Page 47 of The Run Option

Willow Kingsley

“I can take your bag, Mrs. Kingsley,” the bellhop says as he gestures to my tote bag.

I blink at him, processing the use of my new last name. Jason already took care of our suitcases and my dress bag, but I managed to hold on to my tote, stating that it had all my necessities. What if I needed my lip balm in the five-minute wait for the car to be brought around? He’d given me a look that said he saw right through me, but he didn’t say anything.

“It’s okay, I can carry it,” I reply with a tight smile.

It’s much too early in the morning to deal with all of this, but I couldn’t sleep in either. I tossed and turned all night, unable to handle the knowledge that myhusbandwas in the same suite. Sure, we weren’t sharing a bed, but a room was more than enough to have my eyes wide open till morning. And when I walked out into the living room, I found that Jason was up too. He looked like he slept about as well as I did with his tousled hair and shadows under his green eyes.

“Okay, would you like anything to drink while you wait?” the bellhop asks.

I look out the glass doors. Jason is waiting outside, chatting amicably with one of the valet workers. His hands are tucked in the pockets of his gray joggers. I avert my eyes the same way I had to when I first saw him in them earlier. He’s a danger to society looking like that. I’m amazed the receptionist was able to form words when we checked out earlier. She certainly stuttered plenty. I can’t even blame her. He’s a walking advertisement for the perfect man.

“I’ll take a Diet Coke,” I say, though I know the car will be here any second now. I need caffeine if I’m going to make it to Jason’s house without accidentally drooling. Heaven knows if he caught me staring for even a second I’d never live it down.

The bellhop rushes off and then returns with an ice-cold can of Diet Coke, paired with a red bendy straw.

“Thank you,” I tell him, managing a more sincere smile.

“Of course. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you,” he says before scurrying off once more.

It’s an odd feeling to have someone wait on me hand and foot like this, though I’m not a stranger to the finer things in life. Not because I was raised with a lot of money, but because I’ve worked around millionaire athletes for some time now. You don’t hang out with them and their wives without seeing some serious cash thrown around. But it’s much different for that money to be mine now. Not that I really think it is. Jason may have said as much, but I find that hard to believe, even with him refusing a prenup. I’m sure once we get to his house he’ll have some ground rules laid out. This can’t be ano stringssort of agreement.

I sip my Diet Coke and look around the extravagant lobby. My eyes land on the large staircase, making my skin heat. That’s part of why I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept replayingthe moment on the stairs over and over in my head, wondering what would have happened if he’d have kissed me. Then once I’d walked through that situation a hundred times, I thought of our kiss under the arbor. It needed to happen to make our story believable, but that didn’t meanIhad to be the one to initiate it. But I did, and now I can’t stop thinking about it.

It was…unexpected. I thought I wouldn’t feel much with such a light kiss, but I was wrong. So very wrong. The brush of our lips was like watching the first leaf of autumn fall, entrancing and indicative of something more to come.

“Lo.” Jason’s voice snatches me back to the present. I turn around to face him. “Are you ready to go?” he asks, his lips drawn up at the edges.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” I answer and walk toward him. I can see his car idling up ahead.

He opens both the hotel door and the car door for me. I mutter my thanks, all the while wondering if this treatment is for show or genuine. When he slides into the driver’s seat, his clean, masculine scent quickly fills the car. Of course he would smell as good as he looks.

“How are you feeling this morning?” Jason asks as he pulls away from the hotel. We’re headed to his home–what’s supposed to become our home, though I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to think of it that way. On Monday the movers will come with all my things, but I have enough packed in my suitcase to get me through tonight. Jason thought it was better to spend tonight at his place so I have more time to get accustomed to things instead of another night in the hotel suite. I’m not complaining. Hopefully his giant mansion has more space between our rooms than the suite.

“Fine,” I say as I pull my sweatshirt sleeves down over my palms.

“I may have grown up with a brother and no sisters, but I know when a woman says she’s fine that means she’s either ready to commit murder or on the verge of tears.”

I stifle a laugh. “With as many women as you’ve dated, it doesn’t shock me that you know that. I’ll spare you the wondering. All the times they said it, they were on the murder side of the spectrum.” I smile sweetly.

A laugh bursts out of him, filling the car and making it hard to contain my smile.

“I don’t doubt you. I was an idiot for a while.”

“Was?” I ask, because I can’t help myself.

“Ouch, Mrs. Kingsley. Have a little mercy on your husband.”

He takes one hand off the steering wheel and places it over his heart. I don’t notice the size of his hand. Not at all.

“All I wanted to do was check on you,” he says with laughter in his voice, but his words still poke at my heart. The heart that’s beginning to soften toward this incorrigible, flirtatious man.

“I’m okay,” I reassure him. “I’m still trying to process all of this. It feels as though I can’t find a second to think, much lessbreathe.”

He nods. “I understand, I’ve felt the same. You should have the rest of today though. I’ll give you a tour of the house and then leave you alone.”

I look out the window, watching the trees blur. Looking at Jason has become too much. Hearing that he’s felt the same makes me feel guilty for throwing so much at him these past few days. Between my attitude and my doubts, I haven’t given the man a second to justbe. He’s probably already wishing he’d have let me get deported to Canada and bandaged his career on his own. The way he said ‘leave you alone’makes me think his regrets are more prominent than his flirty comments let on.

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