back by mistake. Rather than move away instantly, she instead stole a moment. She closed her eyes for a second and tried to see if she could fall asleep while standing. She could not, and she moved away with a great sense of shame.

What had she been reduced to?

Trying to steal naps off the boss’ back while standing up, in the middle of the office, was a new low for her. She has to do something.

Which was why, that very evening, Emily had decided to try something. A few months before, she had felt a health kick, motivated to do more exercise than going up and down the stairs at work. As part of her new healthier lifestyle, she had decided to incorporate running into her routine.

She had gone out shopping for the attire. But somehow life had gotten in the way, and she had been unable to run, not that she had tried to hard. But she still had her running gear, and it was gathering dust in the back of her wardrobe. At least it was, until Emily, determined to run until she was too exhausted for her nightmares to wake her up.

So after work on Thursday, that was exactly what Emily had done. She had put on her running shoes and ran. She had run, and run until she could not anymore more. Collapsing against a random building, her lungs on fire.

The run should have solved her problem. It should have made such that nothing shot off an explosion going off could wake her. But it had not, instead, Emily had unintentionally added a new element to her bad dreams that night....running.

That night, her dream self ran through an eerily silent forest. Chased by an endless wave of water. The water swallowing up everything in its path, trees uprooted and mountains crumbling. All the while Emily had run and run, unable to put enough distance between herself and the rampaging water. She woke up just as the wave closed in on her.

Then she just lay where she was, trapped in the bed, her entire body screaming in agony. Which led her to where she currently was.

At her desk on Friday, her entire body sore. She felt like she had challenged a duo if sumo wrestlers and lost...badly. And she had not just lost, she had been sat on by both of them after her humiliating defeat.

The good side of it was that she was in too much pain to keep thinking of her boss as some sort of sleep inducing cuddle bunny.

Speaking of, Derek was not doing too hot either. After leaving work fine the day before, he too was having trouble walking now. And not only that, his voice was gone too.

Emily would have loved to ask, but she was too busy focusing on her own aches and pains. Come evening, she was going to have to contend with not only night terrors, but a body in agony too.

The run until you pass out plan, was an epic fail, she would not be trying it again. Her running gear would have to go back to gathering dust until she found something better to do with it. Despite what the articles that she had read and the videos she had watched, Emily would not be running again.

Her primary intent had been to use it to tire herself enough to sleep, not to improve her stamina. Running had seen the back of her for a while.