Page 6 of Cocky Tech God

She lolled her head back and laughed. And when she was done, she faced me again straight on, her lips parted. With slow precision, her gaze moved to my mouth, and lingered there.

Okay, this is a start.

“Go to your room, Hansen.”

Damn. I had been rejected.

I stood to my full height, which was at least a foot taller than her, and I pulled out my keycard. I needed to go to my room and regroup. And take an ice-cold shower. Hopefully concierge had delivered my luggage as they’d said.

Wait a minute. I stared at the room number written on my keycard sleeve and blinked twice before looking at the room number plate on the door. No fucking way. My heart surged, my whole body sparking with electricity.

“I am at my room,” I said.

I lifted the keycard for her to see the print.

Room 811.

Lucia

This could not be happening. The front desk must have made a mistake. Someone wrote the wrong room number on the card sleeve. Otherwise, Hansen might think this was a sign from the gods that we should hook up. Maybe I’d think the same, but we were colleagues—competitors. Flirting was one thing. Sleeping together was quite another.

I stared at the individual numbers on his keycard. Those three little numbers mocked me. Seduced me. Eight. One. One.

My pulse raced, and my knees threatened to buckle at the prospect of Hansen in the same room as me… With a bed. And a shower. And a perfect view of the most beautiful aqua beach I’d ever seen.

I snatched the card out of his hand and brought it close to my eyes. I didn’t want to believe it. But I knew it was true. A mix of exhilaration and anxiety roiled inside me, taking my breath from my lungs.

I crossed my arms, one of the cards falling to the carpeted floor. “Is this one of your jokes, Hansen?”

He bent over and scooped up the card, which could have been mine. Or his. I had no idea. The only thing I knew was they both presumably opened the same door. To the same bed.

Hansen lifted his hands in retreat. “I had nothing to do with this. I swear.”

I paused. He seemed genuine. And I honestly didn’t think he’d stoop this low to get me in bed. “Even I don’t think you’d go that far to get into a woman’s pants.”

He dropped his arms, scoffing. “Thanks for saying that.”

“No problem.” But there was still a major problem.

“I mean, I’m not saying that it’s not a genius plan or anything. They must’ve double-booked us. Or one of us has the wrong keycard.” Hansen swiped the card on the card reader and the green light flashed.

I pushed down on the handle and the door opened with ease. Too easy. Where was the camera crew ready to jump out and declare we’d been pranked? The room was silent, except for the amplified sounds of the guests’ voices rising from below just outside the balcony. Amazing how the sounds carried, even from the eighth floor. Could they—everyone outside—hear us?

I stepped inside. Furniture dusted. Bed fluffed and ready for guests. And there along the wall were my bags in a neat pile. Thank God. This was my room. A wave of relief moved through me. He had the wrong key, not me.

“Looks like the mystery is solved…” I pointed. “Those are my bags.” I walked with confidence to the wall and didn’t look back at him.

“And those are mine.” His deep voice yanked me from the relief I’d found.

Can’t be.

I jerked around to face him, but then my gaze moved to his leather designer luggage sitting on the suitcase stand piled on each other in a luxury tower of Ls and Vs.

“You have Louis Vuitton suitcases?” Hansen’s initials were monogrammed on a leather tag wrapped around the handles no less. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to haze him for being flashy. He obviously liked labels as much as he liked women.

His eyebrows lifted, a smile on his lips. “Yeah…”

“Oh, you think this is funny?” I threw my purse down on the king-size bed, which probably would’ve looked a lot bigger if I had been alone. Or was it that Hansen took up too much space in the standard room? Anxiety finally came. I didn’t want Hansen in my space. Not like this. It was too dangerous. And this was becoming too real now.

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