Between the Lines

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

CHARLOTTE

The water pressure in this hotel shower is fantastic.

The cost of a night here is worth every penny for the hot water alone, as I wash away my earlier hike. I’m already looking forward to ordering the best pasta dish the hotel restaurant has to offer and falling into bed early.

It’s the perfect end to a day of exploration on my solo road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles. An entire week all to myself, with new parts of the country to see.

I lean against the tiled wall behind me and turn my face toward the spray of warm water. This is one of my favorite places to be. The in-between state, with one city and ghostwriting job behind me, and another looming. It’s freedom of the best kind.

There’s good water pressure here. I wonder…

I turn on the handheld shower nozzle and wash my back, my stomach. Move the showerhead down between my legs and shift until I find just the right angle.

That’s good. That’s really good. Closing my eyes, I think about nothing but pleasure. Shadowy figures from my past flash through my mind. Not the specific men I’ve been with, but rather the situations. Like the time I had sex standing up against a camper van in the middle of a national park in Arizona. I’d only seen Simon for a few weeks while working on a book down in Tucson. He’d been a hot commitment-phobe who liked to laugh. Perfect for my tastes.

I don’t date. I don’t stay long enough in one place for that, and even if I did, I doubt dating is for me. Casual and noncommittal work best. Fun, until it stops being fun, and where I can’t get hurt.

I change the angle a bit, and pleasure flows through my limbs. It’s slow and syrupy, growing with every passing minute. My mind shifts to another fantasy. One I’ve had but never fulfilled. The idea of a man tying my hands to the headboard, my legs on either side of his head. He bends me in half and goes to town.

I moan. The sound echoes through the bathroom, and I let it. There’s no one but me here, in this large hotel room. For some reason, I was upgraded to a suite when I checked in, and I’m not one to complain.

I reach out to rest my hand against the glass shower wall. My eyes close, and I imagine someone inside me, filling the ache...

“Hello?” a voice rings out.

I only have time to open my eyes. Then he comes into view, stopping in the open doorway of my ensuite bathroom. Tall. Dark hair. Leather jacket. A keycard in hand.

Staring straight at me.

I scream. The shower nozzle falls out of my grasp, spraying water in every direction. I cover my breasts and shove my now-free hand between my legs.

The man closes his eyes. There’s a flush of color on his cheeks as he reaches out blindly for the bathroom door I’d left open. He shoves it shut.

“What are you doing in here?!” Embarrassment runs through me, hotter than the water still flowing. It chases away the high of my near-orgasm.

“I could ask you the same thing.” The voice, even through the door, is deep. Almost a bit hoarse. “I checked into this suite earlier today.”

I shut the water off and step out of the shower. Wrap a towel around my body. Water drips from my soaking hair and onto the stone floor. “I was just given this suite an hour ago!”

“Must be some mix-up.” He curses, loud enough for me to hear every syllable. “I’ll… leave you to it.”

My cheeks are flaming. I can’t remember if anyone has ever seen me masturbate. It’s not something I’ve done in bed before.

My hand hovers on the doorknob. Should I ensure he leaves? Tell him off? Right now, I don’t know if I can look him in the eye.

I don’t know if it’s better or worse that the man is handsome, too.

Still doesn’t make this his room.

“Bye!” I call.

I hear the heavy front door of my suite open and then shut with a final snick.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I look over at the mirror. My entire face is red, and I don’t know if it’s from the hot water, the pleasure, or the shame.

Probably all three.

I don’t finish with the nozzle. Instead, I blow-dry my hair halfway and then throw it into a low bun. Then I get into my jeans and a black sweater. The book I’m reading beckons from where I’d thrown it on my bed. It’s by one of my all-time favorite commercial non-fiction authors. One of the writers I most want to be like… if I can manage to impress my editor at Polar Publishing enough to finally get a contract of my own. Not for ghostwriting a memoir, but for writing my own investigative story.

All dressed, I take a long, hard look at the front door of my suite. Someone came in. They shouldn’t have been able to, and if anything, that’s something I should tell the hotel staff. The front desk needs to know.

But someone also saw me naked . A very attractive, very tall, very male someone. Not just naked, either. But my mind can’t quite linger on what he saw me doing, or I’ll die of embarrassment.

Humiliation is a feeling I’m well aware of. It’s something I’ve been running from for almost a decade. But this time, I hadn’t done anything wrong. I had taken a shower in the hotel room I was assigned. Upgraded to, even!

I psych myself up and leave the safety of the suite.

The resort is massive and decorated like a Western frontier dream. It has log siding walls and stone floors, and a giant fireplace in the lobby. It’s lit, but the leather armchairs in front of it are empty. It would be a great place to read.

I walk straight up to the reception desk. The bespectacled woman behind the long oak counter smiles at me. Her grin disappears as soon as I tell her I’m staying in in room 128.

“Yes, we’re so sorry, Ms. Gray.” She twists a little, looking behind her at her colleague. He’s glancing at me with cheeks that flame red. “This is a very unusual situation, and we’ve got, well… there’s actually been a double-booking,” she continues. “Both you and the gentleman in question had been assigned that room.”

“I’ve never experienced this before.”

“No, it’s very unusual, and we do our best to avoid it.” She clears her throat and looks supremely uncomfortable. “The thing is, the resort is fully booked. It’s Easter weekend, and we don’t have any other rooms left.”

It takes a moment for what she’s saying to sink in. I’ve never even heard of this happening before. “What?”

“I’m so sorry.” Her voice wavers. “This is unprecedented for us, too, and we will of course refund you the entire sum.”

“What does that mean? Who gets the room?”

She glances at someone behind me, a quick look before returning to me. “That’s the problem. The gentleman had, in fact, checked into room 128 before you. We shouldn’t have been able to check you into it again, but like I said, this is unprecedented for us. I promise we’ll be thoroughly reviewing just how this happened.”

Well. That’s great. But it doesn’t help me now. “There was no one in that room when I arrived,” I say. “It was untouched.”

“He’d just dropped off his bags in the room and then headed out again.” Her cheeks are red now, too. “Truly, we’re so, so sorry, Ms. Gray. I’ve been authorized to offer you extra reward points and a free weekend at a later date. To make up for the inconvenience.”

There had been a double booking. He was first. That damn man was first ? How had I missed a bag in the room?

I’d been tired and dirty from my hike.

I’d gone straight into the bathroom and hit the shower.

“I’m really sorry. The entire team apologizes,” she says again.

Don’t get irritated. Don’t get irritated… “So I need to go back into what I thought was my room, pack up my things, and leave? With nowhere to go?”

She blinks rapidly. “God, I’m so sorry. But… yes.” Then her gaze fixes on a point behind me, and her frown deepens.

A man comes to stand beside me at the counter and leans against it. A familiar leather jacket. Black, messy hair. Tanned skin. He puts his keycard on the counter.

“We’ll talk this out between us,” he tells the receptionist. “Don’t worry.”

Her shoulders sink. “Okay, absolutely. However you’d like to solve it.”

The man smiles at her and then turns to me. Up close, his eyes are green. “Come with me, and let’s see what more chaos you’ll create.”

My eyebrows rise. “ Chaos ?”

“You’ve caused a lot of it today.” But his voice is dryly amused. I follow him over to the fireplace and the two empty chairs there. He gestures for me to sit. As if we’re about to open negotiations.

Somewhere right there, between the fireplace and the front desk, my irritation gives way to a fierce embarrassment.

Not even an hour ago, he had seen me naked.

I sit on the very edge of my seat. He smiles a little and sinks to the chair across from me. He occupies all of it. Settles in, long legs stretched out, both arms draped along the armrests.

I focus on the sleeve of his leather jacket. His hand, curved over the edge.

“So,” he says. “We’re two people, and there’s only one room.”

“I’ve never been at a hotel where this has happened to me before.”

He nods. “Yeah. Me neither. But it seems like the water pressure at this place is excellent.”

Heat races up my cheeks, and my gaze snaps to his.

“How are we going to settle this?” he asks. “Only one room, and the sun has already set outside. It’s a long drive to the nearest vacant hotel.”

His implication is clear, and I cross my arms over my chest. “I’m not sharing.”

“Oh, of course you’re not.” He leans forward, and something glitters in his eyes. “We’ll play a game for it.”