Page 13 of His Secret Wish

“Yeah,” she said, glancing around. “I don’t know what I was thinking. We should totally get a couple of hotel rooms in town. That way, we won’t be all up in each other’s space.”

Panic raced through him, making his chest all fluttery and weird. While his plan might work if they were in separate spaces, it would be infinitely easier if they were here, together. But, again, he couldn’t push it. And he was not forcing her to do anything she wasn’t willing to do, or she was uncomfortable with.

“Here,” he said, sitting on the bed. “Let me look to see if we can get something.” He pulled out his phone and scrolled to a hotel booking site. She sat beside him, leaning over to see the screen. Her softness pressed against him, combined with the lavender scent that permeated the room, was completely distracting. His thumbs and fingers felt like they weren’t attached to his body as he navigated the site.

No matter what combination of dates and rooms he put in, they all came back with nothing available. “Well, that’s weird.” He glanced over at her.

She was gnawing on her bottom lip, her gaze locked on his phone. The urge to lean over and kiss her was so strong, it took everything in him not to give in. Kissing her out of the blue was a sure-fire way to get cold cocked in the jaw.

“What the hell?” She grabbed his phone, her fingers and thumbs flying over the screen. “Son of a bitch.”

“What?”

“There’s some sort of alpine race thing going on this weekend, which is why all the hotel rooms are gone. There’s a bunch of tourists in town for it.”

“Oh.” The relief that slid through him was so strong he was glad he was sitting. Otherwise, it might have buckled his knees. “So, I guess we’re stuck here.” He managed to keep his voice flat, even though what he really wanted was to jump around like an idiot.

“I’m sorry.” She sighed like the weight of the world was balanced on her shoulders. “I’m sure we can make something work.” She stood and glanced around. “I can fit on the floor by the end of the bed. I doubt it will be too uncomfortable. And it’s only for a couple of nights.”

“Don’t be silly.” He leaned over to glance at the floor at the foot of the bed. The hardwood looked incredibly uncomfortable, but if he had to, he had to. “I’ll sleep on the floor. It won’t be any worse than some of the campouts I’ve been on.” Of course, he wasn’t as young as he once was, and just the thought of stretching out on the floor made his back ache in sympathy.

She shook her head. “You’ll never fit. The space isn’t big enough. It’s fine. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

He wanted to argue with her, but it was futile. Her stubborn streak was rearing its head, and there was going to be no dissuading her. Best not to push. “If I remember correctly, there’s a bathroom up here, right?”

“Yup, just across the hall.” She slid past him to get back to the bed and reached for her bag.

He slipped out the door and into the hall. There was a door at the very end of the hallway, and two doors across from theirs, next to one another. Guessing, he picked the one on the left and pushed it open. It was another bedroom. Well, if a broom closet could be called a bedroom.

It looked like this side of the attic space was an identical room to the one he and Izzy were in, except that they’d cut it in half so they could use one half for the bathroom.

There was a single bed in this room, this time against the far wall, perpendicular to the door. A large wardrobe was pushed up against the closest wall. The room felt cramped even though there was barely any furniture in it.

A giggle sounded from the direction of the bed.

“Is someone here?” He stepped into the room.

A little head peeked out from the tangle of blankets on the bed. His heart banged against his ribs a couple of times.

The little one’s gaze met his, and their eyes went as round as the wheels on his tractor back home. A foot appeared from under the blankets, followed by a second one. And then a little girl slid out from under the blankets and onto the floor.

She pushed herself to her feet, looked up at him, and froze.

Owen didn’t move, trying not to scare the little munchkins. The girl at the foot of the bed was a cute little thing, with dark pigtails and large, dark eyes. She couldn’t be any more than four years old.

The covers were thrown back, and another little girl—this one a couple of years older, if he had to guess—bounded out of the bed. She shimmied over to the younger girl and placed her arm around the smaller girl’s shoulders. They both looked terrified.

“I’m sorry, ladies,” he said, keeping his voice even, trying not to sound too intimidating or scary. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I should have knocked before I barged in here.” He hit his forehead with the palm of his hand in a silly-me type of gesture.

Both the girls giggled.

“I’ll leave you to it, then.” He turned and closed the door. So, that had been completely unexpected. Especially since it looked like the girls were in that room alone. With no adult supervision.

Izzy popped her head out of the bedroom door. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” he said, running his hands through his hair. “We have some across the hall neighbors, is all.” He indicated the other bedroom with his thumb.

Her eyebrows drew together. “That’s a closet, not a bedroom.”