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“Thank you,” I mumble as I grab my suitcase and turn around.
I’m exhausted from the walk and the time of night, and not looking forward to driving home. It’ll be well after midnight by the time I actually make it back to Jupiter Bay. Tears well up in my eyes uncontrollably as I check to make sure I have all of the stuff I’ve been lugging around for the last hour. Making sure I have my keys handy, I grab the handle on my suitcase (thank freaking all things holy that it’s on wheels) and take a step towards the entrance.
“Payton?”
I turn sharply, surprised to hear my name being called in the unfamiliar hotel lobby, but even more shocked at the voice calling my name. Turning towards the long corridor, I see Dean walking towards me, a tall redhead hot on his heels.
The sight of him here, at a freaking hotel, has me stop in my tracks. All words evaporate from my brain as I see him standing close enough to touch. In a freaking hotel. A hotel three hours away. With a woman beside him.
Christ Almighty, I can’t believe it. He’s seeing someone? A week after screwing me into the polished wood of his desk top, and he’s now seeing someone? Hell, maybe he’s been with her all along and I’ve been the sidepiece. Wouldn’t that just be the apple pie on the Fourth of July? Fucking great, now I’m a whore.
“What are you doing here?” he asks, concern evident in his sparkling brown eyes.
“I’m here for a trade show, or at least I was supposed to be,” I answer, my eyes instantly zeroing back in on Barbie’s best friend standing next to him.
“You’re staying here? At The Freemont?” Is that excitement I see in his eyes? Can’t be. Unless he’s excited to have me close by so he can bed-hop like a freaking sixties hippy. You know, free love and all that shit.
“No. I was supposed to stay at the Country Garden but they didn’t actually reserve my room. There’s no availability anywhere tonight, so I’m going to head home.”
He’s about to reply, but a throat clears behind him. “Oh, I’m sorry. Payton, this is Althea. Althea, this is a friend from home, Payton Summer.”
The Cosmo magazine model steps forward and shoves her perfectly manicured hand in my face. I give it an awkward shake as she says, “Pleasure to meet a friend of Dean’s. I’m sorry you won’t be joining us this evening. We were just heading upstairs.” She then places those claws on Dean’s forearm, essentially putting her body between him and I, as a shield.
“I better let you get up to your room. It’s getting late,” I mumble before grabbing my suitcase and turning towards the door. My feet can’t get me out of this place fast enough.
Before I get to the entrance, though, I hear his voice once more behind me. “Payton, wait.”
Turning around, I come face to face with the man who haunts my dreams pretty much nightly. Except now I see him in a whole new light. Dean always had this, how can I say this politely, nerdy aura about him. I never pictured him as the manwhore type, but hey, to each his own. Just goes to show you that you never really know someone. Even if that someone lays you across a piece of wood and does naughty things to your body.
And cue the blush. No, not from embarrassment, but desire. Apparently my body doesn’t care that Dean diddles with more than one woman at a time because I’m suddenly tingly and hot in places that I’d rather not talk about right now. Especially with the redhead standing over his shoulder looking bored and annoyed.
“What show are you here for?”
Even though I’d prefer to run from the hotel screaming, maybe even kick him in the balls for not telling me he was seeing someone, I swallow hard and answer his question. “There’s a flower show across the street at Country Garden. I’m supposed to be there till Friday, but since they don’t have my room, I’ll be heading back to Jupiter Bay.” Glancing down at my watch, I add, “And it’s getting late so I better get on the road.”
“Wait,” he says anxiously as I turn towards the door. “Don’t go. Stay. You can share my room with me.”
Wait, what?!
“Oh, thank you, but I couldn’t possibly do that,” I say in a rush, glancing over his shoulder and watching Althea give me a look of total displeasure.
“You’re already here and you have a ticket. We could share a room.” He says it so simply, like I wouldn’t be the third wheel in his sexcapades. Or maybe that’s what he wants? Maybe he’s one of those guys that wants a threesome. He already has the room, and I’m already here, right?
Gross.
“I can’t. I’m sure there’s no room anyway,” I say, glancing over his shoulder one more time after the redhead sighs loudly.
“No room?” he asks, looking over his shoulder. “Oh! No! Althea isn’t staying in my room. We just met at the restaurant. We’re both attending a convention in the hall this week, and were walking up to our rooms–our separate rooms–when I saw you.” His eyes are big and round, wide open and there’s no way to mask the sincerity and honesty in his words.
“You’re not together?” I say aloud without realizing it.
“No.”
Glancing over his shoulder, I add in a whisper, “Does she know that?”
“I’m not sure,” he replies sheepishly with that cute boyish grin I’ve come to love in such a short amount of time. “She seems nice, but I’m not interested. I really was going to drop her off at her floor and head up to mine.”
I consider his offer. It feels like I’m playing with matches while wearing pants doused in lighter fluid. Am I really considering sharing a room with this man? A man I’ve spent amazing nights with over the course of six months, but can’t have a relationship with? I mean, even if we share a room, that doesn’t mean we have to sleep together in it, right?
