Page 81 of Resisting the Temptation
“Let’s go then.” I grab her hand and lead her to the doors into the hotel.
Chapter 39
Emma
I’ve never stayed at The Cosmopolitan in Vegas before. I usually stay at The Hilton or a Best Western. I’ve even stayed in Circus Circus once, but the room Jordan and I were in looked like it hadn’t been updated since the eighties, and it felt a lot like the beginning of a horror movie.
The Cosmopolitan is far fancier than I would have chosen for one night, but Ben didn’t let me have much of a say. We walk around the outside of the casino floor before we find the elevators that will take us up to our room.
The elevator is quiet as we ascend, but it’s charged with anticipatory energy. I’m emotionally spent from finding out about Grandpa and then trauma dumping on Ben, but I’m also antsy with nervous energy and restlessness from sitting in the car for five hours.
I’m glad we decided to stop for the night instead of driving straight through, but I’m also nervous to sleep in the same room as Ben.
Ben finds our room and uses the keycard to unlock the door, letting me enter first. The bathroom is immediately to my right, and I see the aforementioned big bathtub and a glass-encased shower that looks like it could fit five people.
I step further into the room and am greeted with the sight of the bright lights of the strip through the sliding door leading to the balcony.
Then I see theonebed.
I twist to scowl at Ben. “What happened totwobeds, Benjamin?”
Ben sets the suitcases down and shrugs. “I couldn’t get two bedsanda balcony over the strip.”
I narrow my eyes at him, even as my heart flutters at the idea of sleeping next to him. “What’s so important about a balcony?”
Ben gives me a rakish smirk. “You’ll see if you’re a good girl and let me spoil you. Now, tell me what you want to eat.”
Ben lets me scroll through the menu on his phone, and I eventually end up ordering mushroom ravioli. I don’t know what Ben orders, but he instructs me to get in the bath while we wait for the food to arrive since it’ll probably be an hour.
I go into the bathroom—thankGodthe tub doesn’t look crusty and dirty—and turn the faucet to hot so the tub can fill while I gather my things.
Ben is sitting on the end of the bed on his phone when I walk backinto the room.
I open my suitcase and remove a set of pajamas, toiletry case, and my dirty clothes bag. Then, feeling bold, I strip off my T-shirt, bra, leggings, and underwear before shoving them into the dirty clothes bag.
When I turn around, Ben is looking at my body like he’s seeing it for the first time. His gaze is hungry, predatory. But it’s also… soft. Admiring. It makes me want to hide under a blanket just as much as it makes me want to preen.
“Let me know when the food gets here,” I chirp as I walk past him.
I hear his feet shuffle along the carpet, following me to the bathroom. I don’t bother closing the door as I set my toiletry case on the counter and pull out a claw clip. My hair is still in a braid from earlier, but since it’s so long, I need to clip it up to make sure the ends don’t get wet.
Once it’s clipped up, I turn and put a hand in the half-full tub, checking the temperature. It’s hot but not scalding. Perfect.
I step over the edge, then slowly sink beneath the hot water, hissing as my body adjusts to the temperature.
When I’m fully settled, I close my eyes and let out a sigh of relief as my muscles start to release some of the tension from the day.
“Does that feel nice,Dulzura?” Ben rasps—presumably from the doorway.
I don’t open my eyes when I respond, “Mmm. I love baths. The bathtub at my house is too small for me to sit in comfortably because my thighs and hips get squished, so I don’t get to take them as often as I’d like.”
“That’s a shame,” Benhums.
I pop one eye open and see his broad frame leaning against the doorframe. “Are you just going to stand there and watch me the whole time?”
“Does me watching make you uncomfortable?”
“No, I just feel like I should be giving you a show or something.”
