Page 6 of Unbound

I shake my head. “Let’s just stay here.”

He clears his throat, shifting on his feet. “I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable. I want you to be able to sleep.”

I reach into my pocket for the credit card he never took back. “I’m fine.”

His jaw tics. He looks down at the card in my hand before reluctantly nodding.

I walk over to the clerk. “We’ll take the room, please.”

He rings us up before finally handing us two room keys. We walk to the elevator, riding up to the fifth floor in silence. When we get to the room, he slides the key in the slot and opens the door for me. I walk in, surprised to find one king-size bed and simple, modern decor.

There’s only one bed.

He drops the duffel bag on the side of the bed closest to the door.

“You want to shower?” he asks.

I do, but I don’t have a change of clothes. When I ran from Michael, I barely had time to grab my shoes.

“You go first,” I tell him.

He nods, grabbing some clothes out of the bag. I curl up on the bed, listening to the sound of the shower.

A few minutes later, I blink when he walks back out, shirtless.

Oh my.

He places his clothes over the hanging rack in the closet before turning to me.

“Shower’s yours,” he says.

I sit up on the bed, debating how to respond.

Maybe I stink.

I stand up, moving toward the bathroom. He lies on the bed, grabbing the remote. I step into the bathroom to see a folded-up army-green sweatshirt on the countertop with the letters USMC stitched across the front.

3

STERLING

When she emerges from the bathroom, wearing my sweatshirt and nothing else, I release a deep exhale. It goes halfway down her thighs.

It’s highly unusual for me to feel this invested in a woman I just met. I don’t lose my head like my brother Duke does when he has a crush.

I don’t get crushes, usually. Now the smell of the hotel shampoo is making my eyes roll back in my head.

Get it together. She’d freak out if you made a move on her.

She hangs her damp clothes up in the closet next to mine.

“I can sleep on the floor,” I say, standing up from the bed. I grab a pillow.

I haven’t had sex in almost a year. After finding Eden being harassed by a creepy truck driver, I know hitting on her would probably make her run for the hills. I lie down on the small four-foot sofa to watch the rerun of Star Wars.

“What are you watching?” she asks, still standing beside the bed.

“Star Wars?”