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LEO
The key tag smacked against the wooden door when Piper jammed the key into the lock. The loud noise, coupled with the jiggling as she practically wrestled with the doorknob, put Leo on high alert. His shoulders were hiked up around his ears as he anxiously waited for what was bound to be the longest night of his life. When she finally got the door open, his shoulders fell, and he stood speechless, staring into the room. Right beside the bed was the supposed pull-out couch that looked like his worst nightmare. The corners of the beige plaid fabric were peeled back, revealing the yellow foam underneath. He could almost feel the springs prodding against his back already. The bed beside it could only be described as dusty, with its brown, floral-printed covers and ornate wooden bedpost that looked about a hundred years old.
“Ew. You are not sleeping on that,” Piper declared, pointing at the couch.
“I’ve slept on worse.” Leo shrugged.
“Just let me buy you a room.”
He gave her a cool and exacting shake of his head. “No.”
“Fine.” Piper looked around the room with a grimace before saying, “I’m gonna change the sheets on the bed.”
“They gave you spare sheets?” Leo asked. He had watched her entire encounter with the leering concierge, and he didn’t see extra sheets change hands. He did, however, get the moral confirmation he needed that staying in Piper’s room was the right choice, given the concierge had stared at her chest for the entirety of the interaction.
“I have a brand-new set of sheets in my bag. My sister is trying to make her room look more ‘adult,’ so I got her some that I thought would complement her romantic spirit but are still mature. Point being that I have sheets, and I’ll just wash them before I give them to Pearl. Help me make the bed?”
“Sure.”
Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion, the car spinning out of control all over again. Piper unfolded the mauve sheets and held them out to Leo. His fingers accidentally skimmed over the back of her hand. They maneuvered the fitted sheet over the mattress, then lifted the flat sheet in unison so it parachuted above their heads, and he could see her underneath it like one of those romantic movie scenes where they put the camera under the fabric to catch the way it folded in around a couple.
Leo’s body felt hot all over. It was brisk out, and they hadn’t turned on the heater yet, so there should be no reason for him to feel that way, and yet a fire was stoking in his veins.
“The shower is pretty nice, actually,” Piper noted after Leo flicked the light on in the bathroom to inspect it. The tile and grout looked fairly new, and the glass panes encasing the shower were more modern than the rest of the hotel room. An image of Piper naked in the shower with water slicking down her body unhelpfully popped into his head. The rest of the night was going to be torture, and he’d no doubt have to hide a raging hard-on in the morning. “It’s like they renovated this bathroom but forgot about the pull-out couch and the wallpaper in the main room,” she continued.
“Not a fan of merpeople and lumberjacks?” Leo chuckled.
“We aren’t near the ocean, and even if we were, that wallpaper would be a travesty. The lumberjack aesthetic is a fine line between tacky and homey cabin-in-the-woods. That couch looks like it belongs on a street corner with a ‘free’ sign.”
“You’re the expert,” he said. “Your sheets are probably the nicest thing in that room.” When they had been remaking Piper’s bed, he couldn’t help but run his hands along the silky, soft fabric. Someday, he’d have enough money for high thread count bedding, but for now, the cheap sheets back in his apartment would have to do.
“I’m not an expert yet.” The way she so easily brushed off the compliment annoyed him. He didn’t pass out compliments unless they were earned.
“Elliot has been singing your praises. He says your set ideas have all been genius.”
“Really?” Piper perked up, and Leo couldn’t help but feel elated that he had been able to give her a sliver of real happiness after such a long day.
His pride fell away in a flash when he realized that it was technically Elliot who had made Piper smile, not him. It felt worse than getting punched in the jaw in a boxing match with one of his brothers and made him want to escape the claustrophobia of her presence. There was no room to breathe when he could feel the sexual tension radiating in the space between them.
“I’m gonna go check out the hot tub we saw when we pulled in. It’s been a long night, and my back is going to hurt when I sleep on that couch,” Leo announced and quickly turned on his heel for the door.
“But it’s three in the morning. It’s closed,” Piper called after him.
“So?” He didn’t give two shits if the pool area was closed. He needed to relax, and he needed to do it far away from Piper Hartrick.
“How are you going to get in?”
“You mean how am I possibly going to get over the really tiny fence? I was thinking I might go all out and ninja-roll over the top of it.”
Piper gasped. “You can’t just jump the fence!”
“Why not?”
“It’s against the rules.”
Leo sighed, mildly amused that the good girl inside her couldn’t even break a rule as small as this one. “Let’s play a game. What’s the worst that could possibly happen?”
“You get arrested for trespassing.” Piper was quick with her response. She probably thought of worst-case scenarios all the time, an unfortunate byproduct of losing loved ones so suddenly.
