Now I just had to hope that I’d survive seeing my bastard ex again.
28
SARAH
‘We’re part of Adrian Jeffries’s bridal party,’ I said as I handed in my passport at the reception desk. I’m Sarah Jeffries and this is my, er…’ I paused.
Telling Esme he was my boyfriend was one thing. But for some reason, lying to the receptionist felt bad. I was still getting used to this faking it stuff. I looked behind me. The coast was clear and Esme had long gone, so it was fine.
‘This is Ben Eaves,’ I added. ‘There should be two rooms in our names.’
As Ben reached in his weekend bag and pulled out his passport, I stole another quick glance at him.
I still couldn’t believe how brilliant he’d been. I couldn’t even begin to explain the relief that I felt at having survived seeing my sister again.
During those early dark days, I alternated between thinking that the next time I saw Esme, I’d either claw her eyes out or run out of the room in tears. But today, I’d done neither. I was angry, of course, but measured. And I’d come out of the encounter feeling strong and confident.
Yep.As soon as I got to my room, I’d turn up my music full blast and do a celebratory dance. After years of Esme putting me down, she’d finally been put in her place. The look on her face when Ben blanked her was going to live rent-free in my mind for days. No, weeks. Maybe even years! I couldn’t wait to tell Jess.
‘Sí,’ the receptionist said in a thick Spanish accent. ‘We have your names here, but there is one room reservation, not two.’
‘What?’ My eyes popped. ‘There must be some kind of mistake.’
There was no way we could share a room. Especially not after Ben had just jumped in and saved me like a hero.
I was already hanging by a thread and struggling not to have illicit thoughts about Ben. I’d planned to use my room as a sanctuary. A place to run and hide and press reset if my attraction to him got too much to bear. If I had to see him walking around the bedroom shirtless, I wouldn’t survive.
‘There is no mistake, Ms Jeffries.’
‘But, I…’
‘One room will be fine,’ Ben jumped in, shooting me awhat the fuck are you doing?glare. ‘There’s no way I could stand being apart from you, honey pie.’ He snaked his arm around my waist, then pinched me.
‘Oh, of course not!’ I said, fighting the urge to sayouch.I got the message. He was trying to tell me to play along with him. ‘What am I saying? It’s just sometimes his snoring gets a bit loud, so it’s always good to have a spare room just in case. Big day tomorrow and all that!’ I laughed.
‘Muy bien.’ The receptionist flashed us a small smile that suggested she didn’t really care why I thought we needed two rooms, then took Ben’s passport and completed the check-in. ‘Here are your room key cards. Enjoy your stay!’
‘Gracias,’ Ben said in an accent that sounded ridiculously authentic.
Dear God. Please don’t tell me he speaks Spanish too.
I really didn’t need any more reasons to like him.
Once we were alone in the lift and the doors had closed, Ben turned to me.
‘You nearly blew our cover back there, Jeffries. We’re a couple, so naturally, we’d sleep in the same room.’
‘Not necessarily,’ I said, knowing my defence was weak. Ben raised his eyebrow.
I wasn’t going to admit it, but he was right. Of course Adrian would’ve booked one room. I didn’t know why I didn’t think of this before.
‘Seriously?’ Ben scoffed. ‘This isn’t the Dark Ages. If you want to achieve our objective, we need people to believe that we’re in oursharedroom, going at it like rabbits every chance we get.’
A jolt of electricity shot straight to my core.
Imagine having sex with Ben.
Given how experienced he was, I bet it’d be spectacular.
