“That’s probably the wrong word,” she conceded as Mike and Derrik returned to the table.
Mike placed a hand on the back of June’s chair. “No tables. They’ve all been reserved.”
“That’s okay, I was thinking about calling it a night,” I said, even though the thought hadn’t crossed my mind, becausenothought had taken hold in roughly one-hundred and twenty minutes.
“Me too.” Derrik jerked his chin toward the exit. “What about you two? You off?”
“Um...” June chewed on her lower lip, glancing at me asking a silent question.
Pointing to her pink cocktail mostly full on the table, I said, “You just got your drink. Stay.”
“I can walk you to your room,” Derrik offered.
“I mean, I felt perfectly safe last night, so you don’t have to.”
“I’d like to, if that’s okay.”
I shrugged.
He was easy to be around. The kind of guy who didn’t need much help keeping a conversation going. As we strolled to The Brontë, he did most of the talking and asked me a question from time to time. I was only half paying attention.
He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall framing my door. “It was really nice to meet you.”
“Yeah, you too.” I rummaged in my little clutch for my key card. “Thank you for walking with me.”
“No problem. I’m staying in The Austenian, so not that far back to my spot.”
The ding of the elevator called down the hallway just before the doors slid open revealing a single passenger inside.
Framed by the open doors, wearing the same sweatpants he’d worn that morning and a sweat-drenched white T-shirt, Jamison wiped his glistening forehead with a sleeve stretching across his bicep. Even from the other end of the hall, I felt the force of his eyes landing on me. His chest rose and fell before he took a step.
“Hey man,” Derrik called, clearly unaware that we’d experienced an earthquake. “What are you doing here?”
Jamison’s hands balled into fists, then stretched. His jaw set as he noticed his cousin’s presence. Jerking his head toward the door behind Derrik, he mumbled, “That’s my room.”
“Wow, right next to each other. Did you request adjoining rooms?”
I shook my head, still not trusting myself to speak.
“No.” Jamison’s movements were almost feline in their grace and command as he came to a stop next to his cousin.
“That’s random,” Derrik said. “Did you work out?”
“Yeah.”
“Even chattier than normal.”
For a beat, Jamison held absolutely still. His face was expressionless, but still it was obvious that his patience with Derrik had run out. Then Jamison swallowed and shrugged. “Sure.”
“Alright, well”—Derrik turned to me—”really nice to meet you, Sadie.”
I nodded, forcing a smile. I was having a hard time breathing with Jamison taking all of the air, filling it with the smell of his skin, hot and salty. I’d never thought sweat was particularly sexy, but then I’d never seen him post-workout. Pheromones were pheromoning.
I tried to catch his eye to keep him near somehow, but it seemed like he wanted to look anywhere but me. Derrik wasn’t even to the elevators before Jamison mumbled a goodnight to me and disappeared into his room. At a loss of what else to do, I opened my door andstepped into the quiet. My discarded outfits were draped over the sofa and the foot of the bed. Splotches of color in the otherwise darkly intense room.
“Stay here,” I said with only myself to hear.
Taking my phone out of my clutch, I considered texting Alicia for a pep-talk on how not to backslide into a reckless situation.
