Page 21 of Scandalous Lover

I shouldn’t do it, but I walk right over and pull her into an embrace. She relaxes in my arms. I shift slightly so she won’t feel my dick hardening.

“I…I had a good time last night,” she says finally, head still tucked between my shoulder and ear.

“I did too.” What else can I say? I can hardly tell her how much she rocked my world. How I’m leaving here a different person than when I walked in. All the things I want to say are on the tip of my tongue, but I bite them back.

There's just no way.

“I wish things could be different,” she says, giving voice to my thoughts.

I respond by putting my entire foot in my mouth. “You’re telling me. I just spent the last hour pretending this was my life.”

My words fall heavily into the air around us, settling like dust in the silence that follows them.

I hold my breath waiting for her to decide I was making a stupid, completely inappropriate joke and laugh, but she doesn’t.

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, she pulls away andtakes a step back. My arms don't let go right away, but finally drop when she’s far enough away.

“Let me get you an Uber.”

I give her my hotel name, and she works her phone magic.

And now it’s really, truly time to leave.

“You can come over anytime you're in the city,” she offers as I pull open the door to her apartment.

“Thanks. I’ll do that.” We both know I won’t.

There’s an awkward pause, both of us waiting for me to reiterate the invitation for her to come down to The Sands, but I can’t make myself do it. Back then, at the taco place, things were so simple.

I’m not sure what they are now, but simple isn’t exactly the word I’d choose.

“I’ll see you around, okay?” I say as I walk out into the hall.

Naomi stays in her apartment, leaning just inside the doorframe. She nods.

“Have a good flight.”

And then I walk away.

Chapter Seven

Sam

Six weeks later

I’m just going over my morning schedule when I hear a tap on my open door and glance up. Maria, the front desk manager, is leaning on my door frame.

“What’s up?” I ask, ready to help with whatever she needs. Sure, I have a full day’s worth of work lined up for myself, but that all goes to the back burner when the resort, or one of its many employees, needs something.

Which is exactly why I have a never ending to do list and rarely get anything crossed off.

“You might want to head over to Raft. Dom called an all-staff meeting, but when everyone showed up, he dismissed people selectively. And it seems like he was sending away only the women? Anyway, there’s way too much testosterone in that tiny dining room for comfort.”

I’m already halfway out the door, giving her an exasperated look as I pass. “Thanks for letting me know.”

It’s not completely unusual for Dom, the head chef of ourtwo restaurants, to pull something crazy without warning me. It’s just been happening less and less often since he finally found the love of his life a few seasons back. I’ve almost stopped worrying about stuff like this.

I guess I shouldn’t have let my guard down.

---