Page 33 of Loved Out Loud
“My sisters both have kids the same age, they were talking about it one day while I was over.”
“I didn’t realize you had sisters.”
“I try to keep everything around my family private, especially my nieces and nephew.”
“So you’re all close?”
“Very.” Even at my lowest during my addiction, I never missed a family event. I might have been high, but I was physically there.
“I love that.”
“Do you have siblings?”
“No. It’s just my mom and grandma in our family.”
I want to ask more, but we pull up to the hotel too soon. Thankfully, no one is around, so it’s an easy and relaxed walk through the lobby and to the elevator. The ride up to our floor is quiet while she taps out another text on her phone. Her lips press into a straight line as she frowns.
What is it about her that makes me want to know everything? I’m thirsty for knowledge about her, her life. Who is making her frown when she should only be smiling?
She tells Dan goodnight as he walks off in the opposite direction. Adam follows me down to my suite, and after he disappears inside, I call down the hall to her.
“I’ll be up all night if you decide you need a distraction.”
She stops with her door open. “I thought you wanted to body double?” She smirks down the hall at me.
Damn, she looks so fucking hot with that taunting smile on her face.
“Sweetheart, I’ll do anything you want me to.”
She shakes her head and disappears inside her room with a smile on her face. I’m glad I could put it there. It’s official. I’m obsessed with the woman.
The only thing that gives me any pause is when I remember Darren suggesting I take her out and be seen with her. I don’t want him to think I’m using her in the way he suggested. I would never. Especially when I’m actually so attracted to her.
The dichotomy of her being soft spoken and shy but also not afraid to get sassy with me is intoxicating. So much of herremains a mystery to me. Anything she wants to know about me she could easily google, aside from my family. I’m an open book.
Maybe it’s the fact that she seems pretty unaffected by attention and flirting. Is she playing hard to get, or does she really not feel what I do?
No.
There’s no way she doesn’t feel it. I’ve never felt attraction this strong and not had it be reciprocated. How do I convince her to explore it with me?
“Are you okay?” Adam asks with an arched brow.
“Yeah, why?”
“You’ve been staring at the closed door for five minutes.”
I blink. “Do you think she’s into me?”
“Hazel?”
I nod.
“I don’t know. She’s a tough nut to crack. I saw the name of the guy she was texting, Greg something. She seemed pretty irritated by the exchange, so I’m not sure if it’s a boyfriend or not.”
“He’s not. She said she doesn’t have one, just a situationship.”
He flips open his paperback. “If she’s not taken, I say go for it. She’s not a groupie, which would be a great change of pace for you.”
