*****
Jasmin walked straight to the sleek, dark wood reception desk of the South Star hotel. It had been an agonizing twenty minute drive and she just wanted to book a room and be by herself for a while. Vegas could wait for tomorrow when she had the attitude to match the exuberance of the town.
Kevin followed close behind her carrying their bags. She needed to be subtle. She’d told him that she’d won redeemable vouchers for any South Star hotel because she didn’t want him to know that her father was the owner. When people found out who her dad was, their attitude towards her automatically changed. She’d seen it with the kids at school. Some assumed she was just another spoiled rich kid, while others started sucking up to her because of her wealth.
Kevin was brutally honest with her and she didn’t want anything to change that.
“Hi,” she said to the man behind the desk. “Jasmintha Daas.”
He immediately recognized the name. “Good afternoon, Miss Daas. We weren’t expecting you until sometime next year.”
Her new job would require her to do presentations across the States and her father had already made arrangements with each hotel so she could stay there whenever she traveled.
She didn’t give any explanation for her early arrival, because Kevin was right beside her, and gave the man a strained smile. “I’d like two rooms, please.”
He typed on his computer for a few seconds and groaned. “Sorry, ma’am. We’re only authorized to give you one. It’s not a problem. I’ll call head office and get clearance for the other one.”
“No!” If he called head office for authorization, there was a chance her father would find out and she did not want her father to find out. “It’s okay. I’ll just pay for the other one.”
“We could share,” Kevin suggested quickly. “This is an expensive hotel, Jazz, and—”
“Kevin, I really don’t mind.”
“I do.”
She groaned her irritation. “Fine. One room with two beds, please.”
He typed on the computer again. “Okay, you’re in luck. We’ve got one right next to the lobby and one with a view of the mountains.”
“Mountain view,” they responded together.
“Sure.” He summoned a bellboy who loaded their bags onto a trolley and showed them to their room.
“This is really nice,” Kevin commented, taking in the extravagance around them.
It was standard at any South Star Hotel. An open-plan, low-lit lobby narrowed into a corridor leading to the rooms. Thick, plush navy blue carpets with gold diamonds lined their way. They passed a large dining hall with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the mountainous terrain. The topography of Utah was amazing, but the hotel itself held no appeal for her. She’dlived in an identical one in Chicago with her dad for six months and eventually the novelty wore off.
The view from their room was breathtaking. The rocky ridges and trees in the distance—it was Mother Nature at her finest.
The bellboy carried their bags in and disappeared without a word. Once she was alone with Kevin again, her discomfort returned. They’d had a bad fallout today and they were both equally to blame. She should have told him that she wanted to go to Vegas and he should have held his tongue before the situation escalated out of control.
His words were so true, though, and she couldn’t get them out of her head. She’d tried. She’d sat in the bathroom for almost an hour trying not to think about it. She’d thought she’d mastered the art of not crying. There was a time when she was actually proud of herself because she’d learned how to block out hurt and pain. But when he said those things to her, everything hit her all at once. The loneliness she so desperately tried to escape swallowed her in that instant and for the first time in eight years, she cried. And now that feeling had stayed long enough to become a mood.
She found herself in a very odd predicament when it came to Kevin. A part of her disliked him.Reallydisliked him. He was rude and abrasive. Yet the other part of her appreciated him for all that he was. He was honest and straightforward, no matter how offensive the truth was. Everyone else handled her with kid gloves, tiptoeing around issues so as not to hurt her feelings. Sometimes one simply needs a good dose of reality and that’s what he represented. Something real.
However, the reason why she hadn’t continued driving was because she needed to get away from him for a while. The sweatpants and T-shirt she wore were ideal for what she had planned, so she grabbed a towel and her water bottle from herbag and headed to the door. “I’m gonna workout,” was all she said before she left the room.
She found an open, quiet spot a few feet from the pool and did everything she’d already done that morning. She pushed and pushed until her muscles were sore and lethargic. The endorphins pumping through her veins helped ease the burden of emotions, but she still couldn’t stop thinking about him.
Kevin didn’t strike her as the type of person to do something for the sake of doing it. He didn’t have to sit outside that restroom for almost an hour, but he did. And he didn’t do it with any intention of getting something in return. He didn’t have to jump back into the car, but he did. It would be cheaper and easier for him to take the bus. She knew it and he knew it, yet he stayed.
He didn’t like her, and she was okay with that. She wasn’t sure if she liked him either. However, his actions told her a few things. He had a softer side that he was reluctant to show. And taking into account everything that had happened in the last few days, he wasn’t ready to give up on her yet. Beneath his brash exterior was something much deeper…and she wasn’t ready to give up on him yet either.
She felt a lot better when she got back to the room and dragged her sweaty self directly into the bathroom. After a hot shower, she was finally ready to face him again. She dressed into a clean pair of sweatpants and a thick pullover, and twisted her thick hair into a single braid. When she walked out of the bathroom, she found him sitting on the bed and they stared at each other for a solid minute before she spoke.
“So what now, Kevin?”
He smiled and, once again, she saw a glimmer of a person who might actually be likeable. “Let’s eat.”
