Page 64 of Forever Fascinating

“I certainly don’t mind,” he countered, “if you can grab the door. The guy said it was a room overlooking the street and they would have breakfast down here for everyone at eight in the morning.”

“Perfect. We can get a little sleep before exploring.”

“Exactly.”

Starting up the stairs, Jana couldn’t help but flush at how weird it was not carrying her own bag. Matthew had hefted it up, nodding at her, before allowing her to go first up the steps. As she got midway up, she turned to look at him because they were awfully narrow and steep in the older building.

“I’m fine,” he offered as if he understood her concern. “Just ready to have a glass of water, go to the restroom, and close my eyes for a while.”

“Same here,” she admitted.

Walking down the small hallway, she came to the door and inserted the key, turning it. Flipping the light switch, which was a knob, the room before them was suddenly illuminated.

On the far wall, there was a painting of a woman standing on a hill, hung just above a couch that had seen better days. It was pinkish, having been bleached by the sun over the years, and the walls were a warm, mottled yellow, making them look weathered. The floor was covered by a large carpet to protect the wood. A set of glass doors with fabric panels was to the left and she slowly opened them as Matthew set down both of their bags, closing the door behind him.

… And Jana froze.

“This is the wrong room,” she whispered, turning to look at him. “We are supposed to have two full-size beds. They put us in the wrong room.”

“What?” he asked, walking up behind her and hesitating. “I’ll go back downstairs and talk to the man. Hang on, okay?”

She nodded, feeling exhaustion sweeping at her as she stared at the breathtakingly beautiful room before her. She heard the door close in the distance and could hear his boots on the stairs as he went to talk with someone about this mistake.

The bed before her looked like something out of a honeymoon – and extremely cozy. It was in the middle of the room, central on another beautiful carpet, with two large mirrors flanking a small window. It looked to be a king-sized bed and both the footboard and headboard were wrought iron but lined with elongated pillows that ran the entire length of both sides. A chandelier glowed above the bed, making it look even more warm and romantic.

Continuing her inspection, she saw that there was a small door off to the side of the room that housed the bathroom. It was long, like a narrow hallway, with a bathtub lining one side and a sink opposite of it. There was an extremely modern, out of place toilet on the far wall beside the tub that glowed from some buttons on a panel nearby.

Starting at the sound of the door, Jana returned back to the living room only to see Matthew’s face.

“They upgraded us – and gave away the other room,” he began, and looked away. “The man was quite upset because he thought he was doing us a favor by giving us one of the suites since we didn’t have any children with us and…” he hesitated, looking away. “We can make this work.”

“You’re kidding,” she whispered, before drawing in her breath and thinking as she looked around. “Okay. It’s okay. We’ll make this work… somehow. I mean, we’ll figure it out. Adventure, right?”

“I can take the couch,” he began immediately – and she waved him off.

“The sun is going to be bright. The couch is already bleached by the it and I think that’s why there are fabric panels on the door. It’s supposed to be extremely sunny here in the summertime… besides… this thing is huge. We can take one of the bolster pillows and split the bed.”

He stood there, not looking at her, and she saw he was visibly unhappy.

“I don’t snore,” she blurted out.

“I do according to my teammates,” he said candidly, looking distinctly embarrassed and nervous. “I also don’t want to cross any lines with you.”

“So don’t,” she retorted, smiling, and crossing her arms over her chest to look at him. “Keep your hands to yourself, wear clothing to bed, don’t get all mushy about things. I’ll hit you with a pillow if the snoring gets too loud.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“I’m exhausted and it’s hitting me hard,” she admitted. “We have about five hours before they start serving breakfast downstairs and I could use it to be sleeping instead of exclaiming in horror that my friend is going to be getting chummy with me for five days.”

He smiled at her words.

“Not too chummy though…” she warned, chuckling. “We’ll be fine. Adventure, remember?”

“First time for everything?”

“Exactly… now, you take the bathroom first to change.”

“You take the bathroom,” he countered, hooking his thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll change in the living room area and close the doors so everything is decent – and we can both collapse in bed within the next few minutes.”

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