Either way, Nick was right. If he was going to hurt me, it was better to end things before they even started.
Snow swirledoutside the windows of the inn and the sign that hung in front creaked as it blew in the wind. I’m not sure that either of us slept very well. At least I know I didn’t, but sleep must have come for me at some point. It felt like I nodded off two seconds before my alarm clock went off. “Nick.” I nudged his broad back. “It’s morning.”
He sat up and rubbed his eyes. “I’ll get my things together.”
“You don’t need to rush out of here. I’ll be heading to work shortly. If you’re fast you can shower first.”
A sad smile spread across his face. “That, I’m good at. Dressing rooms run out of hot water all the time. I’m the king of fast showers.”
His attempt at humor diffused the tension a little, but our desire hung in the air—along with the smell of Chance Rapids Kölsch. Nick got out of bed. “I’ll be fast, I promise.”
He shimmed around the decrepit sofa bed on the way to the bathroom. I shouldn’t have looked, and I averted my gaze as soon as I saw the bulge in his pants. It was massive, tenting out his sweatpants, but I already knew what was beneath the drawstring. That monster had been pressed against my body last night.
“Shit,” he muttered. The contents of his duffel bag spilled onto the floor. He crouched and shoveled his belongings back into the bag and took out a leather bag of toiletries.
“There are towels folded in the cupboard,” I whispered as he disappeared into the bathroom.
He was a man of his word. In less than ten minutes he stepped out of the bathroom, his wet hair plastered to his head, one of my towels wrapped around his waist. “I thought I’d get dressed out here to give you more time in there.” He gestured to the bathroom with his thumb.
I scrambled out of bed.
Don’t look, don’t look, I said to myself, but like a car accident, I couldn’t stop my gaze from tracking over the front of the towel.
Stop it, Evie. I looked away after noting that the bulge was gone. I focused on the floor ahead of me as I passed by him and scurried into the bathroom. I shivered. Water drops clung to the shower curtain, but there wasn’t any steam in the bathroom.
“Nick?” I popped my head out the door, but quickly slammed it as I got an eyeful of Nick Tinsel in the nude. Any of my guesses about his size had been seriously underestimated. “Oh God.” I slammed the door shut. “Sorry!” I shouted through the wood-paneled door, then opened it a crack. “Is the hot water not working?”
I couldn’t see him but could hear the shuffle of himgetting dressed. “I took a cold shower. I wanted to make sure that you had hot water.”
“Thanks.” I shut the door and rested my back against it. Nick Tinsel was a shower, not a grower—and that was after a cold shower. He was bigger than I’d imagined, by a lot.
Steam built up in the bathroom as I let the water beat at my shoulders. I tried to figure out what to do about Nick. By the time I’d washed my hair, I’d come to the conclusion that I wasn’t going to do anything. I rationalized that if the feelings I had for him had come on so quickly, that meant that they could go away just as fast—didn’t it?
Was it my ego that was hurt? I didn’t believe that Nick was a bad person. In fact, everything I had seen from him had proven the opposite. I wrapped the towel around my chest and wiped the steamy mirror with my hand. I had formulated a plan, and it wasn’t a complicated one. Nick and I would be friends. We were grown-ups. There was no reason that everything had to be so dramatic.
“Nick?” I stepped out of the bathroom, ready to present him with my friend zone plan, but the room was empty. He had made the bed and folded up the sofa bed as best as he could. It was still a little wonky, its cushions peaked over the broken metal. It looked like it was smiling at me, ready to devour its next victim.
He was gone. Since I’d already established that this wasn’t a rom-com, I wasn’t surprised that he hadn’t left a note. I looked anyway. There was just…nothing. I sat on the bed and stared at the door. “Well, that’s that.” I pulled back my shoulders. Now that Nick was out of the picture, I could get back to what was important—helping GJ.
I got into my breakfast costume and knelt on the floor to buckle up my shoe. A glint of something caught my eye. I dropped to the floor and reached under the bed, my fingertips meeting something made of metal. Edging closer to the bed, I stretched my hand as far as I could reach and I wasable to grab the round, cold object. Shimmying out, I sat on the floor and looked at the can in my hands.
Contact cement.
Nick was a liar. Tears welled in my eyes. He wasn’t a bad guy, not at all.
THIRTEEN
NICK
It was easier justto leave. Getting through the day on zero sleep was going to be tough. A younger, shittier version of myself would’ve stayed up all night fucking Evie. But I couldn’t do it.
At least the frigid shower had woken me up. Yes, I’d wanted to make sure Evie had hot water, but I also didn’t have time or want to jerk off in her shower. The cold water had taken care of the massive hard-on that had kept me awake all night.
The Christmas tree cast a warm glow over the lobby and I hoped that the reception chair was going to be empty, but I wasn’t so lucky.
“You’re up early.” GJ spun around, her fingers tented. She was wearing a Bobcats jersey, but not the vintage one she’d shown me when I’d checked in.
“I’ve got a lot to do today.”
