“What do you mean?” Hayden asked, his brow furrowed.
I sighed, focusing on the increasingly slippery road. “Lucas is playing matchmaker. He knows exactly what he’s doing. Getting us stranded in Amarillo together? It’s not subtle.”
Hayden’s cheeks flushed pink, and I couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment or the cold. “That’s... that’s ridiculous. Why would he do that?”
“Because he thinks we’d be good together,” I said bluntly. No point dancing around it now. “And because he can’t help meddling in everyone’s business. It’s like a hobby for him.”
Hayden stared out the window, watching the snow fall. “Well, he’s wasting his time.”
That stung more than I wanted to admit. “Yeah, I figured you’d say that.”
We drove in silence for a few blocks before I spotted a decent-looking hotel. Not too fancy, but not a dive either. “This’ll do,” I said, pulling into the parking lot.
“We could just... keep driving,” Hayden suggested half-heartedly. “How bad could it be?”
I pointed to a digital road sign we’d just passed. “Road closure ineffect as of six p.m. That’s in twenty minutes. And trust me, the Texas Department of Transportation doesn’t mess around with snow. They’ll have troopers out ticketing anyone who tries to drive on closed roads.”
Hayden sighed dramatically, slumping in his seat. “Fine. One night. But I get my own room.”
“Of course,” I replied, though the thought of sharing a room had definitely crossed my mind. “I’m not a complete Neanderthal, Freckles.”
Chapter 13
Hayden
The lobby was already crowded when we walked in, other travelers caught off-guard by the unexpected snowstorm. Diego approached the front desk, and I hovered nervously behind him.
“Evening,” he said to the harried-looking clerk. “We need two rooms for tonight.”
The clerk’s fingers flew across his keyboard. “You and everyone else.” She gestured to everyone else milling about the lobby. “It’s a busy night. Damn snow.”
“You can say that again.”
The clerk stopped typing suddenly, a sigh falling from their lips. “Well, I’ve got good news and bad.”
I felt myself stiffen.
“We have a room left for you to take,” she said.
“Just one?” Diego asked. She nodded. “Okay,” he said, turning to me. “That’s better than sleeping in the truck. Does it at least have two beds?”
“That’s the bad news,” she replied. “It’s the marital suite with a king bed and a jacuzzi tub.”
“Marital suite?!” I squeaked out, unable to hold myself back anymore. “Are you kidding me? There’s really nothing else?”
“Sorry. That’s the only one we have,” she said, grimacing for my sake mostly. “Usually, we don’t rent it out unless we have a married couple, but tonight we need all the room we can get, so I’ve had the staff open it up.”
Diego reached for his wallet without hesitation. “We’ll take it.”
“Diego!” I hissed, grabbing his arm. “Can we discuss this first?”
He leaned close, his breath warm against my ear. “Hayden, it’s this or we sleep in the truck with the heater running until we run out of gas and freeze to death. Your choice, Freckles.”
The nickname made my cheeks flush. I released his arm and stepped back, crossing my arms over my chest. “Fine.”
The clerk looked between us with thinly veiled amusement. “So that’s a yes?”
“Yes,” Diego confirmed, sliding his credit card across the counter. “We’ll take the love nest.”
