“No.”
My question screeches to a halt so fast I nearly bite my tongue. “Oh.”
He gives me an apologetic smile. “Look, I know you’re not the very important VIP. You’re not even here because you want to be.”
The last few days, things haven’t been so bad. But the longer he keeps speaking, the more I want out of this room. I got caught up in my head and some kind of fantasy of what could be between us, maybe even a place where I could tell Jack who I really am and he would be okay with it, but everything coming out of Jack’s mouth is the unvarnished truth.
“But you’re still a guest,” he says, “and Harper’s pissed at me already. I can’t risk this job. My family is counting on me.”
And wow. Doesn’t that leave me feeling like a presumptuous asshole?
“I understand.” I push up to my feet. “Sorry to have bothered you. I hope you feel better.”
“David.” He looks unhappy, but even him calling me by the name that’s mine but isn’t proves how wrong all of this is. I got carried away.
“No, it’s okay. I shouldn’t have brought it up. Sorry.”
He half follows me to the door, or maybe he stands and the room is so small that it feels like he’s following when really there’s nowhere else for him to go. I don’t know, and I don’t stick around to find out.
The hall feels as confined as Jack’s room did, and I nearly bump into someone halfway back to the main lodge.
“Oh, Mr. Morgan. Are you all right?”
It’s Harper. The woman who would fire Jack if she caught us together, and she’s too close for comfort.
“Everything is fine.” I keep using that word. Nothing is fine. “I got turned around.”
“Oh.” She turns on her best professional smile, and it’s so artificial compared to all the ones Jack has given me that I resent her for it, even though she’s literally doing her job. “The main lobby is this way. Let me show you.”
I make my escape as soon as plausibly polite and bolt for my room. I need a minute—maybe an hour—alone to get my shit together.
So of course Vin is sitting in the living room.
“Hey, you’re back,” he says with a distracted wave of his hand.
“How did you get into my room? I took away your key.”
He holds up another white key card. “The girl at the front desk gave me another one. I told her you lost yours.”
Marci is off my charades team.
“So.” Vin folds his hands over the back of the sofa and bats his eyelashes at me. Asshole. “Where have you been?”
“Nowhere,” I say too quickly. “Just walking around.”
He arches an eyebrow. “Visiting your man?”
“Did Marci tell you that too?”
Vin sprawls out on the couch, an arm over his brow like a silver screen starlet. “You know me. Always make friends with the staff. Marci’s a sweetheart. She loves your movies, but not in a weird way. Just a fan who is excited we’re here.”
I sit down next to him, lifting his legs so they rest on my thighs. “Well, I’m glad you two are BFFs, because she negotiated a game night, and she and I will kick your ass.”
He pouts. “She told me about that. Don’t think I won’t get you both back for this. At least Jack will be on my team. That’ll hurt.”
“I don’t think he will be.” I stare up at the ceiling, trying to figure out why I feel like I’ve lost something.
“Why not?”
