Page 19 of Paper Hearts & Plot Twists

She hesitantly stepped out into the room. Miles was sitting in the chair at the table, apparently waiting for her. Emily looked down, willing her blush to fade, though that was a pipe dream.

“So it looks like we might need several more towels,” Miles started off. Emily nodded her head. She brought her fingers up and started picking at the sleeve of her sweater.

“I’ll call room service before I head to my next event today,” Miles said. “Then we won’t have to worry about something like this happening again. I’m sorry for walking in on you. If I’d had any idea that you were in that state of undress, I wouldn’t have entered.”

Emily shrugged, “It wasn’t your fault. You had no way of knowing that would happen. It’s your room too, so you need to be able to access it any time.”

“Be that as it may, I like my women to be naked for me willingly, not through some freak accident,” Miles said with a wink. Emily’s head flew up and she looked at him. Her heart thumped in her chest and her stomach fluttered when she saw the smirk on his face. Rooming with this man was going to be the death of her.

Chapter 12

Emily stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her.

“Wild night?”

“What?” she asked, turning toward the voice.

“Last night. Sounds like you had a wild ride.” Emily stared wide-eyed at the woman in front of her, who was stepping out of the room next door. She wriggled her eyebrows up and down and smirked back at Emily. Realization dawned that she thought that Emily and Miles must’ve been having sex last night.

“Oh no, that’s not . . . You have it wrong,” Emily stuttered. Her face flushed bright red.

“I mean, we are at a book conference. Feeling a little lusty is to be expected,“ she said with a shrug. She winked over her shoulder and started down the hallway.

Emily opened and closed her mouth, shocked that the woman would say any of that.

Another door opened behind her and Emily jumped when a loud whistle echoed through the hallway. Emily spun on her heel and faced the person who made the sound.

“You and Mr. Hottie break a bed together last night?”

“No!” Emily exclaimed, staring at what seemed to be the owner to the other neighboring room, another young woman. “It was a misunderstanding.”

“I wish I had that kind of misunderstanding last night,” she murmured. She patted Emily’s shoulder as she passed then hurried down the hall. Emily flushed and then bustled in the opposite direction. She’d take the stairs. She didn’t want to stay here and get more comments, but she didn’t think she could handle an elevator ride full of teasing about wild sex she never had.

It took wandering down three hallways before she found the stairs. She made her way down to the first floor, a bit chagrined by how out of breath she felt after hurrying down the steps. She wandered through the halls, looking for the conference welcome room. Unfortunately she wasn’t successful in that endeavor, so she ended up back at the lobby for directions. Thankfully, Kat wasn’t working because a young man with the world’s whitest smile stood in her place. With her newfound knowledge, Emily stood in line, waiting to receive her welcome bag and conference check-in information.

Her eyes wandered around the room, glancing at the art on the walls and the other people around her. Emily blinked and turned her attention toward the person in front of her. She tilted her head when she realized that something wasn’t quite right. There was a mass of black fuzz on the man’s shoulder. Emily stood on the tip of her toes and tried to get a better view. She jumped and squeaked when that black mass moved and a little black cat stared back at her through bright yellow eyes.

“Shadow says hello,” the man said with a smile that shone from his eyes. He reached a hand up to his shoulder and rubbed it along the cat’s head before he nuzzled a finger under its chin. Shadow tilted his head and started purring loud enough for Emily to easily make out the sound.

“Your cat sits on your shoulder in a harness?” Emily asked, still shocked to see an animal there, and such a well-behaved one at that.

“He’s my service cat,” the man responded. “He’s been trained to alert me to my medical conditions, so I’ve had to train him to stay with me and chill in a harness.”

“That’s amazing,” Emily breathed, staring at the little cat in awe. “I didn’t realize service cats were a thing. I’ve only heard of service dogs.”

“Cats can definitely be hard to train so you have to find one with the right temperament, but I’m allergic to dogs, so I had some extra motivation to make this happen,” he said with a chuckle and a shrug. Shadow hissed then settled around his neck, draping his body so his legs fell on either side.

“Such a noble service animal,” Emily responded. “Doing good work and looking good while doing it.”

“He’s a total diva,” the man agreed with a chuckle. He rested a hand on Shadow’s back and the cat continued to purr, eyes closed in contentment. Emily fought the urge to reach up and pat the kitten. It was adorable, but she’d read an article that most people don’t want strangers petting their service animals because that distracts the animal from their important job. She didn’t know what job Shadow was doing, but it was important enough that this man went through at least some effort harness-training and service-training a cat.

Emily chatted with him until he was called to one of the tables to get help. Emily continued to wait, now in silence, though she didn’t mind.

It wasn’t long before it was Emily’s turn and she was standing in front of one of the perky workers running this part of the conference. Emily was given a tote bag full of goodies, a pocketful of itineraries, schedules, and more. “Thank you so much!” Emily said, as she accepted the tote bag. Before she left, the woman asked for her wrist and wrapped a bracelet that would be her ticket into each event. As the winner of the competition, Emily’s bracelet gave her access to all but the most exclusive components of the conference, like one-on-one services.

Emily slung the straps of the tote around her shoulder, adding it to the computer bag already hanging there. She made her way out of the room and down the hall toward the conference rooms where some morning panels were taking place. The worker who got Emily settled in told her about the panels available that morning, and there was one Emily absolutely couldn’t miss.

When the sign became visible, she dashed across the hall and approached the space. The sign on the door was written in beautiful calligraphy proclaiming Poetry in the Modern World with gorgeous flowers painted in watercolor around two opposing corners.

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