“I’ll protect you from the rodents,” I promised. I should’ve gotten our bags from the boot, but I didn’t want to tug on her hand to remind her I was holding it, or let go. So we stood there. “They only hang out by the pub bins and the vending machines around here.”
“I wish we could have brought Bodri,” she said. “I’d feel much safer.”
“Oh. He’s your chosen hero, huh?”
She nodded, and her hand slipped from mine.
My heart sank.
But I covered it by getting our bags.
“Did you say a pub?” She checked her smartwatch. “Do you think they’ll still be serving food?”
There wasn’t a time difference between Hungary and Serbia. It had just hit 9 p.m.
“They’ll be able to get something together for us,” I told her, and started rolling her suitcase to the reception desk. She followed swiftly. “Whatever room you want, I can get the room next door.”
She stopped just as a wheel caught on a wonky patio slab.
“We’re not… we’re not sharing a room?”
I whirled around, the caught wheel completely forgotten. “Did you want to?”
She lifted a hand to gesture at the place. “I am not complaining at all, so please don’t think I’m ungrateful. But… without my saviour son, Bodri, you’re a good placeholder. And I don’t think I’d feel—I don’t think I could sleep alone here.”
Guilt pounded between my ribs as hope grew in my chest. She was softening to me. But I’d also let this place crumble so badly she didn’t feel safe here.
It wasn’t the only thing I’d left broken.
“I’d be honoured to protect you for the night,” I said. “They’re all double beds, but there are pull-out sofas, so I can sleep on—”
“That would be silly. You need to look after your body, so I can—”
“If you dare volunteer to sleep on a sofa bed, I will drive us right back to my house.”
She pursed her lips. “So…” She looked at one of the doors and perked up a bit, back straightening. “We’re going to share a bed.”
“Seems so.”
Her nod was slow.“No flirting. And, remember, no coming.”
I offered her my pinky finger, but she laughed and shook her head. “Glad we’re in agreement.”
I couldn’t come. Nothing had been said about her orgasming, though. If she’d let me, I was dying to hear her unravel again. Taste her again. Touch her again.
“But food first, because I’m starving.”
We went to the reception, where we were checked into the ‘grand’ room. Fia snorted again, and I cringed. It was about time I put some money into this place.
I asked the woman where Stefan was, and she shrugged.
That meant he was at the pub.
I let us into our room, and Fia changed in the toilet out of her leggings and Lycra fleece. She returned in another summer dress and a kimono that was so sheer, it paled her skin further. I wanted to get under the material.
I wanted to get under her skin.
“Livie would have a field trip with this place,” Fia laughed. “She loves interior design.”
