I know what he is trying to say—something like, “We’ve stuck you in a broom closet because we want your money but don’t have any decent rooms left.”
Nolan and I both thank the man and then make our way to the stairs. He takes my gear bag from me, carrying both his bag and my own.
“Well, now I feel very unhelpful,” I whine, empty-handed.
“If you want something to do while we climb the stairs, you can check out my ass,” he croons, giving me a little wink before turning away. I blush and try to contain the smile that Nolan’s flirtatious words always seem to coax out of me.
But as he hauls our bags up to the top floor, I don’t deny myself the opportunity to do exactly what he suggested.
“I was going to say I can sleep on the floor, but…I’m not actually sure there’s enough floor for me to sleepon.”
Nolan’s tone is playful, but I notice a thread of concern weaving beneath his words as we survey our room.
Like I had anticipated, it’s small. Very small. And, of course, there’s only one double bed.
For some reason, I had expected two beds. That’s what my hotel room in Rome had. And apparently Nolan had been banking on there being enough available space for him to throw a pillow on the floor, which…there isn’t.
Not that Idon’twant to share a bed with Nolan.
Rather, it’s the opposite—I want to. Desperately.
Despite the fact that I shouldn’t. My focus is supposed to be on finding Molly, on keeping my job. Kissing him is one thing, but our bodies lying next to each other in such a vulnerable state? It’s just asking for temptation. And I don’t know if I have that kind of restraint.
So, logically, I shouldn’t be offended by him not wanting to share a bed and not wanting to distract me more than he already has. And yet…
It must be the lack of sleep, because before I can filter myself, I blurt out, “Do you not want to sleep with me?”
As soon as the words leave my lips, I slap my hand over my mouth. Nolan turns to me with a wry smile.
“Is that an invitation?”
Shit!
My cheeks must be burning the brightest shade of crimson; I can feel the heat creeping across my skin. I ignore his comments and push past him to check out a tall, thin wardrobe in the corner of the room.
“Yes—er, no…not like that. I just mean, you seem awfully against sharing a bed with me. Why would I make you sleep on the floor?”
He chuckles, following me into the room and pulling the door shut behind him.
“I was trying to be a gentleman.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yeah, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.” I hear him lower our bags to the floor as I crouch to plug in my phone charger. At least Nolan was clinging harder to the idea of not crossing any boundaries. “That’s not to say that, if giventhe opportunity, I wouldn’t share that bed with you. But I’ll be honest, Chloe—I don’t know that we’ll be doing much sleeping if I’m that physically close to you…not after the way you were running your nails up and down my neck in the car earlier.”
Well…shit.
There go those boundaries.
His words crackle through me like lightning, settling into a simmer at my core. After a long drive full of flirting and teasing, stolen glances lit by the flickering of passing streetlights, and restrained touches, it feels like the tension between us is so supercharged that all subtlety is gone, replaced instead with clear intention and desire laid bare.
I turn to face him, hoping to catch his gaze, but he’s looking down at his phone.
“You can’t just say something like that to a girl and then check your damn text messages!” I sputter, but then the gentle twang of guitar fills the small room as he tosses his phone on the bed. I tilt my head, confused. “What are you…?”
“May I?” His voice issocasual, but the way he’s looking at me is heated and heavy. Nolan holds out a steady hand, the hint of a smirk pulling at his lips, but there’s a softness in his deep green eyes that makes me wonder if whatever this is between us isn’t just a fun fling, isn’t just flirting and sneaking around when we should be focused on our jobs.
“You want todancewith me?” I ask, a note of giddy surprise in my voice that I can’t hide, no matter how hard I try.
