Unfazed, he takes the strap and puts it over his own shoulder, then reaches for the handle of my rolling suitcase.
My shoulders sink with an exhausted sigh. “I can roll my suitcase. Just take me to the room.”
His steely eyes stay locked on mine for another second before he relents. He leads the way to the elevator, my pink travel bag looking out of place resting against his hip.
Silence hangs in the elevator, my heart racing. I’m staying in his room. With him. And his shoulders. It’s what I’ve wanted for a while now, but not like this.
“Sorry if I woke you up,” I say, just to fill the quiet space.
“You didn’t. And it wouldn’t matter if you had.” I feel him looking at me. “Why did you think Caroline was in my room?”
I stare at the panel of number buttons, my heart racing. “I thought you guys were a thing.”
“We’re not. Why did you think that?”
I’m thrilled and embarrassed simultaneously. The elevator doors slide open, saving me from responding.
“I’ll take the cot,” I say as I step into the hallway.
“No, you won’t,” he grumbles.
He seems to think I’m like his players, and I’ll follow his orders without question. And even though I’m exhausted, I’m not too tired to remind him he’s not my boss.
Irony—not sleeping in his bed is my way of showing him I belong in his bed. I do what I want, whether he likes it or not.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Noel
“Perfect.”Jules spots the small sofa in my room and walks over to it. “I’ll sleep here.”
“You’ll sleep in the bed.”
She grabs a pillow from the bed and puts it on the sofa, then takes her travel bag from me. “I’m going to wash my face and brush my teeth, and then I’m going to sleep. On this sofa.”
I shake my head, my fatigue forgotten. “I’ll be on the sofa when you come out of the bathroom, so you can try to move me off it, but it won’t work well.”
Her sharp note of laughter is unamused. “Fine. You’ll have to get up to answer the door when the cot gets here and then I’ll take the sofa.”
I shrug. “I won’t answer it.”
She folds her arms in front of her. “Then I’ll answer it and use the cot.”
I run a hand through my hair, my frustration mounting. “Don’t be so stubborn, Jules.”
“I just want to sleep. I honestly don’t care where it is.”
“Good. It’ll be in the bed.”
She takes a bottle, a toothbrush, and a tube of toothpaste from her bag.
“Get cleaned up and changed,” I say. “Then let’s get some rest.”
“I’m washing my face because I want to, not because you told me to.” She glares at me as she passes me to go to the bathroom.
“You’re pretty damn salty considering I’m trying to help.”
“Sleeping on that couch is all the help I need,” she says, walking into the bathroom but leaving the door open.
