" I'm not," Dakota lied, her voice muffled by the covers.
"You are. I can practically hear your mind spinning from here."
"Then stop listening and let me sleep."
"In a moment." Water ran in the bathroom, then stopped. "I'm taking a shower. When I come back, you're going to actually sleep, not lie there catastrophizing about all the ways you think you're going to fail."
"I don't catastrophize," Dakota protested weakly.
"You absolutely do." The shower started. "It's one of your more endearing qualities, actually. The way you convince yourself you're going to ruin everything before you've even tried."
"I have tried!" Dakota's voice rose with frustration. "I've tried and I've failed spectacularly! Multiple times! At basically everything that matters!"
The shower shut off abruptly, and moments later Kade appeared in the doorway, a towel wrapped around his waist, water still dripping from his hair.
