Page 13 of The Hotel Room

The man in front of her wasn’t James. Couldn’t be. James was safe. Steady. Hers.

He scrambled back, almost falling off the bed as he reached for his pants. His face twisted with panic, stammering. “Kate, it’s—fuck, I can explain—”

Kate couldn’t move. Standing there in lingerie she’d wornfor him, now a cruel joke. She felt exposed—bare—in the worst possible way.

She swallowed, the taste of bile rising in her throat.

The woman on the bed had pulled a sheet to cover her chest, and now she looked between them, eyes wide. “Oh my God. I didn’t— I didn’t know he was—”

Kate couldn’t look at her. She looked at her husband instead. “You—” She choked back the sob clawing at her throat. Her voice when it came out was barely audible. “You were supposed to love me.”

She could barely remain upright. It was as if her body was trying to curl into a fetal position while standing.

James stepped toward her, desperation in every line of his face. “I do. I love you, Kate—”

Humiliation flooded her body. Standing there, nearly naked in lingerie she had picked for him, while he—

James reached for her, bare-chested, half-dressed, and utterly pathetic.

She backed up. “Don’t. Don’t touch me.”

James reached for her anyway and she did the only thing she could do.

She turned and fled.

CHAPTER FIVE

Kate

She didn’t know where she was going. She just had to keep moving. Away from the image burned into her mind—the sheets twisted around them, his body under hers, the sounds—oh God, thesounds.

The hallway was too bright, too quiet. The sharp contrast to the suffocating intimacy of the hotel room made Kate feel even more exposed, her heart pounding so loudly it felt like it might crack her ribs.

Her legs felt unsteady, the world tilting as she staggered forward, her shoulder bumping hard against the wall. She barely registered the sting, blinking rapidly, struggling to move in a straight line as if her body wasn’t quite her own.

She heard the door open behind her and she pushed forward, the plush hotel carpet muffling her footsteps but doing nothing to soften the ache clawing up her throat.

“Kate!”

James’s voice. Behind her. Raw. Desperate.

Footsteps closing in.

The hallway felt endless, stretched too wide, too bright, leaving her nowhere to hide.

She didn’t want to do this. Not here.

But he was already there, catching her wrist before she could reach the elevator.

“Kate, please—”

“Don’t touch me!” She wrenched back, spinning around, her voice shaking so violently it barely felt like hers.

James’s face was pale, panicked, his shirt unbuttoned, hair a mess from—her.The other woman.

Her bare skin prickled and she shivered. His eyes dropped to her half-dressed body, the lingerie she’d chosen for him. The soft, daring black lace that now felt impossibly foolish.

“Let me—come back inside.” His voice cracked as he stepped closer, reaching for her. “You can’t be out here like this. Please. Just—please.”

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