Chapter 15
Mike crammed the last bite of the club sandwich from the restaurant into his mouth. His eyes stayed on the computer screen, but his mind drifted to the plane and the beautiful brunette with the dog. Her parting words replayed in a continuous loop.
You’re my knight in shining armor.
It was a familiar phrase—almost cliché—but no one had ever said it to him before.
He’d scanned the Raleigh concourse for her after deplaning, but the airport had been a chaotic swirl of overworked staff and anxious passengers.
He’d quickly abandoned the voucher line and used his reward points to book a room at a nearby mid-level business hotel.
A rideshare had delivered him directly there.
The hotel lobby had been only slightly calmer than the airport. He’d waited twenty minutes to check in, eyes drifting repeatedly to the entrance, half-expecting her and her little dog to appear. They hadn’t.
Mike shook his head. He needed to focus. If he forgot about the charming woman he would never see again, he could finish reviewing the bid displayed on his laptop before continuing on to Charleston tomorrow.
He reached for the large cup of coffee he’d brewed in his room. Instead of grasping it, he knocked it over. The scalding liquid raced toward his laptop and the stack of printed plans beside it.
Mike lunged, lifting both just in time. The coffee flooded the space where they’d sat, then cascaded off the desk’s edge and directly into his lap.
He hissed under his breath. “Great,” he muttered aloud. “The one time I travel without a change of clothes in my carry-on.”
As a seasoned traveler, he knew he wouldn’t see his checked bag until it arrived at his mother’s house in Charleston. He placed the laptop and plans on the bed and headed to the bathroom to assess the damage. He dabbed at his shirt and pants with a towel, but the spreading stain was undeniable.
He checked the time on his phone. 8:45. The clerk had mentioned that the gift shop stayed open until nine. With any luck, they’d have something—anything—to get him through the night. He grabbed his wallet and key card and headed back to the lobby.
The gift shop door chimed as he stepped inside.