Even as the words were tumbling out of his mouth, he knew it was an utterly foolhardy suggestion. Sure, maybe if he really was Dave’s boyfriend. But he wasn’t Luc. Not even close. And he’d definitely learned, after this past weekend of pretending to be, that he wasn’t even a tiny bit gay. Not a miniscule, bicurious smidgeon.
The idea of sleeping in the same bed as the object of quite a few of his youthful fantasies was a freaking stupid one. He probably wouldn’t sleep, for fear of nocturnally steamrolling over their luggage-wall and blowing his cover. Big time.
But worse than that was the knowledge that he was lying to her—hardcore lying. Sure, Casey might be okay with sleeping in the same bed with Dave’s boyfriend Luc that she’d only just met, but he had a hard time believing she’d be open to the idea of doing the same with Dave’s teammate Rio.
So he added, “Sorry, that’s not a very good idea,” but he was a little too late because she was already saying, “Sure, yeah, you’re right, that’ll work. My first event’s in about an hour, so if it’s okay with you, I’m gonna shower off the road...?”
She’d made it a question, which seemed strange until he realized that his leaving the room was probably the best way to deal with this.
“Yeah,” Rio said. “I’ll just... go... scope out the venue. Figure out where you’re going.” Convention hotels like this could be labyrinths, and he hadn’t yet checked out Casey’s schedule and mapped the routes to get where she needed to be.
“I’ll meet you in the lobby in a half hour.” She said the words just as the heavy door was latching behind him, and he realized she hadn’t given him a key card.
Shit.
“Hey.” He knocked on the door, but she must’ve already gone into the bathroom and turned on the shower, because she didn’t answer.
Double shit.
He texted her. Call me before you leave the room, I’ll meet you back up here.
But he’d already noted that she wasn’t one of those constant, twitchy phone-checkers, like too many people he knew. He’d considered it a good thing—an item in the already-abundant positive column on the Casey Esparza Pro/Con list. Here, however, it was a negative since she could very well jam her phone into her bag and sweep out of her room without looking at it.
So Rio sat down with his own phone, right there in the hall outside of her door, pulled up the email he’d been cc’d on with Casey’s revised convention schedule and his map of the resort, and got to work.
Chapter Eight
Casey was running a little late. She’d told Luc thirty minutes, and it had been nearly thirty-five, so she did one last check of her hair and makeup in the bathroom mirror, grabbed her phone, her bag, and the little paper packet that held her room key card—whoops, she’d forgotten to give one to Luc—and headed for the lobby.
Only to come to a crashing halt as she opened the door.
Luc was sitting right in the corridor, shoulders and head back against the wall.
His eyes were closed and he was rather obviously sleeping soundly. But as she stepped out into the hall, he immediately woke up. He went from sitting to standing in that same split second, and it was clear that he was instantly alert.
“Hah,” he said, his words softened by his now-familiar smile. “Knew you wouldn’t check your texts.” He seemed to know that she was eager to be on her way to the ballroom where she’d be doing her first panel, and he motioned down the hall. “Elevators are this way.”
“Thanks.” She always got hopelessly turned around in hotels like this and needed to use a mnemonic or she’d always go in the opposite direction from the elevators when leaving her room. And with the confusion over the sudden severe housing shortage, she’d failed to pay attention when first entering the room. But now she made a mental note. Turn left after leaving the room. Left, Luc. Yeah, she’d remember that. But he’d said something about... “You texted me?”
“Yeah, we were so focused on the room drama, we didn’t get a chance to discuss logistics. Security protocols. I’d prefer we not meet in the lobby or anywhere, actually. I’d like to escort you directly from, and then back to, the room.” He glanced at her as he pushed the down button for the elevator. “If that’s okay with you.”
“Of course,” she said. “Ella usually has a room a few doors down, so it’s easy to coordinate. I didn’t want to inconvenience you. You know, make you nap in the hall. Oh, here, before I forget...” She held out the extra key card.
But Luc shook his head as he took a step back, his hands out in a very clear no. He wasn’t quite making the vampire-warding sign of a cross, but it was pretty close.
“Nah,” he said. “No, it’s better all around if I don’t have a key. Cuz if you’re out of the room, I’ll be with you. Right? And if you’re in the room and I’m not—there’s a gym with a locker room on the fourth floor, I figure I can take my shower there while you’re in here—you don’t have to worry about me coming in. I mean, Dave’s fond of us both, and that’s great, but... you don’t really know me.”
It was amazing how perceptive and thoughtful he was. Casey had gotten dressed in the tiny, steamy bathroom because when she went out after her shower, wrapped only in a tiny hotel towel, she’d been acutely aware that she was sharing her room with someone she didn’t know all that well. The idea that he might come in at any moment wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t all too great either. It was one thing for Dave to see her in her underwear—that had happened often enough in the years they’d been friends.
“Okay,” she agreed, dropping the extra key back into her bag as the elevator opened with a ding.
Luc rewarded her with another of his killer smiles. “And don’t worry about inconveniencing me,” he said as they went inside and he pushed the button for the lobby. “I’m here to help you.”
“Third floor,” she reminded him.
“We have to go down to the lobby and then back up on an escalator to get to the conference floor,” he told her. “I confirmed the route while you were in the shower.”
“Before your nap,” she said, realizing, okay. He had this. Completely. But still... “Next time tell me when you’re tired. You could’ve crashed on the bed while I was in the shower. It really would’ve been okay.”
