Page 2 of Between the Lines

I don’t finish with the nozzle. Instead, I blow-dry my hair halfway and then throw it into a low bun. Then I get into my jeans and a black sweater. The book I’m reading beckons from where I’d thrown it on my bed. It’s by one of my all-time favorite commercial non-fiction authors. One of the writers I most want to be like… if I can manage to impress my editor at Polar Publishing enough to finally get a contract of my own. Not for ghostwriting a memoir, but for writing my own investigative story.

All dressed, I take a long, hard look at the front door of my suite. Someone came in. They shouldn’t have been able to, and ifanything, that’s something I should tell the hotel staff. The front desk needs to know.

But someone also sawmenaked. A very attractive, very tall, very male someone. Not just naked, either. But my mind can’t quite linger on what he saw me doing, or I’ll die of embarrassment.

Humiliation is a feeling I’m well aware of. It’s something I’ve been running from for almost a decade. But this time, I hadn’t done anything wrong. I had taken a shower in the hotel roomIwas assigned. Upgraded to, even!

I psych myself up and leave the safety of the suite.

The resort is massive and decorated like a Western frontier dream. It has log siding walls and stone floors, and a giant fireplace in the lobby. It’s lit, but the leather armchairs in front of it are empty. It would be a great place to read.

I walk straight up to the reception desk. The bespectacled woman behind the long oak counter smiles at me. Her grin disappears as soon as I tell her I’m staying in in room 128.

“Yes, we’re so sorry, Ms. Gray.” She twists a little, looking behind her at her colleague. He’s glancing at me with cheeks that flame red. “This is a very unusual situation, and we’ve got, well… there’s actually been a double-booking,” she continues. “Both you and the gentleman in question had been assigned that room.”

“I’ve never experienced this before.”

“No, it’s very unusual, and we do our best to avoid it.” She clears her throat and looks supremely uncomfortable. “The thing is, the resort is fully booked. It’s Easter weekend, and we don’t have any other rooms left.”

It takes a moment for what she’s saying to sink in. I’ve never even heard of this happening before. “What?”

“I’m so sorry.” Her voice wavers. “This is unprecedented for us, too, and we will of course refund you the entire sum.”

“What does that mean? Who gets the room?”

She glances at someone behind me, a quick look before returning to me. “That’s the problem. The gentleman had, in fact, checked into room 128 before you. We shouldn’t have been able to check you into it again, but like I said, this is unprecedented for us. I promise we’ll be thoroughly reviewing just how this happened.”

Well. That’s great. But it doesn’t help me now. “There was no one in that room when I arrived,” I say. “It was untouched.”

“He’d just dropped off his bags in the room and then headed out again.” Her cheeks are red now, too. “Truly, we’re so, so sorry, Ms. Gray. I’ve been authorized to offer you extra reward points and a free weekend at a later date. To make up for the inconvenience.”

There had been a double booking. He was first. That damn man wasfirst? How had I missed a bag in the room?

I’d been tired and dirty from my hike.

I’d gone straight into the bathroom and hit the shower.

“I’m really sorry. The entire team apologizes,” she says again.

Don’t get irritated. Don’t get irritated…“So I need to go back into what I thought was my room, pack up my things, and leave? With nowhere to go?”

She blinks rapidly. “God, I’m so sorry. But… yes.” Then her gaze fixes on a point behind me, and her frown deepens.

A man comes to stand beside me at the counter and leans against it. A familiar leather jacket. Black, messy hair. Tanned skin. He puts his keycard on the counter.

“We’ll talk this out between us,” he tells the receptionist. “Don’t worry.”

Her shoulders sink. “Okay, absolutely. However you’d like to solve it.”

The man smiles at her and then turns to me. Up close, his eyes are green. “Come with me, and let’s see what more chaos you’ll create.”

My eyebrows rise. “Chaos?”

“You’ve caused a lot of it today.” But his voice is dryly amused. I follow him over to the fireplace and the two empty chairs there. He gestures for me to sit. As if we’re about to open negotiations.

Somewhere right there, between the fireplace and the front desk, my irritation gives way to a fierce embarrassment.

Not even an hour ago, he had seen me naked.

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