Chapter 14
BLENDS TOGETHER
“How did the trip go?” Paris asked the second London walked through the door of their apartment.
“Fine,” London muttered, rolling her suitcase straight to the laundry room like she was on a mission. She unzipped it, grabbed the separate bag Spencer had been thoughtful enough to buy for both of them, untied it, and flipped it upside down to dump everything at once.
Paris’s eyebrows rose. “Doesn’t sound fine. I thought for sure you’d come home wired.” She took one step closer, then recoiled. “Ew. What is that stench?”
“Fish. Or more specifically…lobster. Maybe lobster guts. Honestly? I have no damn clue. The plant reeked, and I spent three days marinating in it. Then two nights trapped in a tiny old hotel room…not alone.”
Paris blinked. “What? What do you mean, not alone?”
London pinched the bridge of her nose. The tension from the trip still lived there like a headache that wouldn’t unclench.
“The car ride back to the airport was bad enough. I was so on edge I nearly broke the speed limit trying to get us there faster.”
Paris leaned against the doorframe, eyes narrowing. “Us?”
“Spencer,” London sighed. “We shared a room. Long story. Long, horrible story.”
Did she want to admit the rest? The awkward waiting area, the short flight home, sitting inches from him while he put in earbuds, shut his eyes, and disappeared into his own world. She’d matched him, pretending sleep just to avoid the pull of his presence.
It was for the best. Definitely for the best.
Because the moment they split off outside the airport to find their separate taxis, relief hit her so hard she almost cried in the backseat.
Almost. She’d never admit how close it was.
Then her sister would know how truly hard the last three days hit her.
But she asked herself why she was trying to hide anything from the only person on earth who knew her better than herself. Who joked she could feel the same emotions.
At least Paris wasn’t pulling that card and was giving her time to say it on her own.
“We’ve got time for this long, horrible story. Start with the hotel. Why did you share a room?”
“Because some incompetent staff member thought the reservation was for one room with two queen beds, rather than two rooms, one queen bed.”
“Oh. And they couldn’t get it fixed?”
“Obviously not,” she snapped.
Paris put her hands up. London threw a laundry pod into the washer and started it, then walked out. “Sorry. Don’t take it out on me. I’m assuming there were no other hotels?”
“We were in an inn. Sixty rooms. The next closest place was over an hour away. So no.”
“Well, it’s not like Spencer is a horrible person. I’m sure he was professionally polite and got on your last nerve being that way. You probably annoyed him more than he did you, but he’d keep it locked in tight.”
“I need a shower,” she said. “I still stink, don’t I? I swear people were shying away from Spencer and me on the plane. I bought some body spray and spritzed it in the air when we left, then walked under it a few times.”
“You don’t really stink, but your clothes did.”
“We were only at the plant a few hours this morning,” she said. “And this time in the conference room on another floor. Guess we got lucky.”
“Do you want some dinner? Did you eat?”
“Food would be nice,” she said over her shoulder. “Anything you put out, I’ll eat. Give me twenty minutes.”
She marched to her room pulling her empty bag with her, and resisted the urge to chuck it in the closet. Barely.
Instead, she pushed it in there, grabbed a pair of shorts, a T-shirt, and a change of undergarments, then turned the water on in her shower while she stripped.
The sigh escaped when she stepped under the hot spray. Much stronger than the inn had been, and she let it beat on her shoulders with the hope of releasing some of the tension still coiled in her body.
It worked, a little.
Maybe it was just being home that helped.
And when she walked into the kitchen and saw a plate of spaghetti covered in chicken and veggies with a glass of wine next to it, she went for the wine first.
Probably a mistake after last night, but she needed it to quiet the nerves that were standing on edge. The ones that wanted to scream at Spencer to stop being so... gentlemanly.
Ugh!
She didn’t know why that bothered her so much.
Or that he was being so... realistic.
“Slow down,” Paris said. “You almost chugged that in one gulp. You’ve had time to think of what to say to me, but I know you’ll say it all so don’t know why you wasted your time.”
She picked the fork up and stabbed the chicken. “You know we rub each other the wrong way.”
“I do,” Paris said. “I’m not sure why. I like him. I find him nice and patient. Which of course would drive you nuts so I guess that is the answer in itself.”
“Yes. Everything blends together. The first day there, they weren’t ready for me. You know all of that. I told you.”
“You did. How did Spencer react to it? You didn’t tell me that.”
“It’s too long to get into. But I got enough glares from him to cool it. You know the looks we get when we go into places.”
“You get more than me. You tend to deal with more men than I do. Then in a plant, that would be worse.”
“It was. And I have to admit, Spencer made sure it didn’t happen again.”
“Really? What did he say?”
“He didn’t have to say a word. It was a look that told everyone to be respectful.” She had to admit she was impressed. Just didn’t mean she had to say it out loud.
“That’s good. And I’m sure you let some of your frustration show.”
“I did at first. In the end it was fine. But we got to the hotel after that first frustrating day and to find out we have to share a room was just one more level of annoyance.”
“It can’t have been that bad. I get it, it’s awkward. He’s still a stranger.”
“Not anymore,” she mumbled. “I saw him without a shirt on.”
There was no stopping the flush and she wasn’t even going to try. Paris laughed and that made it worse. “I bet he’s in good shape.”
“Much better than I thought. I saw another side to him. No, that’s wrong. He’s a considerate person and left while I showered to get us wine, beer, and snacks. Even that bag for our stinky clothes so it didn’t ruin our luggage.”
“Very considerate of him,” Paris agreed.
“We came to an understanding of sorts the first night. We talked. I learned more about him, he did about me.”
“Are you going to share what you learned?” her sister asked.
“Another night. Yesterday was better work-wise. Or I was calmer. We got what we needed.”
“Chad seems to be the big problem?”
“On the surface, yes. Once I’m done with my reports, West and Braylon, or West and Spencer, will make the next decisions. I haven’t gotten that far. But last night, we went to dinner again, went back to the room, both drank more than the night before.”
“How much did you drink?” Paris asked slowly, eyeing her as if she was waiting for a large shoe to drop on the island she was sitting at and send her yummy dinner flying everywhere.
“I finished the second half of the first bottle. It wasn’t a big one. Then had another half glass of the second bottle. Had a glass at dinner too.”
“That’s a lot in a short time. Did he drink a lot?”
“A beer at dinner, and two in the hotel. We left the rest of the beer and wine there.”
Not that it had any value. Neither of them was drunk, but any more would have pushed any logical reasoning tilting even more.
“So what happened that has you dreading telling me? Did you fight?”
“That would have been better.” She shoved more food in her mouth.
“London! Did you have sex?”
“No!” she shouted. “What do you take me for?”
“I don’t know,” Paris said, her eyes wide. “I’m trying to figure out where this is going.”
“We kissed,” she said, then stuffed pasta in her mouth.
“Did you want to kiss him or was it emotions mixed with alcohol?”
“All of that,” she said, waving her hand. “Maybe I started it. I saw how he was looking at me hoping I wouldn’t notice.”
“You noticed it because you were looking at him the same way, right?”
“Yes,” she said, her fork scratching on the plate she pressed it down so hard.
“So you kissed. And he regretted it and wanted to have a talk and it pissed you off?”
She hated how her sister could pin this so well. “I thought he’d talk about it the next morning, but he hadn’t. Then I thought, well hell, he’s not into me and he’s just trying to find a way to be polite about it.”
“So you’re ticked off that he isn’t attracted to you, even though most people would think you can’t stand being in his presence? Myself included in thinking that. I’m just trying to wrap my head around it.”
“While you make me sound like an idiot.”
“I’m not trying to.”
“This morning I’m just waiting for him to say we’ve got to talk. But nothing. Crickets. It was all about work.”
“Makes sense if you were heading there and he wanted to stay focused.”
Not to mention that she’d overslept and they were rushing to get breakfast. He’d gotten up and showered before her and he even had to wake her up.
Could be the lack of sleep from tossing and turning exhausted her and when she finally went down for the count, nothing was disturbing her.
“I should have known you’d agree with that.”
“He was putting work first. Which I’m sure he would have said at some point.”
“He did. On the drive to the airport, suddenly he wanted to talk. I started snarky, then I played it up as if it was all a joke and I could move on just like him.”
“Then what is the problem?”
She looked into her sister’s eyes. “I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Fine,” she said. “I saw another side to him. One I really like, if I didn’t see the annoying side. It confuses me and we are both out to make something of our careers and he thinks we need to focus on that.”
“Agreed.”
She huffed out a breath. “Thanks so much. Maybe if we hadn’t kissed and my body wasn’t so worked up, I wouldn’t be so out of sorts over the fact that I saw him in a more relaxed environment.”
“Without his shirt,” Paris said, her eyes laughing as much as her voice.
“That too.”
“So you’re mad that he’s just brushing it off?”
“Kind of. I know it’s the right thing to do.”
“I think you’re more put out that it sounds as if it meant more to you than it did to him. But I know my sister and you would have tried your hardest to make it sound like it was nothing more than kissing a kid on spin the bottle.”
She continued to munch on her dinner, just at a slower pace. This was where having a twin came in handy. Her sister knew without being told. “I did.”
“So did you stop to think that his pride is just as great as yours and maybe he didn’t want you to think it bothered him you were just brushing it off so casually?”
“No.”
“And here I thought you were so smart.”