Page 48 of The Billionaire Offer
“Take it,” I said easily. “I’ll look around some more and go grab a shower.”
“I should be done before you’re out of the shower,” he said. “We can have a drink together after I clean up too, if you’d like?”
“Sure, I’d love that. Take your call.”
He laughed when the phone started ringing again. “Yeah, I probably should if it’s so urgent that he’d call again after it rang out.”
Pressing the phone to his ear after accepting the call, he greeted his teammate and I went back into the suite. As disappointed as I was about our sleeping situation, my room was amazing. I flicked on the lights to the first bedroom, immediately spotting my luggage sitting on the stand.
There was a massive, dark wood canopy bed in the center and an attached bathroom with a shower big enough for three. A claw-footed tub took up the corner and an antique wardrobe stretched across one whole wall in the bedroom.
Although now that I knew one could buy antiques made to order at the bazaar, I doubted it really was an antique. I remembered how puzzled I’d been by the sign advertising said antiques made to order, and I smiled. I unpacked my bags and eventually started thinking about Bart and the separate bedrooms again.
Now that I’d gotten over the fear of him feeling like he’d be paying me for sex, I really wanted to be with him. Not just for the sex, but just with him. Like we used to be. I knew we hadn’t talked about what we were now and that we weren’t back together officially, but it felt like we could’ve been heading in that direction until these two bedrooms had pulled up the handbrake.
Somehow, I needed to find a way to let him know how I felt about it now. He didn’t have to get us two bedrooms in the future and I wouldn’t expect him to sleep on the couch again, either. The problem was that I still didn’t know where he stood on the issue.
It was possible that he still didn’t want to feel like he was paying me for sex, hence booking a suite with two bedrooms, but it was just as possible that he’d done it only because he didn’t think I’d want to share a room.
I unpacked the last of my clothes and closed the wardrobe, still uncertain about how or even if I should let him know that I was okay with it if he was.
God, why is this so complicated?It didn’t feel like it should be. Things had never been complicated with us before, and being together still felt so natural that I wondered if I wasn’t making a mountain out of a molehill.
We’d slept together a little over a week ago, and we’d both been sober and willing. Neither of us had made an issue out of the money then, and so it hadn’t been an issue. Knowing Bart, I really suspected he’d gotten us the two-bedroom suite after both of us had been so taken aback by having had only one bed in Iceland.
He wouldn’t have wanted to make assumptions just because we’d been together since then. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was probably supposed to be a sweet gesture, one intended to let me know there was still no pressure.
So stop freaking out and appreciate it.
The slump in my mood and the confusion all but vanished. He’d given me a choice, and I would do the same for him. If we ended up using our separate bedrooms because he was still uncomfortable, then I’d respect that.
I would also let him know that I was okay with taking things to the next level again, though. Walking back out of my room, I spotted his jacket on the couch and looked for him, but he was still out on the balcony.
Stealing toward the sitting area, I rummaged around in his pocket and found what I was looking for—our bucket list within the bucket list. He’d written it all down neatly while we’d been on the plane, and this was my chance to add to it.
Hoping I was being sneaky, I hid the list in my palm and headed back to my bedroom to grab the pen I’d seen on the dresser. At the bottom of the list, I quickly scrawled “have sex in the shower in Cairo.” Then I circled it before I took it back out and left it where he would see it when he walked back in.
With that done, I went to my bathroom and stripped down after turning on the water. Whether or not Bart came to join me, I desperately needed this.
Once steam rose from inside the cubicle, I opened the door and stepped in. While I hoped he would join me, I wasn’t going to hold my breath. Instead, I stood under the spray for a long minute and just let it rinse all the grime off me. Then I picked up my shampoo and started washing my hair.
If he did end up joining me, I was determined not to smell like camel once he got here. And if he didn’t, well, I was still determined not to smell like a camel by the time I went to bed.
CHAPTER31
BART
“Okay, Adam. I got it,” I said for probably about the tenth time in this call. “Thanks for letting me know the new strategy. I’m on it. You don’t have to worry about me.”
He spoke for another minute, then finally let me go. After hanging up, I stood on the balcony, bracing my hands on the railing and just looking out over the city as I turned the conversation over in my head. Adam was worried because I’d been out of the game for a few weeks after my dad died and would be out for the next few as well.
The kid was relatively new, and I got why he was concerned, but he really didn’t need to be. I wasn’t home and I wouldn’t be able to practice much while I was here, but I was fine. It would take more than just a few weeks out to throw me off my game.
Besides, there was more than enough time before the tournament. Sighing as I pushed off the railing, I dragged a hand through my hair and decided it was time to go grab that shower. I suddenly became aware that I could smell myself, and it wasn’t good.
When I walked back into the suite, I spotted a piece of paper lying on top of my jacket. Frowning as I wondered what the hell it was, I cut across the room and went to it instead of heading straight to my bedroom.
I still had to figure out which one was mine, but since Serenity wasn’t around, I assumed she’d already figured it out and was in her shower. All I needed to do was keep my ears open for the water running so I wouldn’t walk into the wrong room at the wrong time.
