AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You know what, on second thought, maybe I’ll just go back to my room and get room service. I’m pretty tired.”
“Right, yeah, the injury.”
“Uh, sure. So, it was nice—”
“Speaking of which, I can’t believe how brave you were to continue the dance lessons after that. I mean, that takes balls. I admire that in a friend.”
Friend?
Pamela twirled a finger through her cherry red hair. “Seriously cool. Good for you. You know, I’ve loved learning from you about the—”
A door clicked behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder. My stomach did a flip.
Matt emerged from his room holding my laptop bag. He stopped dead, his gaze shifting from me to Pamela and back again. “Hey,” he said. “You forgot this.”
“Thanks,” I said and accepted the bag from him. “I—uh, yeah. Cool, thanks.” Wow, that was smooth as hell. Not.
“See you tomorrow.” Matt nodded stiffly then disappeared back into his room.
I wanted to sink into the cream carpeting in the hall. Oh god, what if Pamela told Emilia about this?
“Wow,” Pamela said.
I turned toward her again, holding back a grimace. I swung the laptop bag in front of me and held it there. “Yeah, uh, that’s just—”
“The incredibly hunky best man?” Pamela wore a secretive smile, like she’d just shared something with me. I didn’t like it one bit. God, seriously, what kind of timing was this?
“I guess some might consider him hunky.” I shrugged like it didn’t make a difference to me.
“Oh come on, girl, I wasn’t born yesterday,” Pamela replied, shimmying her shoulders back and forth. “I could practically taste the sexual tension between you two.”
“I have no idea how I feel about that.”
“Ha! You’re funny,” she said. “I like a woman with a good sense of humor. Gosh, all the other bridesmaids here are total buzzkills. That Chastity…kill me now, am I right?”
I blinked. “I guess?” Was she trying to bond with me? It was difficult to tell between all the head bobbles and finger wagging.
Pamela flicked her furiously red hair back over one shoulder and took a step closer. “Listen,” she said, “you don’t have to worry about me telling anybody. I get it. The guy’s hot, and I doubt Emilia would be over the moon about him hooking up with her best friend.”
“Pretty much.” I nodded because I wasn’t sure what else to say.
“Well, your secret’s safe with me.” She winked. “As long as you give me some of the juicy details. I mean, look at the guy. He’s a total hunk.”
“Right. Uh, yeah, I don’t know if I feel comfortable doing that,” I said.
“Aw, OK. That’s fine. But we really should catch dinner sometime.” Pamela took the laptop bag from my hand, and I nearly fell over on my crutch. “Whoops, be careful there. You don’t want to fall again.”
“Yeah.”
“So, which way’s your room?” she asked.
“I’m just down the hall.”
“I’ll help you.”
“Thanks.” I wanted to end the sentence in a question mark. This was beyond strange. I made friends pretty easily and got along with most people, but this level of chatter, especially after she’d just seen that exchange between Matt and I, was too intense.
We headed down the hall, her jabbering about Chastity and what a “ho” she was. I wasn’t big on slut-shaming other women, but since Pamela had my laptop bag, I didn’t correct her. Boo me, I was an asshole, but also, that laptop was the only valuable item I had, and if Pamela decided to stamp on it in a fit of “she is a ho” rage, I’d be out a couple thousand bucks.
I tuned her out, my insides hot at the memory of what had happened between me and Matt.
God, Matt was gorgeous and sexy and intoxicating. It was bullshit that a man could be that amazing.
Amazing? No. he’s just hot. That’s all. Just hot. It was only physical. We’d decided that. It didn’t matter that the history between us was intense, and that we got on like a house on fire when we weren’t arguing with each other.
“Which room is yours?” Pamela asked.
“Oh, it’s this one.” I’d walked a little too far on autopilot. It was thinking about Matt that had clogged up my brain again. I had to find a way to stop and focus on what was important.
If it was just physical, which it was, of course, then dwelling on it wouldn’t get me any further in my career or toward my goal.
I fished my room key card out of my purse, leaning heavily on my crutch, then opened the door. I hobbled inside and turned to accept the laptop bag. Pamela had already swept in after me.
“Oh, I love your room. It’s gorgeous.”
“Thanks,” I said. “Uh, you can just put the laptop bag on the sofa or the coffee table or whatever.”
“Sure.” Pamela did that and hovered near the open door, looking like she wanted to shut it.
