AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Thirty-Two
BROOKE
I woke to the sound of my hotel phone ringing, the blinking red light indicating what I guessed would be a message. Aside from the dimmest outline of the big window, the room was pure darkness. The blackout curtains I’d closed in order to take a nap had done their job well.
“H—hello?” I mumbled.
“Sleepyhead!” I heard Hayden’s cheerful voice.
“Hey…”
“You still alive?” he laughed. “You missed dinner!”
I bolted upright. “What? What time is—”
“Almost ten. Everyone’s back in their rooms, locked down for the night.”
“Holy shit!” I swore. “I went to lay down for a while, and—”
“You laid down for more than a while,” Hayden chuckled. “Sorry, honey. We were going to wake you, but Devin thought you could use the rest. We were ended up bringing half a pizza back to our room anyway.”
“Devin was right,” I said, flicking the lights on. I winced at the sudden brightness for a few long seconds, but overall I felt good. Like I’d finally gotten somereallygood sleep.
“Where’d they end up sticking you?” asked Hayden.
“Fifth floor.”
“Hey, that’s us too! Fifth floor.”
I heard another voice behind him, deeper and more resonant. I recognized it as Reese’s, as the two had a short exchange.
“Wait, what room?”
“Ummm…” I turned to look at the fire escape plan on the back of the door. “Room 515.”
“515?” Hayden repeated excitedly. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Come outside!”
I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, wriggling my toes before setting them onto the carpet. I was in a T-shirt and a pair of panties — my usual sleeping attire.
“Like into the hallway where all the camera crews are camped out?” I yawned. “Because if so, I need to get changed firs—”
“No, no,” Hayden corrected me quickly. His voice was filled with a strange, growing excitement. “Outside,outside.”
I turned to regard the blackout curtains, then yanked them aside. Between the windows was a big glass slider. I unlatched it with my thumb, then pulled it open and stepped onto a small balcony with a wrought-iron railing. The hotel phone’s cord was just long enough that it barely reached.
“Nice view,” I said sarcastically, shivering a little against the cool night air. “Nothing but the back alley behind the hotel, and—”
“And what else?”
Hayden’s voice hit me in stereo, echoing in both my ears at once. I whirled, and there he was — standing on the balcony just beside mine. He had his shirt off and his arm held up to his ear, clenching a phone identical to mine. It made his bicep look like a small boulder. He looked fresh out of the shower too.
“Holy shit!” I said incredulously, dropping the phone at once. “They booked us in adjacent rooms?”
Hewasfresh out of the shower, because the wind brought me a whiff of his clean, masculine scent. And oh my God… he was no more than ten feet away. Wearing nothing but boxers.
