Page 12 of Cloud Nine Love

I looked up at him and grinned. “You’re like the anti-Gandalf.”

His eyes flickered down at me, and he didn’t say anything for a beat before his head fell back as he chuckled.

When I heard his laugh, my ovaries exploded as Salt-N-Pepa’s ’90s classic “Whatta Man” played in my head. Specifically, the line where Salt declares her desire to have the man’s baby.

It was then and there that I knew I was in serious trouble. He looked like Kyle Chandler, whom I’d had a crush on since I was six. He had tattoos. He spoke highly of his ex immediately after finding out she was pregnant with another man’s baby. He was the rare combination of a total alpha and a total gentleman. When he touched me, I not only enjoyed it, but I never wanted him to stop. And, the cherry on top of the I’m-in-serious-trouble sundae, he got my thou-shall-not-pass Lord of the Rings joke without me having to explain the reference.

I spent the next ten minutes in line silently freaking out about my situation and wishing my cousin was here so she could tell me what to do. Not that I didn’t already know what she would say. Her text message was very clear about her opinion on how I should spend my final night of freedom.

Once the solo mom and her two little ones were given their keys, I stepped up to the counter and slid my voucher to the clerk, whose name badge read Arlene.

Arlene pointed her long acrylic French manicure finger and waved it in Kyle's and my direction. “Are you two together?”

I wish.

“No,” we both chorused at the same time Kyle’s phone rang.

He pulled it out, and when he looked down at it, he stepped away from the counter. I could hear him talking from the other side of the lobby, but I couldn’t make out anything he was saying as Arlene’s nails clicked on the computer as she checked me in.

“Okay, you’re all set, lucky lady. Here you go.” She smiled as she slid the room key card, which was in an envelope, across the counter to me.

“Lucky lady?” I questioned, as I heard Kyle finish his call.

She nodded and pointed to the envelope. “That was our last room.”

“Your last room?” I repeated, as Kyle rejoined us.

She nodded and looked up at Kyle. “I can call around and see if there are any vacancies for you, but with the storm, everyone is pretty full.”

“No worries.” He shook his head.

“You’re more than welcome to hang out in the lobby.” She waved her hand like Vanna White, toward three very uncomfortable-looking lounge chairs.

“Thanks,” he replied.

The front desk phone rang, and Arlene walked to the end of the desk to answer it.

I turned and reached for the handle of my suitcase. “You can stay with me.”

The words I spoke seemed to surprise Kyle as much as they did me. I hadn’t planned on offering my room to a stranger, but Kyle did not feel like a stranger. His eyes met mine, and my heart was pounding so hard that I was sure it was going to explode in my chest.

“No, you don’t have to…I’ll be fine?—”

“It’s just a room. We’re adults.”

“No, I can’t impose on you. You don’t even know me.”

“I know that you just found out your fiancée has been cheating on you and is pregnant with another man’s baby, and you haven’t said a single negative word about her. I know that the only reason you don’t have a room is because you let so many other people go in front of you. I know that you would not have let Ruth walk through a crowded airport to meet her granddaughter because she wasn’t steady on her feet. I know that if the roles were reversed and I was the one who didn’t have a room, you’d insist on me taking it, even if that meant you slept out in the rain.”

He took a deep breath and exhaled. I could see that he was still uncertain if this was the right thing to do.

“I hate staying in hotel rooms alone.” That wasn’t a lie. It was a confession that, as a grown adult woman, I’d never made to anyone. “I’d feel a lot safer if you were there than I would if I were by myself.” I held the key card envelope out to him. “Please.”

He stared at it for a second before taking it and then grabbing the handle of my suitcase.

I wasn’t sure what series of events I’d just put into motion, but I was very excited to find out.

5

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