Chapter Five
Candy Cane Confessions
Drifting in a haze of blissful satisfaction, Zuri stretched lazily, opened her eyes, and stared up at the tray ceiling. Her body thrummed with the exquisite aftermath of lovemaking––her limbs heavy and sated, her thoughts pleasantly fuzzy. Delightfully spent, she reached for Kyree when a low, authoritative male voice carried from the other room.
“Sir, have you seen this woman?”
This woman? Her mind still groggy, she tried to process what she’d heard. What the heck? She scrambled out of bed, picked up her robe from the floor, and slid it on as she rushed out of the bedroom.
“What’s going on?” she asked, walking into the living room, her voice pitched somewhere between curiosity and alarm.
Kyree stood framed in the doorway in nothing but his boxers, his back to her, blocking the view of whoever was in the hall. He turned when she spoke––confusion and apprehension evident in his eyes as he silently stepped aside.
Three guards in dark blazers came into view. The one in front—older, with greying temples and a dark mole on his right cheek—glanced at the tablet in his hand, then at her face. “Zuri Harris?” His voice was clipped and professional.
“Yes?” She tossed her loose braids behind her back. “That’s me.”
“Ma’am, are you alright?”
“Of course I’m alright.” She frowned. “What’s going on?”
“Ms. Harris, you were reported missing.”
“Missing?” Kyree balked.
A hot, prickly feeling crawled up Zuri’s neck, but she didn’t need to be told who put out the APB. Of course Soleil had called security. Because that’s what you do when your best friend vanishes in the middle of the night. Zuri squared her shoulders. “Well, as you can see, I’m not missing, and I’m perfectly fine.”
“I’m glad to hear that, but you have some very concerned friends down the hall. Perhaps you might let them know where you are next time?”
One of the other security guards tapped something on his phone, then put it to his ear. “Hey, Gil, we’re with Ms. Harris now,” he said, stepping a few feet away. “Yep, she’s fine. She was just…”
Zuri’s cheeks burned with unadulterated humiliation. Every fiber of her being screamed for the earth to swallow her whole. Anxious to flee the scene, she maneuvered her feet into her slippers––lying exactly where they’d fallen when Kyree had lifted her out of them. She picked up the ice bucket from the damp carpet beside his feet, and stood, meeting the grey-haired security guard’s observant eyes. “Would you please excuse me,” she said, as sweetly as her wounded dignity would allow.
The infantry quietly moved aside as Zuri stepped into the hall. “Goodnight,” she called to Kyree, without looking back, still unable to meet his eyes.
“We’re so sorry to disturb you, Mr. Johnson,” she heard one of them say as she walked away. “But…”
Johnson, huh? Jesus. She hadn’t even known his last name. With her head held high, and her back straight, Zuri made the long walk of shame back to her room, where a female security guard stood outside like a vigilant prison warden.
“Ms. Harris,” the woman, who looked around Zuri’s age, said when she reached her door. “Glad to see you’re okay.”
“Thank you.” Zuri pushed her hand into the pocket of her robe, thankful that her keycard was still there.
“Here, let me get that for you.” The guard opened the door with her master key before Zuri could pull hers out. “You have a good night,” she added with a knowing, but supportive wink before walking away.
With a shudder of pure mortification, Zuri slid inside, desperate to just crawl under her covers and disappear. But the door had hardly clicked shut before Thao, in a pair of lavender flannel pajamas, sprang from the sofa and wrapped her in a fierce hug.
Avery––in a silky grey nightgown and the grey Hermes blanket she never travelled without––was close behind with the curved end of a mini candy cane sticking out of her mouth. “Thank god you’re okay!” She pulled the candy from between her lips and threw her arms and soft wool blanket around Zuri and Thao. Her voice was thick with emotion, her eyes red and puffy, suggesting she’d been crying. “We’ve been worried sick!”
Guilt twisted in Zuri’s chest as Thao took the empty ice bucket from her and placed it into the shelf above the minibar.
Soleil, however, remained rooted across the room, arms crossed over her white hotel robe, her face tight with anger, and glaring at Zuri like she was a stray cat that had just tracked mud across her pristine carpet. “Where the hell have you been?” she demanded.
“I told you.” Zuri pulled away from Avery, a flicker of defensiveness breaking through her shame. “I went to get ice.”
“That was like an hour ago, Z!” Soleil’s voice was sharp, edged with lingering fear. “I came out of the bathroom expecting to find you in bed!”
Oh, I was in bed alright. She bit the inside of her cheeks, trying desperately to suppress the groan that rose to her throat as she remembered Kyree flat on his back, his face contorted in pleasure, her name on his lips…
