Page 11 of So Wrong, It's Wright
I flip the cell in my hand, realizing thatthisis how she ended up in my room, and it’s also why my key wouldn’t work earlier. Tahlia and I have the same phone. We also have the same simple black phone case. Somewhere along the way, we’ve traded phones along with our room keys.Well, I’ll be damned.
Chuckling to myself, I pocket my cell, then walk around to my side of the bed, picking up the charging phone and opening it up. I already know it doesn’t lock because I set an alarm on it before I fell asleep, and when I open her photos, what I already know is confirmed—this is Tahlia’s cell. I laugh at the mix up again as I flick my thumb against her screen, seeing her camera roll scroll up the screen. It’s filled with photos of her and her friends, selfies, funny memes and…holy fuck.
I look to the ceiling, knowing that I need to swipe away before I look again. But the man in me has already committed the image to memory and even with my eyes closed, I can see her posed in the bathroom mirror in a sexy set of lacy lavender lingerie. My dick also knows what I saw and is standing to attention like I’m a teenager with zero control.Fuck.
Hitting the home button before I look back at the screen, I promptly move to her contacts and find Theo’s number. I tap it and hold the cell to my ear, listening to it connect and ring. And ring. And ring. Until it rings out, connecting me instead to voice mail.Shit.
The same happens again when I call Darren. Fuck.
Placing her cell back on the nightstand, I run a hand back and forth through my hair, knowing that I’m not going to get a lick of sleep with all this going on in my room. So, I do what any decent human would do and wrap the blanket around her body to keep her warm and take her heels off her feet. Then I get a glass of water and set it on the nightstand beside her, placing her phone closer to her too, before I go back around to my side of the bed, pick up my book, then sit on the chairbesidethe bed.
With one last look at Tahlia and her smooshed up face, I smile then crack the spine, using the lamplight to read until I either fall asleep again or it’s time for me to go catch my flight—whichever comes first.
TAHLIA
My mouth feels like I've been licking sand, and I'm fairly certain the pillow has fixed itself to the side of my face, my drool the glue. I need water.So bad.And I also really need to get out of this dress. It’s so tight, and oh god, my underwire is digging into the center of my chest and torturing me. Bras are stupid.
Kicking my feet to get the blankets off, I swing my legs off the bed and sit up, twisting from side to side, trying to get the zipper of my dress down. Zippers in the back of dresses are stupid too. You have to be a contortionist half the time to get them down.
I flick my fingers back-and-forth, unable to get a grip on the slider. That’s when I just quit and drag the whole thing up over my head, cursing my decision when I get stuck on my shoulders. “Fuck. Fuckity fuck,” I mutter, stumbling all over the place while I wrestle with the scratchy fabric. There're sequins and glittery bits that are like little razors against my face.
“What are you doing?” a deep rumbly voice asks, making me freeze, both glad and humiliated that my dress is currently up over my head.
“Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my room?” I demand, trying to wriggle my dress back down. I get it lowered just enough to peek over the hem and see Ash standing beside the bed with his hands on his hips. “And why are you wearing a matching gray tracksuit?”
He glances down at his clothes and twists his mouth downward. “It’s what I brought with me to wear back home.”
My eyes move down his full length, landing on the bulge the gray sweatpants donothingto hide.Holy hell, Darren and Theo were right. Hello, papa!
“Not dressed like that you’re not,” I say, the one eye I can see him with glaring at his attire.
“What’s wrong with it? I just bought it so it’s brand new. Plus, it’s soft and comfy. I’m just gonna be on a plane.”
“In public!”
“And?”
“And every woman from here to Atlanta is gonna get an eyeful of your goods! Do you have any idea what gray sweatpantsdoto women?”
A smirk kicks up the corner of his mouth. “Says the girl who’s standing in my hotel room with her dress around her head?”
“Well, I’m not planning on going out in public tempting every man I come across, am I?”
He chuckles. “If I didn’t know any better, Tahlia, I’d think you were trying to stake a claim.” He speaks as he moves around the bed and stands in front of me.
“Maybe I am.”
He smirks and shakes his head. “You don’t want me, tiny. I’m too old, ugly and crotchety to have anything a beautiful twenty-five-year-old would want.”
“I think I should be the one to decide what I want, Ash.”
“Which way do you want the dress to go?” he asks, ignoring my comment with amusement in his voice.
“Up. I want the dressoff.”
“OK,” he says, working his fingers beneath the fabric as I twist and bend, finding my way out of the horrid thing.
“God. Thank you,” I gasp, finally feeling free. “Now you can burn it.”
