"They put us in the same room," she said again, her voice barely a whisper.
He brought his gaze to hers, nodded."Yes."
"We'reroommates?"
A second nod was his only reply.
Well shit.She'd never survive two weeks sleeping in the same room as Asha.
3
Asha tried to form a coherent thought so he could say something—anything.
Except nothing but the wordsshe's naked—on repeat—came to mind and he didn't think they were appropriate for their current situation.
His body was doing that tightening and relaxing thing again and while his breathing was short and shallow, he felt as though he took his first full breath in days just looking at her.
"Asha!"
His name snapped like a whip from her lips, and it was all he could do to keep himself from vaulting over the bed and kissing her.
"Ah, yeah, roommates."
She eyed him with a mixture of confusion and longing and that urge to leap the bed and plant his mouth on hers doubled.
"I'm, ah, not sure what they told you, when you checked in I mean, but they told me my roommate hadn't checked in yet."He scratched at his chin and the whiskers three days of not shaving gave him."I assumed it would be another crew member."
That wasn't a lie.At first, he had assumed it would be a crew member until he'd worked out the cabin wasn't on the crew accommodation deck.He'd tried to think of any other person he could be rooming with but that had been pointless because the answer had been obvious.
They'd both agreed to be the ship's Santa and elf for two days prior to Christmas.The pay was zero, but the benefit was a free fourteen day—minus two—cruise to the Caribbean.
It had been a no brained when Jared Groves, Winter Lake's doctor and one of his closest friends, asked him to do it.
Of course, he hadn't known Sarah would be the elf to his Santa at the time.And if he were honest, he wasn't all that sure he'd have said no if he had.
For a man who knew he should stay away from Sarah Adair he seemed to put himself in her orbit a hell of a lot.
He'd never thought he was a masochist.Except he kept torturing himself by getting as close to her as he could.But after more than two years he was beginning to think he'd reached his breaking point.
Maybe that's why he was equal parts dreading and anticipating the next two weeks.
"So..."Her gaze darted to the bed and back to him."We'resharingthis cabin?"
Asha swallowed.Hard.The one and only bed in the room was in his peripheral vision but he'd be damned if he looked directly at it.
"Yeah," he croaked through a throat so constricted it was a wonder he could breathe.
"Um..."Hitching her towel up with a fist between her mouthwatering breasts, her gaze moved away from him then back.She took a deep breath and straightened her spine, pulled her shoulders back, tipped her chin up."Okay."
His lips twitched with the urge to smile.He knew she wasn't sure about the arrangement and yet she stood tall, head high and faced the situation head on.
It was one of the many traits he admired about her.Her ability to do what had to be done regardless of whether she wanted to or not.
"I can see if I can get another cabin," he offered even though every part of him rejected the idea.
"No.No.It's fine."Her eyes moved to the left of him."I can sleep on the couch."
Glancing at the coach he cringed at the thought of anyone having to sleep there but if anyone did it would be him."No.I'll take the coach.You can have the bed."
