Page 15 of Nailed

Then he frowned. “I need to take a shower.”

My heart sank. “Oh.”

“But I can do it when I’m done.”

“Great! I’ll just wait here.”

I breezed past him into his room, not wanting him to change his mind.

Then I froze. I’d assumed, when our suites were booked, that Jamie would be in one of the deluxe rooms Cora had showed me online. The ones with a separate bedroom and sitting area.

Not a normal one-room hotel room like mine.

“Oh,” I said. “I didn’t realize…” But even my earlier decision had been impulsive. It would be weird to be in your boss’s room while they were showering, even if they were staying in the presidential suite.

But now that I was in here, I didn’t know how to getout. Meanwhile, I was essentially in Jamie’s bedroom. His suitcase lay open on the luggage rack by his bed, and his bed was rumpled from where he must have sat down earlier, with a few papers spread across the thick white bedspread.

“Um, we could meet—”

But Jamie pressed past me.

“Everything all right, Cooper?”

He wasenjoyingmy awkwardness. My cheeks flushed as he dipped his hand into his suitcase and pulled out clothes.

That he was going to put on.

After his shower.

I groaned inwardly.

“You interested?” Jamie asked.

My stomach plunged. I’d been averting my eyes, but it had only made it look like I was staring right into it. There was a table next to it, with a book on it. I grabbed that, pretending it was what I’d been staring at.

“Yes, it looks great.” I held it to my chest as I backed up farther into his room, giving him space.

But I was stuck now, in that awkward place between the bed and the wall. The armchair and desk—safe territory—were both on the other side of the bed.

I had a flashback to being in middle school, the most awkward time in my life. I’d shot up to my current height of five-six at eleven, well ahead of everyone else. When kids weren’t making fun of me for stammering or the mole on my chin, which wasn’t even as big as the gym teacher’s, it was for tripping on everything.

Jamie tossed me the remote. “In case you get bored with rural rainwater management systems.”

I cringed, looking down at the book, which looked dryer than an encyclopedia.

“Never,” I said, smiling a hundred times more cheerily than I felt.

A moment later, Jamie was gone, the bathroom door clicking shut behind him.

I dropped the remote and sank down on the edge of the bed, burying my face in my hands. What the absolute hell was I doing here? For a moment, anxiety threatened to overwhelm me.

Then I sat up straight. No. I was borrowing my boss’s expertise one last time. That was all. I would land a new job with someone who cared about my future and never have to see Jamie Reilly again.

The shower came on, water splattering against tile, and I grimaced, moving to the far end of the room by the desk.

Do not picture your boss naked.

I opened the book, willing the heat in my belly to go down.

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