Time stood still as the door creaked open.
ChapterThirteen
Idashed to the closet first, and Andrew rushed after me, quietly shutting the door behind him. My heart drummed erratically, pushing the hot blood through my body. Two women came into the room, their silhouettes visible through the louvers. Why hadn’t Andrew or I called out to them to come back later? They didn’t know what each guest sounded like, did they? One crew member stayed in the bedroom, and the other went to the bathroom.
Fear burned a hole in my gut, and sweat began to bead all over my body, the snug space quickly turning into a brazing pit of fire. We stood flush against each other, my face into Andrew’s chest, inhaling his cologne, which had by now become familiar. My hands were by my sides, itching to wind around his waist. For no other reason, but to keep me stable, of course. Andrew wrapped his left arm around me, the corner of his notebook digging into my lower back.
Swallowing, I glanced up and whispered. “What if they find us?”
“Shh.” His arm tightened, pressing me closer.
Oh my god.What if his niece called him? What if William called me?
One of the women came to the door, and my breathing ceased to exist. Brandon had left his shirt on the bed. What if she decides to hang it? How often have I returned to a hotel room to find my make-up and toiletries neatly stacked, my shoes lined up, and the clothes I hastily threw on the floor folded on the bed or hung in the closet?
Through the slits, I could see her standing near, her voice vibrating in my bones. Her shadow moved. A hand reached for the handle.
This was it. We were busted. I shut my eyes and pressed my forehead into Andrew.Okay, if she saw us, we should say we were playing a sardines game, and invite her in. Yeah. That would go well.
A pull of the door.
Another tug.
The woman muttered.
I opened one eye. Andrew held the handle with his hand, not letting the lady in. She tugged again. Grumbled and sighed. A walkie-talkie beeped. Static crackled. She quickly rambled. After a bit, there was muffled hubbub, some more static noise followed by a man’s voice replying back to her.
“Gracias,” she said.
Ha! I knew that word.
Her shadow disappeared, and both women chatted in the bathroom. I didn’t understand what she said on the radio, but I sensed the worst in my gut.
“What did she say?” My voice quavered.
Andrew lowered his lips to my ear. “She needs Alejandro to come in and fix the door again.”
I’d have liked to focus on the brush of Andrew’s lips on my ear but…Houston, we have a problem. Panic rose inside me quicker than water after the second flush in a stopped-up toilet.
“What if they wait for him here? What do we?—”
Andrew let go of the handle and pressed his fingers to my lips. “Shh.”
My breath hitched from unexpected contact. Our eyes stayed locked, and he slowly dragged his hand away, his fingers brushing gently over my mouth and catching on my bottom lip. His hand caressed my shoulder and slid down my arm. The sensation of his touch was too much. My body tightened and stilled, my brain momentarily forgetting about cleaning ladies and some guy coming over to check the door. I was glad the hotel didn’t splurge on making this space any bigger because I loved being pressed against Andrew’s broad body. Was this the original wardrobe in the house? What about the bathroom? Did the hotel sacrifice some space to add both of these spaces? When we stood outside under the windows of Brandon’s room, there were four windows. But when we were inside his room, there were only three. Two large ones in the bedroom and one in the bathroom.
“Where is the fourth window?” I whisper-blurted.
“What?” Andrew’s eyebrows pinched together.
“When we were in the garden,” I whispered, “there were four windows, but inside there’re only three.”
Andrew was quiet for a minute, his eyes searching mine, and then his full lips curled up. “You’re brilliant,” he whispered and pressed his lips to the top of my head, and the entire Keukenhof garden blossomed in my chest at once. This kiss was the most action I’d gotten in almost two years.
“I concur,” I said, a bit breathless, but hey, we were in a stressed situation.
The water stopped running in the shower, and the cleaning ladies’ voices emerged from the bathroom and passed by our hiding spot. They lingered for a while, and then the main door banged shut. The lock clicked once, then twice.
Besides our heavy breathing and the loud heart beating, the room fell into silence.
