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“You don’t have a secret lover waiting for you somewhere, do you?” I asked. “Because if you do, you can tell me. Or maybe I’m the secret lover?”
I was teasing, but I felt a sting in my chest at the idea. I didn’t like the thought that Klara would leave me and go to be with someone else.
“It’s nothing like that,” she dismissed, frowning at me. “Do you think I’m that kind of girl?”
“Of course not,” I said immediately, hurrying over to take her into my arms. “I just worry a little, you know? You’re here with me, but your attention is divided, and you keep looking at your phone like there’s something urgent…”
“There isn’t. And there’s no one else,” she said insistently. She cupped my cheeks and rose on the tips of her toes to peck my lips. “If there’s anything you don’t need to be worried about, it’s this. In the past couple of years, I haven’t been with anyone besides you.”
I smiled. “I haven’t been with anyone, either,” I admitted. “I was busy, then I just didn’t feel like it, or have the time.”
“And yet you have time to be here?” she arched an eyebrow.
I chuckled. “Call it my vacation. I’ve been working hard, you know…”
Holding onto her tightly, I dragged us both to fall into the couch, and Klara giggled as I rubbed the tip of my nose against her cheek, her neck. Her laughter made me smile.
The suffocating feeling that I would feel on occasion had all but disappeared since I met Klara. My usual ritual of having a drink before I went to sleep alone was gone, too. She didn’t always stay at the hotel with me, and I didn’t know how much longer I would have her sleeping beside me, but I loved every moment of it.
Still, I could tell something was wrong, and it bothered me.
We wrestled a bit on the couch until we were exhausted, then I lay back with her resting in my arms, her ear pressed against my chest, right over my heart beat. I nudged her a little, and she looked up.
“It should be around time for dinner now. Let me know what you want, and I’ll order room service.”
“What are my options?” she asked curiously.
“There should be a menu card somewhere around here. Or I could call down to ask. Give me a bit.”
She shifted off me so I could get up to go and move around. I didn’t find a menu, but I called and asked what was available. Then, I went back to Klara, only to find she was curled up on the seat, on her phone again. I paused for a second, then called out to her.
“I have your options.”
She looked up with a distracted smile, sitting up as she set the phone aside.
“Tell me.”
At the end of the night, after we were done eating and I had the stuff sent back down, we headed to the bedroom. I’d warned Klara to come with a spare outfit or two. We took a shower together, but aside from a few kisses and some light petting, we didn’t do anything. I gave her one
of my big t-shirts and pulled on a pair of sweatpants to sleep in.
I held her in my arms on the bed, but we didn’t go to sleep immediately. Instead, we talked in the dark. We mentioned a little bit about our regrets, but I told her about deciding to work at my dad’s company, and she told me about her plans for after university to become self-sufficient.
She felt warm in my arms, and I felt so comfortable. I hung on every word, and wouldn’t have minded listening to her some more, but she broke off what she was saying to yawn. It was dark, so I couldn’t see, but I thought she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.
“You can sleep,” I murmured, lightly kissing her forehead. “I’ll be here in the morning.”
She hummed happily. She mumbled something as she snuggled further into my chest.
“Love being with you…it's comfortable.” Another yawn. “But I gotta go home to Ben tomorrow.”
I wasn’t far from sleep myself, my mind feeling a little hazy. But then what she said registered, and my eyes snapped open, my body going stiff. Klara’s breathing had deepened, and I was sure she’d fallen asleep, but I was suddenly wide awake.
Who the hell is Ben?
Chapter Twenty
Jake
