“Where are you going?” Bonnie asked as she followed after me.
I glanced over my shoulder. “My room. I’m exhausted.” I forced a yawn just to emphasize my point.
“Sawyer’s in the Peninsula Suite.”
I stopped and then slowly turned around. “He’s what?”
Bonnie folded her arms across her chest. “I couldn’t just keep the room empty. You weren’t here, so Sawyer took it.”
It took all of the strength inside me not to fight her on this. I was the lead singer. I always got the biggest suite. But I knew no matter how hard I wanted to fight Bonnie on this, she wouldn’t give in. In her mind, she was teaching me a lesson.
I forced a smile. “Seems fair.” I surveyed the other wooden doors that lined the hallway. “Which one is mine?” Sabrina whipped her gaze up to me. “Er, I mean ours.” I gave her a wink to which she just sighed.
Bonnie glanced around the hallway. “George?”
Like magic, George appeared next to Bonnie. He nodded and then stepped up to the far door on the right. “You’re in here, Mr. Carmichael,” he said as pressed a charcoal grey key card against the black sensor panel near the door. A light flashed green followed by a soft click.
“I already had your luggage brought up,” he said as he held the door open so Sabrina and I could pass through.
The small foyer we were now standing in opened up into a modest living room where the city skyline could be seen through the floor-to-ceiling windows. To the left, the bedroom door was open, revealing a large king-size bed, overflowing with pillows and a plush down comforter.
“This is beautiful,” Sabrina whispered as she passed by me and made her way over to the window, where she stared outside. The sun had started to set behind the skyscrapers that filled the skyline.
“Let me know if there’s anything you need.” George handed me two key cards and then slowly backed out of the room.
I nodded in acknowledgement as George shut the door on Bonnie, who looked like she wanted to keep talking. I wasn’t really interested in hearing what she had to say.
Now alone, I turned my attention back to Sabrina, who had her arms wrapped around her waist and her focus on the world moving outside the window. Not sure what to do, I cleared my throat and took a few steps in her direction.
“Beautiful, huh?” I asked as I neared her. I remained a safe distance away so she wouldn’t feel overwhelmed.
Sabrina glanced over at me. Her eyes were wide and held a soft reverence as she slowly began to nod. “It is.”
A genuine smile tugged at my lips. Sabrina thought I was talking about the scenery outside of the room, but I had commented on the woman standing inside the room. The soft evening light accented her pale skin, dark brown hair, and perfectly formed lips.
Sabrina was beautiful, which was probably one of the reasons I was struggling to stay away from her. She intrigued me in a way that no woman had in a very long time. I liked having her around. I just wished she felt the same way about me. But from the exasperated sigh and roll of her eyes that happened every time I smiled and winked at her, I feared I may have overstayed my welcome.
Needing something to do other than stand there and stare at her, I moved over to the soft leather-bound menu that sat on the side table next to the couch. “You hungry?” I asked as I glanced up at her. “We can eat here or go out.”
Sabrina looked startled by my question. But then her attention shifted down to Samuel, who was chilling in his car seat. “I should probably stay in.” She nodded toward me. “But don’t let that stop you.”
I chuckled as I flipped the hotel menu open. I wanted to tell her that I was content to hang here with her, but then I remembered that I hadn’t posted a Drifter song in a few days. Last time I logged into that account, my notifications were going crazy with people speculating what had happened to me.
Now that I was sharing a room, I was going to have to sneak off if I wanted to keep my identity unknown.
“I’ll probably do that,” I said as I flipped another page. “But I want to make sure that you get set up here before I leave.” I sighed, closed the menu, and then handed it over to Sabrina.
She took it from me and opened it, so I shifted my attention to Samuel.
“Come here, little man,” I said as I started unbuckling him. He responded by squirming and arching his back in anticipation.
A soft gasp proceeded the sound of the menu closing. “Actually, I’m really not that hungry,” Sabrina said as she leaned over to set the menu back down on the side table and took a few steps away from it.
I frowned as I hooked my arm around Samuel legs and stood so I could face her. “I don’t believe that,” I said as I bounced Samuel a few times. “I haven’t seen you eat anything since breakfast.” I quirked an eyebrow, waiting for her inevitable deflection. It seemed like she was determined to reject my help. Little did she know that I wasn’t so easily deterred.
Sabrina didn’t meet my gaze, so I approached her until there was only about a foot of space between us. I stared down at her, waiting for her to acknowledge me.
When she finally glanced up, I could see fear and embarrassment in her eyes.
