Page 14 of Seven Year Itch
“I’ll be fine. I just need a minute,” she says, shaking me off as she works to build up the courage to go up the stairs and walk right past them.
“Would it help if I banged on the cage to scare them back?” I whack the metal bars and send a couple flying.
“Knock it off, Calder!” Dakota screeches. “You’re going to make them angry! God, you’re such an ass.”
“Stop being such a baby and come on,” I reply with a laugh. “Or do you need me to carry you again?”
Her eyes snap to mine, and a flash of that night at the sex club plays in the irises of them. “Don’t bring up that night. Not here. Not anywhere.”
“Tell me why you were there in the first place and maybe I’ll let it go.” I tweak my brows expectantly, just dying to hear the nitty-gritty details of her decision to go to Lexon.
She crosses her arms over her ample chest. “I was there for the same reasons everyone else was.”
“Nah, there’s a deeper reason. There always is.” I bite my lip and eye her. I know my reason. I started going there after the Robyn bullshit fucked with my head. I wanted an escape unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. Something to put her as far out of my mind as possible.
And it worked.
Dakota’s clear blue eyes zero in on my lips when she replies, “I’ll tell you over my cold, dead body.”
“That’ll be kind of hard when you’re dead,” I reply with a huff. “Then again, you’re probably besties with the devil, so I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Just like you’ll figure out how to get up these stairs all on your own eventually.”
“Señor? Señorita?” Carlos’s voice calls down the stairs to us. “Are you coming? The room is just up here.”
“Come on, you big scaredy-cat,” I tease and let out a laugh.
With a tiny growl, Dakota shoves me face first against the birdcage, using me as a human shield between her and the birds as she marches past me.
I pull back and rub at the indent the cage made on my cheek as she scampers up the stairs to get as far away from the feathered beasts as possible.
I feel used.
But then I tilt my head and take in the view of her ass in those tiny linen shorts and feel mildly less bad about it.
My eyes flinch when I realize what I’m doing. I might need a little solo session when I get tucked away in my room because I’m way too horned-up if I’m willingly checking out the devil.
Carlos uses Dakota’s key to open the first door we come upon, and I stand back, waiting my turn and admiring her room. It’s huge. It has a big, round bed centered at one end with gauzy canopy hanging over it from the ceiling. There’s a small, attached bathroom, and a sofa in a decent-size seating area beside a wide-open balcony that overlooks the ocean.
The suite looks like it takes up the whole damn floor, and I glance around, wondering where my room is going to be.
“Come in, señor,” Carlos says, gesturing to me.
“Nah, that’s okay,” I say with a wave and turn my eyes to Dakota. “I know better than to enter the snake’s pit.”
She narrows her eyes at me.
“This is your room too.”
“What?” Dakota and I both ask in unison.
“We had an issue with one of the other suites. Big pipe burst. Lots of damage. You two must share. But it’s okay. This is the biggest suite, so lots of space for your luggage.”
“You expect me to share with him?” Dakota steps closer to Carlos. She’s not a tall girl, but she’s towering over the short Mario-looking guy.
“Sí... it’s the only option, señorita.”
“No... no way,” she exclaims, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’ll sleep on a couch in the main house.”
“There is a nice, pullout bed here.” Carlos points to the sofa. “Very comfortable. And if you want privacy...” He walks over to the balcony and pulls out a thin white curtain that spans the length of the living space, separating the living area from the bedroom area. “Complete privacy.”
