Page 96 of Just This Once

“Uh.” She blinked in confusion and then turned to watch me stroll toward the bathroom. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s amazing. Go ahead and enjoy. I’ll just—” Glancing helplessly around the room, she flailed a hand toward the door. “I’ll let room service in if they show up before you’re done.”

“Great.” I lifted my eyebrows at her briefly before murmuring, “Be out in a minute.” And I shut the door between us.

Hope wasn’t lying about the shower; it kicked ass. I was definitely going to get a showerhead like this installed at home. But I rushed through the experience anyway, eager to return to her and make sure she hadn’t left already.

She’d gotten under my skin. I wasn’t about to let her get away until the craving for more had dissipated.

Wrapping a towel around my waist as I stepped from the stall, I bypassed everything else and opened the door to the room. But Hope wasn’t there. Then again, neither was the bedspread.

Squinting at the rumpled sheets left behind on the mattress, I tilted my head and wandered barefoot from the room, only to pull up short in the front foyer.

She’d spread the blanket out on the marble floor and seated herself in the middle with all the food from the breakfast cart scattered around her.

It was fucking adorable as hell.

“Mmm.” When she saw me, she perked up straighter and motioned to the food before popping a grape into her mouth. “I’ve never had a picnic on a hotel floor before. This is awesome. It’s just likePretty Woman. You should try the grapes.” Plucking up another, she groaned. “So good.” Chewing, she reached for another bowl to jostle it for attention. “I saved the strawberries for you.”

She must’ve found the sound system to the suite as well because Lainey Wilson’s “Watermelon Moonshine” was softly flowing through the speakers.

The whole scene was vaguely romantic, but I wasn’t about to complain. I didn’t want her to pack up and leave. Besides, I liked the ambiance.

She’d taken the towel off her head, and her wet curls were spilling over her shoulders, but she was still wearing the bathrobe, so I pushed from the doorway in my own towel, holding it in place with one hand as I strolled toward her.

“So the table and chairs in the kitchen are beneath us, I guess.”

Hope frowned. “Kitchen?”

When she glanced around, looking, I tipped my head toward a closed door, saying, “Through there.”

Mouth gaping, she gasped, “Holy shit. There’s really a kitchen in this place? I didn’t even notice it yesterday when I was exploring. After I got a load of that bed, my brain just sort of short circuited.”

I chuckled as I dropped onto the fringes of the blanket. “It is a big-ass bed.”

Stretching out my legs, I relaxed on my side and propped my upper torso up with my elbow before reaching for a strawberry.

“Mmm,” I murmured as juice dribbled with my first bite.

Hope laughed and found a napkin before tossing it my way, but I’d already wiped the mess away with the back of my hand and popped the rest of the berry into my mouth.

“Good,” I said with a full mouth.

“Is it?” she countered, muffling her words on purpose to mock me.

I snickered and called her, “Brat,” before tossing a grape at her.

When it bounced off her bare knee, she jumped. “Hey.” She plucked her own weapon from the fruit bowl and launched a grape at my face.

Opening my mouth, I lifted my chin an inch and caught the grape between my teeth. “Hey, thanks,” I told her with a smirk before I started to chew.

“Holy shit,” she breathed, blinking at me in amazement. “You actually caught that with your mouth.”

“You look surprised.”

“Well,yeah.” Scooping up another grape, she demanded, “Do it again.”

I shrugged. “Okay.”

She tossed it easier this time with more of an arch. It bounced off my cheek.

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