Page 52 of Challenged by the Single Dad

“O-okay.” She retrieved the two tills and headed past him toward the cash out room. But he snagged her elbow before she could get any further.

His hand was like a warm, soothing brand on her arm that she never wanted to go away. Their eyes locked and she thought for sure he was going to say something. His mouth opened and closed, several times. But nothing came out.

“I should …”

He let go of her. “Right. Sorry.”

She was nearly home free when his voice had her pausing midstride. “I’m so sorry, Chloe. We didn’t even use a condom.”

She spun around to find his face ashen with regret.

“It’s probably okay. I haven’t been with anybody in years. And we struggled to conceive Elliott. Three rounds of IVF until it took. And then when we tried for a second baby, I had an ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage, and lost a fallopian tube and an ovary. We gave up after another two rounds of failed IVF. The universe does not want me to be a mother. That is clear.”

His face fell even further. “That’s not—”

“It’s fine.” Tears burned behind her eyes and a spikey lump lodged itself at the top of her throat. “I’ve made peace with it. I gotta cash out though.” Then she hurried her steps to get out of there.

Only once she was safely in the cash room with the door closed did she let the tears fall.

How could she have been so stupid as to go and sleep with her boss? She was smarter than that. She’d never let her vagina do the thinking, even when she was a horny teenager partying in the forest with her friends. She was reckless in other ways, but her brain was always the one in her driver’s seat.

Not tonight, apparently.

Tonight, her brain was locked in the trunk while her vagina and clitoris took a joy ride around Dom’s sexy body.

Only they crashed the car, and now her brain was free from the trunk, pissed off and left to pick up the pieces.

Stupid fucking vagina.

She just needed to get out of there. So as soon as she finished cashing out, she let Dom close up and hightailed it out of there. She needed to pee and push all that cum out of her. She also really didn’t want a yeast or bladder infection.

The wind howled and tossed the trees like they were no more than blades of grass reaching for the sky with their dark, foreboding limbs. Her nerves were shot as she drove down the dark, wet road toward the hostel. Rain pelted her windshield, and she shrieked when she hit a pothole and the whole car jumped.

Staying at the hostel had been fine when the weather was nicer, but if this was what a West Coast winter was going to be like, she needed to find a place closer to work. She did not want to be doing this drive nightly.

Luckily, she made it to the hostel in one piece and parked her car in the stall closest to the front door. She needed a warm shower and her bed.

The place was surprisingly quiet given how wild and loud it’d been last night.

She greeted Joey at the front desk and made her way upstairs and down the narrow hallway. There were three dorm rooms and six private rooms. She was lucky to snag a private room. But even still, this wasn’t a long-term solution. She needed to find something closer, better, and more private.

Digging her keys out of her pocket, her hand trembled from the cold as she slid the key into the lock on her door. But when it didn’t unclick, an icy chill swept down her spine. She tried the knob and it turned without problem, opening the door.

Did she forget to lock her door before she left?

No. She always locked her door. She was borderline obsessive about it. Especially after finding out she was in the Murder Hostel.

Flicking on the light, she crept into the tight space with barely enough room for a queen-sized bed, a small nightstand, and a corner bookshelf in lieu of a dresser. The bathroom door was closed and light poured out from beneath the crack.

And the shower was running.

What the hell?

With more fire in her belly, she stepped over her suitcase and knocked on the door. “Hello?”

“Just a sec,” came a male voice. “Almost out.”

“No. You will get the fuck out now. This is my private room. My private bathroom.” She pounded on the door. “Get out!”

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