Page 51 of Nails
She glanced at him, one brow raised.“Which one’s yours?”
“End of the hall, on the left.”
Her lips curved upward.“Then I’ll take the one next to it.”
He gave her a look.“Strategic choice, huh?”
“Purely tactical,” she said with mock innocence, and kept walking.
It was late enough that no one lingered.The guys with girlfriends or families peeled off, phones already in hand, muttering about making calls before crashing.A couple of the others mentioned hitting the showers, and the rest drifted toward their rooms with mumbled goodnights.
Riley stayed in the hallway with him, leaning her shoulder against the wall.“What time is your interview tomorrow?”
“Nine,” he said.“I’m meeting a guy named Erik at a small café near the club.”
She nodded.“Mine’s not until two at the club.”
“Gives you time to sleep in.”
She nodded.“That is true.However, I’m not much of a sleep-in person.I’m normally up at five.”
They talked a little longer, nothing heavy, just easy, low-voiced back-and-forth general conversation.
Nails had been a little surprised when she told him that Russell was going to keep an eye on his mom and assist if she needed anything since Riley wasn’t there.He thought that it was very sweet and thoughtful of her to do that.His mom had told him that Riley had a big heart.
He was mid-sentence when Riley yawned, covering her mouth with her hand.
He smiled.“Go get some rest, Blondie.You have a big day tomorrow.”
She pushed off the wall.“Goodnight, Nails.”
“Count on it.”
He watched her disappear into her room, the door clicking shut.He stood there for another moment, watching the hallway like some lovesick teenager.
What he really would have liked to do is give her a goodnight kiss.
Shaking his head, he turned to go inside his room but stopped when a low whistle cut through the open space.
“Dude,” Jay Bird said, shaking his head with a grin, “you are screwed.”
“Seriously,” Snow added, laughingly.“There is no way you’re going to keep your eyes or your hands off that woman.Not when she looks like that.”
Bear stood there with his arms crossed.“Better keep that promise she made to Derek in mind.Remember, no distractions, no unprofessional behavior.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Nails muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.
“You do realize that if you screw this up, Derek will have your ass and probably feed it to a shark, right?”Joker added with a wink.
Nails shot them all a glare, then turned toward his room.“I’m going to take a cold shower.”
That set them off as all four of them burst into laughter.Thank God all the bedrooms were soundproof, and Riley couldn’t hear those assholes.
“Better make it an ice bath!”Snow called out.
“Turn the nozzle to Antarctica!”Jay Bird added, wiping his eyes.
Bear just shook his head, grinning.“This is gonna be fun.”
