Page 133 of Till The Sun Dies (Checkmate 2)

Alone? With you? At the beach, at night?

“No. I’m pretty beat, so I’ll come back up and crash.”

Almost like my plans to sleep annoy her, she steps away and moves stiffly toward the bathroom. “I hung your shirt out. The steam helped, then I went over it with the hair dryer.” She reemerges with the hanger and tosses it at my face. “Get dressed. I’m starving.”

I slide the fabric around my back and pull shoes on – not flip-flops, but the only pair of shoes and socks I brought along. After I finish tying them up, I grab my wallet and the room cards, make my way to the door and hold it open for her to pass through.

Grabbing a cute little purse on her way out, she drops her cell and a tube of lipstick in, forcing unwanted images to flash through my mind. The thought that she might need to reapply lipstick pisses me the fuck off.

Why does she need the tube? I won’t be kissing the red off, and as far as I’m concerned, anyone that wants to step up and volunteer won’t have teeth in his mouth to smile with.

“Ang?”

“Yeah.” I let the door close and step into the hall. “I’m coming.”

We pass Jess and Kane’s room, but we don’t stop to knock. Neither of us wants to know what they’re doing in there, and for as long as the walls remain soundproof, we won’t open the door to find out.

At seven on the dot, we step into the elevator and press the button for the restaurant, stepping out seconds later on the mezzanine level. We look around in wonder at the space, full of waiters in suits, and guests in gowns and tuxedos.

“Holy shit.” Forgetting her sour mood, Laine steps closer and slips her arm into mine. “It’s fancy as hell down here.”

“Tomorrow morning, you watch this place turn into a hangout for people in tanks and flip-flops.”

A beautiful tinkling laugh slides up her throat, lodging the breath in mine. “I want to go to the beach tomorrow. It’s our first night here, so I’m pretty beat, too, but tomorrow, I want to sit on the beach, drink a mojito, and read a book.”

“You do?”

“It sounds like heaven, no?”

I flash our room card when we stop at the hostess desk, and after asking for a table for four, we’re led to a wall of windows that overlook the ocean Laine intends to read in front of tomorrow.

I don’t allow the host to hold Laine’s chair. I step in front of him, and lead her there myself. Once she’s seated, I bend forward to push her in, pausing when she turns her face so we’re barely three inches apart.

“Thanks, Ang.”

I wink, becausewhy the fuck not?And when she blushes, I resist the urge to drop a kiss on her forehead before I step around to my seat.

“Can I offer you drinks?”

“I’ll have a beer.” And when Laine says nothing, when she stares at me in challenge, I add, “And she’ll have a mojito.”

“And your guests?”

I shrug. “Can order their own drinks when they get here. They’re fine.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back.”

“A mojito?” Laine snickers. “That was for tomorrow. Tonight, I’ll take a sniff and get drunk, then I’ll pass out and snore all night.”

I pull my chair in closer, but yank my legs back when they accidentally touch hers. “Um…”Could I be more awkward?Probably. If I put effort into it. “Do you snore when you’re drunk?”

She tosses her purse onto the table and begins unfolding the cloth napkin. “I have no clue. Doesn’t everyone? Jess teases that I do.”

“I’ll let you know tomorrow.”After I watch you sleep all night. Because I’m a freak.I pick up the menu for a distraction and blindly scan the words that make no sense to my preoccupied brain. “What do you want for dinner?”

She opens her menu and chews on her pinky finger while she thinks. “It’s probably in the rules that I should pick a salad. Something clean and small, so I don’t look like a slob in this fancy restaurant.”

I narrow my eyes. “Says who? Whose rule is that?”

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