Part 17 (2/2)
”Him, my client. My...my whatever he is. Hayden Bennett. He asked for me. Well, he asked for you, but that's because I use your name.” d.a.m.n it. I shouldn't have sent the hotel guy away. I should have told him to tell Hayden that he'd made a mistake and that no one named Sara Antonopoulos was here. ”Whatever you do-don't go out there.”
Sara's cheeks filled with air, and she slowly blew it out. ”You're totally right.”
”Thank you.”
”You should.” Sara pushed me toward the lobby. We caught up with the hotel guy easily, because he was bigger and not rudely shoving his way through the crowd like Sara was.
”Hey,” she called out when we were close enough for him to hear. ”We were kidding. She's Sara. Can you take her out? She's a bit wobbly.”
”No,” I begged. ”I can't. I can't.”
The guy took me firmly by the arm-probably hoping I wouldn't fall down and take him down with me, or just vomit on him-and dragged me away. I stared back at Sara, shaking my head.
Sara's only response was to mouth, 'You're welcome,' and smile. Then she turned her attention to a guy she'd been chatting with earlier.
Worst. Friend. Ever.
The hotel guy dragged me out of the loud bar and into the very, very quiet main lobby. It was like we'd entered a library. I shook him off, not wanting any more of his 'help.'
”Be aware that all of my Facebook friends will hear about the way guests are treated in this hotel. All four of them, mister. Got it?”
”Got it,” he said, walking away while gesturing to my 6:30 or 7:00 where- ”Oh s.h.i.+t!” I covered my face. One, so Hayden wouldn't see me being this drunk. And two, so I wouldn't see him being that gorgeous.
Life was so unfair. Here I was drunk and wearing hooker clothes, and there he was with his perfect hair and his perfect clothes that his perfect chest probably wouldn't bust out of the first chance it got. Although, in his case, I doubted anyone would mind. In my case...
Quick b.o.o.b check. Hands still over my face because yeah, that made so much sense. At least my b.o.o.bs were where they belonged.
”Hi.” Even his voice was perfect. b.a.s.t.a.r.d. ”I promise, being here is a totally innocent coincidence.”
”Doesn't matter. Because I'm going to pretend you aren't here at all, and that this is just another fantasy-” Never drinking again. ”Yep, I just said that, didn't I?”
”Yeah. Fairly loudly, too.”
One of these days, I'd master the 'think before you speak' technique. Unfortunately, today was not that day. ”Wow. Okay. Um...looks like you got your meeting after all.” And I bet he was feeling really fortunate about that right now. ”Aaaand step one is now complete.”
”Remind me what step one is.”
”Step one: I embarra.s.s myself.”
”I'm not sure you've completed it then,” he said, sounding a little closer than he'd been, but I couldn't look. ”You're loud in a quiet place. I wouldn't have thought you embarra.s.s so easily.”
”d.a.m.n, you're hard to impress. But I'm sure I'll come up with something even more delightfully embarra.s.sing soon.” Not exactly sure what that would be. Except- b.o.o.b check.
”Am I so hideously ugly that you can't even look at me?” he asked. ”Or do you want to play peek-a-boo?”
I laughed under the safety of my hands for a second and then came out from behind them. ”How terrifying is it that you're not the first man who's asked me that?”
”I think he was referring to a much less innocent game than I am.”
Innocent. Right. b.u.mmer.
Hayden had the kind of face you could stare at every day and never quite figure out. If you took any of his features and stuck them onto someone else's face, that person would instantly become ten times more attractive. So with all those parts on one face, it was kind of surreal, almost too- Oh c.r.a.p, how long had I been staring at him?
”Well, um...this is...awkward,” I babbled. ”But, then again, you did say you wanted to see me drunk. You should really be more careful what you wish for.”
”Actually, I said I wanted to see you ugly drunk. And now I know that's never going to be possible.”
I mumbled a quick thanks because I wasn't actually sure it was a compliment. I think it was. I think it was a really good one. But the shock of this meeting had only just started sobering me up, and I had a long way to go yet before I could judge sarcasm or irony.
He nodded toward the hotel's reception area. ”Can we...talk a little?”
I paused, my sanity winning out over my incredible desire to scream, 'G.o.d, yes! Get us a d.a.m.n room already! What took you so long to ask?' Because that would be wrong, and I would wake up tomorrow with bigger problems than a hangover.
I spoke each word slowly, making sure 'take me, take me now,' didn't slip in there accidentally. ”That might make it a lot harder for you to make sure step two doesn't happen.”
He leaned forward slightly. ”Remind me what step two is.”
”Do you ever listen?”
His mouth opened, but no sound came out. I waited, desperately trying not to sway too far over in my heels. I could use a sit-down, but not near a bed. All kinds of wrong could happen if I sat down with him on a bed.
”For some reason, I've been distracted lately.” His gaze slid slowly down my body before he caught himself and snapped his focus back to my face. ”Do you have a little time to fill me in on everything I may have missed?”
I swallowed. ”Step two-that you'll leave our meeting regretting something.”
”I think I would have more to regret if I left right now.” He nodded to the center of the hotel again. ”Just for a little while. Then I'll call you a cab or take you home myself.”
”Wow, Hayden,” I mocked. ”You're going to get us a room and not even let me stay in it? How chivalrous of you. Why don't you just save some cash and do me in the elevator?”
His eyes widened, and he laughed. ”I didn't mean- There's another bar at the other end of the lobby, a quieter one. I thought we could have coffee together. No room. No elevator. And, if it's what you prefer, absolutely no chivalry.”
”Coffee.” I wondered if he could hear the disappointment in my voice. ”That's it?”
”That's it.”
It was a bad idea. I was drunk and h.o.r.n.y-he was gorgeous and off-limits. For a number of reasons. ”I can't. I'm here with someone.”
His expression fell. ”Oh, of course you are. I'm...” He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it and making it look even better, less tamed. ”My timing is bad. Perhaps another time.”
”Let me think about it when I'm sober.”
”I hope I didn't overstep my bounds.” He looked lost for a moment. It didn't last long, but I'd seen it. Through the confident, controlled mask I knew he wore when he was with other people. I could see all the way to who I knew he really was-funny, charming, and...yeah, a bit lost.
”No lasting damage,” I said. ”But I should go get my friend.”
<script>