The opposite, actually, even though I’d had a moment of doubt when I’d first noticed his wedding ring, before I’d realized how… howkindhe was.
I couldn’t imagine someone like him not being loyal to his boy. Um, spouse. Hisperson. And having all that kindness, plus his attention and his patience, directed atme?
It felt like a shield against everything awful.
Still, I knew that feeling wasn’t mine to keep. Sam had insisted that Mr. Garrett wait until my phone had charged up to 20% before letting me leave with him, and the whole time, my stomach had been in a knot, waiting for Mr. Garrett to get tired of waiting, or tell me I was too much trouble, or decide that I had to figure out another place to stay tonight after all.
He hadn’t, though, not even after ten solid minutes of stink-eye from Sam. He’d just made small talk, and offered to order room service (which, Sam informed us, they didn’t have here) or get something delivered if I was hungry (no) and talked a little about what he’d seen on his drive over from Wilmington, and generally been… nice.
I really didn’t understand why Sam didn’t trust him.
Idid.
Or at least, I wanted to.
Maybe that was dumb. Hewasa stranger, after all, but even though his wedding ring told me loud and clear he wasn’t available to bemyDaddy, the way he’d stepped in out of the blue when everything had fallen apart and then miraculously made it all better again had been exactly what I’d always hoped for from a Daddy.
“Every hour. Okay, Rene?” Sam said bossily, shooting Mr. Garrett one more dirty look before he actually let go of my phone. “Text meevery hourto make sure he hasn’t dismembered you or… orworse.”
“Um, okay?” I said, darting a quick look at Mr. Garrett to see if he was offended by Sam’s attitude.
I wasn’t sure what Sam considered worse than dismemberment, or how I was supposed to get any sleep if I was texting him every hour, but it did feel nice to have him acting so protective even though we weren’t really friends. Just… maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing for him to do? Since he apparentlyworkedfor Mr. Garrett, he should probably make an effort to be more polite to him.
But thankfully, Mr. Garrett just looked amused.
Seeing that made something inside me relax. He reallywasnice, and I definitely didn’t want Sam to get in trouble just for me.
“Ready, Rene?” Mr. Garrett asked, his hand hovering for a moment like he was going to rest it on my back to guide me out of the room.
I nodded, but Sam glared at him so hard that he let his hand fall back to his side without touching me.
A pang of disappointment shot through me, and I quickly ducked my head in the hope that neither of them would notice. It was probably for the best, anyway. I wouldn’t havemindedif he’d touched me… but maybe I would have not minded a littletoomuch.
As in, not minded in a way that would have been disrespectful to Mr. Garrett’s spouse.
Well, and I guess to Daryl, too.
I was feeling a little more nervous about meeting Daryl in person after the way he’d sounded so irritated with me when I’d called, but I wasn’t going to think about that right now, because I could only handle one majorly nerve-wracking issue at a time. And right now? I was maybe, possibly, despite being completely grateful, also alittlenervous—not in the way Sam worried about, but in other ways—about spending the night with Mr. Garrett.
I followed him through the cute little hotel, not paying any attention to the route to our room because I was suddenly too busy dwelling on the fact that I’d gone twenty-two years without ever spending the night with anyone, and now that was all about to change.
What if I did it wrong?
What if I somehow embarrassed myself, or him, orbothof us?
What if I snored and didn’t know it? What if Mr. Garrett made fun of Teddy, or worse, I had to leave Teddy in my backpack all night? What if he insisted all the lights stay off, or I’d forgotten to pack my pajamas, or I farted in my sleep, or I started dreaming something totally inappropriate about him and ended up…excited?
I swallowed hard, surreptitiously wiping my suddenly sweating palms on my pants as I definitely didn’t stare at Mr. Garrett’s very nice butt in front of me.
It wasn’t as if I’d never done anything bedroom-related with anyone before, butsleeping? I’d never donethatwith someone else. Not innocently—just two bodies in the same room, like tonight would be—and not in any other way, either.
And certainly not with a super sexy man who I shouldn’t even be noticing that about in the first place.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Mr. Garrett asked when he finally paused in front of the door to Room 16, making me blush like mad over the way my heart raced at his casual use of pet names.
It was really his only failing so far.
Unlike Sam, I couldn’t even be mad about his part in the hotel room circumstances that had seemed so dire just a few minutes ago. I understood that life was often shitty and that bad stuff happened to people all the time, but it wasn’t as if Mr. Garrett hadmeantto put me in this situation. It wasn’t personal. And he’d made itright.
