Page 20 of Planes, Trains, and Candy Canes

“You do?”

“You’re predictably unpredictable—but you get the job done.”

As tired, gross, and hungry as she was, happiness tingled in her stomach and slid lower. “Predictably unpredictable. I like it.”

REESE MARCHED AHEADof him and strode into the motel’s small, square office like she owned it. “Hi, Tom. I see the no vacancy sign is lit. That's excellent. We’d like the reserved room, the one set aside for staff,” Reese said in a breezy voice as her card emerged from her wallet.

How’d she read his name tag that fast? Why is she talking like that?

Oh, yeah. Because Reese is about to be Reese.

“I—huh?” The paunchy middle-aged man behind the desk turned down the television he was watching. “Ma’am, sir, there’s no vacancy tonight. If you want to drive about ten miles up the highway, there’s another hotel.”

Derrick’s fingers flexed on his bag strap. He felt like this was the Old West, and Reese and the guy behind the desk were approaching one another at high noon. If he moved toward the door, they’d lose.

“We’d rather stay in one of our own motels, Tom. How would it look if Reese Brittijn, daughter of the SleepEZ motel chain’s CFO slept at a competitor’s hotel? Daddy would be furious! Everyone in corporate would say I’d caused a PR nightmare, and I’d have to blameyou, Tom. Can’t you see the headlines? ‘No Room at the Inn—SleepEZ Inn turns away stranded daughter of CFO on Christmas night.’” Reese clucked her tongue. “Naturally, I didn’t intend to need a room, but our flights were delayed, and we had to drive the last leg of the trip, and oh... It’s been a nightmare.” Reese gave a dramatic sigh and flopped against the counter like a ragdoll, causing the alarmed Tom to flee backwards in his rolling desk chair. “And now I have to call Daddy and tell him Tom at Motel #186 won’t let me use the emergency room!”

“Whoa, whoa. I’m sorry, you should have started off by saying that you were part of the SleepEZ Inn family!” Tom bolted from his chair with a nervous laugh. “Just let me see your ID.”

Reese flipped her driver’s license onto the counter between them.

“Oh. No, I meant your SleepEZ Inn Family Discount card.”

“Well, I don’t have it with me, Tom! Like I said, we didn’t plan on this. We were supposed to fly straight into Buffalo, weren’t we, Derrick?”

“San Fran to Buffalo, that’s right. We ended up getting routed to Pensacola, then a puddle jumper to Gainesville, then a rental car disaster to Richmond. Ugh.” Derrick found himself getting into his role. “Sweetie, why don’t you just have Tom call corporate?”

Reese turned, and her wide eyes told him he’d overplayed his hand.

But he hadn’t. He came up and slid a possessive arm around her waist. “Tom, there’s probably some emergency hotline you can call at one in the morning on Christmas day to ask about Ms.Brittijn’s right to stay here as the Chief Financial Officer of the entire company’s daughter? Babe, you could get your father on the phone. I’m sure he won’t mind talking to Tom in the middle of the night if it’s a case of saving his baby girl from getting back on those dark, dangerous highways after all the trauma she’s dealt with just trying to get home for Christmas.”

“Here’s the key card! You go all the way to the end on the left and open the door marked ‘Housekeeping: Staff Only,’ and then you’ll go through the linens and cleaning supplies and there’s a second door. That’s your room. Sorry for the confusion, Ms. Brittijn.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Tom! I’m going to tell Daddy how you took such good care of me.” Reese put a candy cane down on the desk and blew him a kiss. “You guys are the ground troops that make SleepEZ Inn a nationwide success!” Reese seized the key and swayed off.

“Good night! Merry Christmas!” Derrick waved at the relieved-looking Tom, who was turning the television back up.

Outside, Reese stuck up her hand. “High five! Totally sold it,” she whispered.

“Not until we’re inside.” He nudged her along, looking anxiously back over his shoulder.

THE INSIDE OF THEIRsecret room wasn’t what Derrick had expected. He’d expected either an emergency fold-out cot or a palatial secret suite. Instead—it was just a normal motel room crammed into half the space. The lone double bed was flush with the outside wall. There was no couch, chair, or desk like motel rooms usually had, but there was a microwave, coffeemaker, mini-fridge, and television mounted on the wall.

“Shower!” Reese threw her bags on the bed and bolted toward the bathroom—only to stop with an almost comical flail. She turned to face him, “Do you want to go first?”

“No, I’m good. I’ll go next.”

“We could share?”

The heavy feeling of sleep poofed out of existence. “Say again?”

“We could share the shower. So we don’t have to take turns. Except with the hot water.” Reese didn’t look at him, turning back to the bathroom and flicking on the lights. A loud whirr from an exhaust fan accompanied the sickly golden glow. “It’s a full-size tub, not a stall shower.”

Derrick’s inner planner was sitting at the desk inside his head, tearing up papers and to-do lists regarding relationships. Showering was intimate. It came after months of dating and definitely after having sex with someone. Reese kept making him rewrite his rulebook.

“You go first,” he croaked.

“Okay!” With a hop and squeal, she was gone, and clothes came kicking out the door, attached to one long, bare leg. “I don’t know where my razor is! I’m stubbly.”

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