Keep your filthy lies to yourself, woman!
-sighed when she read the next note.
“Are you planning on pouting all night?” Kristen asked, only to frown when another note was handed to her.
Yes!
With that, Garrett stood up, pointedly looked away from her again and stormed off, leaving her to sigh as she followed after him. God, he was high maintenance, Kristen thought, only to be forced to bite back a smile when he glanced over his shoulder and leveled a glare on her. He was also adorable when he glared. For a moment, she debated telling him that only to decide against it when he began muttering to himself.
Instead, she settled for following him back to the truck, struggling to bite back a smile every time he shot her a glare. When they finally reached his truck, she moved to open her door only to end up sighing and dropped her hand away when he glared at the move and-
“If you stop pouting, I’ll let you drizzle chocolate sauce all over my body and lick it off when we get home,” Kristen said, watching as he swallowed hard while he ran his eyes over her and-
“I forgive you.”
CHAPTER 31
Amber deserved a raise, Kristen decided as she dropped her head back against the elevator wall and watched the numbers change above the door while she waited for her floor. That was hands down the easiest signing that she’d ever been to.
From start to finish, Amber had thought of everything, ensuring that everything from her swag to her books arrived at the hotel on time, making sure that she had everything that she could possibly need to pull this off, and had left detailed instructions for the volunteer the signing assigned to her, making sure that everything went smoothly. She’d anticipated every problem, made sure that Kristen had extra swag and books on hand, and even made sure that she didn’t have to lift a finger when it was all over.
When the signing ended, Kristen grabbed the empty boxes from underneath the table only to have someone from the hotel show up with fresh boxes and shipping labels to take care of everything. Within minutes, they had everything packed, labeled and ready to ship back to her house Monday morning, leaving her to ask Mary, the incredibly sweet volunteer that had been assigned to her, to join her for dinner as a thank you only to findout that Amber arranged for Mary and her friends to attend the after party with VIP access.
With nothing else to do, Kristen decided to head back to her hotel so that she could enjoy a hot bubble bath and room service, all while pretending that she didn’t miss Garrett, which should be easy since she didn’t miss him. Not even a little bit. In fact, if she was going to be honest, and why wouldn’t she be, she’d have to say that this was for the best.
She didn’t have to worry about anyone stealing her food or trying to distract her with soul-shattering kisses while she was trying to binge-watch 80s’ movies. She also didn’t have to worry about waking up to find herself being pulled into Garrett’s arms while he whispered how much he’d missed her. She could sleep in instead, alone, in the king-sized bed that was hers for a few more nights without having to worry about anyone trying to make her fall in love with him.
It was exactly what she needed right now.
And she fully planned on telling herself that until she believed it, Kristen decided as she pushed away from the wall and made her way off the elevator when it reached her floor. As she made her way down the long hallway, she found herself debating going home early, something that she normally didn’t do after a signing.
She usually hung around for a few days, enjoying room service while she recharged, but right now, the thought of spending another day here turned her stomach. If she left now, she’d hit rush-hour traffic and could be home in two hours, an hour and a half if she was lucky, Kristen thought, quickening her pace. She could be in Garrett’s arms in-
“What the hell?” Kristen said, frowning when her keycard didn’t work.
She pulled the keycard back out, wiped the strip on the back of her shirt and slid it back in again only to have the light flashred again. After five more failed attempts, she finally gave up, sighed, and turned around, making her way back downstairs. Ten minutes later, and an elevator ride with an elderly man who glared at her the entire way, she was finally next in line.
“Good evening. How can I help you this evening?” the front desk clerk asked with a warm smile as she stepped up to the counter.
“There’s something wrong with my room key,” Kristen said with an apologetic smile as she handed her keycard to him.
“My apologies. Let me see what’s going on,” he said, taking her keycard from her and scanned it into the system while she stood there, debating grabbing a chocolate milk from the hotel store for the ride home only to wonder why the very friendly man that she was counting on to fix her keycard was suddenly frowning.
“Can I see some ID, please?” he asked, his gaze flickering to her as he typed something into his computer.
“Of course,” Kristen said as she grabbed her wallet from her bag and pulled out her ID.
“Thank you,” he murmured, glancing at her ID before he focused back on his computer and typed something else. “Kristen Haven, room 13456?”
“Yes?” she said, wondering why that sounded like a question.
“I see that you checked out this morning at ten a.m.,” he said, picking the keycard off the counter and tossed it in the trash while she stood there, trying to make sense out of what he just said.
“Wait. That’s impossible. I was at a book signing at ten o’clock,” Kristen said, struggling not to panic when she realized that she’d left her laptop in her room. She’d brought it out of habit and decided to leave it behind today since there really was no point in bringing it to the signing.
She-
“I believe your ride is waiting outside for you, Miss Haven,” he said, that warm smile back in full force as he placed a white envelope with her name on the counter.
