“You should go sometime. It’s nice to get up early and see the sunrise from the water.”
He hummed and his expression took on that bedroom heat again as his eyelids lowered. “I would need to be at your house very early for that. Or maybe stay the night.”
I nodded. “That’s true.”
We seemed to come to some unspoken agreement, and for several minutes we talked about people at the office who were having issues, even though we’d said we would discuss literally anything else.
“That’s enough of that,” I said, as we wrapped up a conversation about Tony’s tendency to pilfer other people’s lunches from the break room. “If he hasn’t been caught yet, he’s too stealthy, and I don’t want a camera in there. People deserve privacy.”
Wick laughed and nodded. “Yes, I assume Tony will get what’s coming to him eventually, and I won’t hear any whining about how he ingested something nasty, either. It will be in one ear and out the other.”
Smiling, I shook my head.
As we finished our meal the storm raged on outside, and it was different from Escape Adventure where everything had been fake. The building rumbled and other people kept on talking and laughing—it was an odd disparity. Wick dragged the lamp Hyeon had given me across the table and set it on the other side of his plate, taking possession of it.
I rubbed his shoulder. He grunted, leaning into my touch, and I laughed because I’d felt the same way when he’d given my back a tiny massage. We’d done a lot of work.
“Do you want to go out to the patio and tell your fans all about what you did today?” I asked him. “You’re one of the heroes.”
He grunted. “You were there, too.”
“I was your sidekick.”
He grinned at me, then sighed and glanced toward the door of the restaurant. “I can’t believe they’re not coming in from outside.”
“They will if the rain starts pelting them,” I pointed out with a chuckle.
He pursed his lips.
“We don’t have to do that. We could go upstairs to our room.”
He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “I’m not sure why this bothers me. I was outside in it.”
“You were busy when you were out there. You have time to focus on it now.” I shrugged because it made sense to me, but a frustrated pout settled onto his lips.
“Fuck.”
I tried to stifle my laugh, but he only winked at me and didn’t seem too upset. His hand snuck across the table to mine. “I would love to go upstairs with you.”
Something about his words and how serious they were had my heart racing a little faster. The room was shadowed but not dark, and I tensed as he leaned closer. His lips settled on mine, and I wanted his touch far more than I needed to hang on to propriety. I moaned into his mouth and my skin tingled.
“Yes, upstairs,” he said with a grin as he stood, then lifted the lantern and offered his hand. What choice did I have except to take it? I would rather run out into the pouring rain wearing a lightning-rod hat than do anything to ruin his happiness.
7
WICK
Maurice was watchinghis feet like we were on ice rather than tiles. I rubbed my thumb along the back of his hand until he smiled at me as we walked upstairs together. Everything in the hotel was too quiet without the small hum of the air-conditioning system, and it wouldn’t take long before things got unpleasant if the power didn’t kick back on, but for now it was fine. I clutched the bright lantern in my hand as excitement made the hair on the back of my arms stand on end, and Maurice meandered along at my side. We got to the room door, and I took out my key card, only to stare at it.
“Do you think it will work?” I asked.
“Absolutely.”
I hesitated.
He took the card from me, stuck it in the reader, and the lock opened with aclick, letting us into the room. He smirked. “Guess I’m right.”
I rolled my eyes. “You didn’t know if it would work or not.”
