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But even if she wasn’t dating, she needed to do something differently, shake up her life a little bit. Maybe then she’d have something else to occupy her thoughts than imagining strange men were the Russian mob.
The door to the hotel opened and she glanced over with an automatic smile, eyes widening as she saw the huge man walking inside. He was absolutely gorgeous, tall and muscled up as he sauntered through the lobby. He glanced her way and she swallowed hard as she met his striking hazel eyes. Grinning at her, he reached up and tipped the black cowboy hat he was wearing.
He walked toward the hallway opposite of the front desk, and she couldn’t tear her eyes away as she watched him. Her eyes traced over the length of him, stopping on his taut ass, highlighted to perfection in snug jeans.
She stared until he disappeared down the hallway, blowing out a breath and fanning her face. Lordy. They didn’t get many men who looked like him in these parts, and she found herself wishing she’d been the one to check him in, so she knew his name.
Now, he was something worthy of daydreaming about, unlike the creepy dudes. If she’d seen him in the diner the night before, she probably still would have had a restless night, but hell, at least her dreams would have been a hell of a lot steamier.
A few moments passed by as she wondered just how steamy they would have been, but when she glanced up, it felt like she’d been doused with ice water. The men from the diner were walking into the lobby from the hallway opposite of the one the gorgeous cowboy went into, and she swallowed hard as her spine stiffened.
The car in the parking lot really had been theirs, then. Crap. It was a coincidence she didn’t care for at all—and it had to be a coincidence. There was no way it was more than that. They walked toward the door and she dropped her eyes, pretending like she wasn’t watching them while she gazed through her lashes. The one who paid their tab at the diner looked over at her, staring with narrowed eyes, and she gulped as her stomach tightened painfully.
She felt like a mouse that had just been spotted by a cat, but she didn’t understand why she was reacting so strongly and negatively to these men. When she saw them at the diner, it was late at night after a long day of working, and she’d been tired. She could kind of understand it then.
But now… it was midmorning, and she’d at least gotten a little bit of sleep. She was still imagining them as sinister men, though, and her gut was telling her to run. Especially now that it seemed like that one had recognized her.
He finally looked away, leading the other one out as she gave a sigh of relief that was short lived as the other walked toward her. Plastering on what she hoped was a professional smile, praying that she didn’t look like a scared deer caught in the headlights, she looked up fully as he made his way to the desk.
“I’d like to check out now,” he said in a deep, cold voice. Was that a Russian accent she heard, or was she projecting things onto him that weren’t there? “Room three fifteen.”
Nodding, she accepted the room keys and tapped some commands into the computer, reading the name from the screen. “Certainly, Mr. Alexander. I hope your stay was a good one. Do you need a receipt?”
“No.”
Eyebrows raising, she watched as he turned around abruptly and walked to the door. Once he was outside, she let out a sigh of relief as she slumped down in her chair. They’d checked out with no fuss and hadn’t killed her for seeing too much before they left. She called that a win.
Snorting at the direction her thoughts went, she gazed at the keys, trying to resist the urge to go to their room and see if they’d left any incriminating evidence behind. Before she could give in to the urge, the hot cowboy from earlier walked back into the lobby. That time, she didn’t spend the whole time he walked through staring at him, too distracted to give him the appreciation he deserved, but at least his presence distracted her from doing something stupid.
She should at least give the creepy men time to get on their way before she went snooping, after all.
Biting her lip, she waited about thirty seco
nds after the lobby emptied—the longest she was able to manage as curiosity burned through her—before picking up the key and standing. But before she could take a step, the door flew open as the cowboy rushed back inside. He jogged over to the desk, the friendly gleam in his hazel eyes replaced with panic.
“Did a man just check out? About my height, with brown hair and blue eyes. Did you see where he went?”
She felt her eyes widen as she stared at him, and she slowly her head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t give you any information about guests—”
He cursed as his eyes dropped to the key in her hand. “He’s gone, isn’t he? Dammit!” Yanking his cowboy hat off, he ran his hand roughly over his brown hair before settling it back on. “What room was he in? I need you to let me in.”
“I can’t do that.”
His eyes narrowed on her and she felt a shiver creep down her spine as his eyes turned from hazel to a shimmery, iridescent green and yellow. Was that—did his pupil just flicker and elongate for a second?
God, what was wrong with her? First, she imagined that men in the diner were in the mafia, and now she was seeing eyes flicker and change in a way no humans could.
Yeah. She definitely needed to get a life, because clearly all the time she spent working was beginning to make her hallucinate.
“I don’t see why you can’t. He’s already checked out, right?”
“I’m not sure who you’re looking for, but the man who just checked out was blond, so he can’t be him. Is there something else I can do for you, Mister…?”
“Alexander,” he muttered, still gazing at her with intense eyes, like he was trying to figure out the best way to talk her into doing what he wanted.
And then his last name registered, and her eyes dropped to the computer screen still pulled up. Justin Alexander. Uneasiness snaked through her belly as she realized they had the same last name.
Another coincidence? Somehow, she didn’t think so.
