Page 79 of Finding Jess

Sam watched her for a moment. “What?”

“Well,” Jess started, shifting the bottles in her hands again, “I was gonna say, you could stay in my room, but—” Her eyes bounced away for a moment. “There’s only one bed.”

“Oh,” Sam said, slightly surprised by the offer.

“I mean,” Jess continued quickly, “that’s fine with me. I just meant—I don’t know if you’re okay with that.”

Sam scratched a hand over the back of her neck, thinking it over. She glanced back at her locked hotel door. It probably wouldn’t take too much time to get a new key from the front desk downstairs. But it was already late, and they had to get up early the next morning for check out.

But was it a good idea to sleep in a bed with Jess? Her brain said yes, that it would be totally fine. They were just friends. Sleeping in a bed together meant nothing.

But there was also another part of her—something much deeper—that said it was a bad idea.

“You look like you’re making a life or death decision,” Jess said, the corner of her mouth tilted up in slight amusement.

Sam chuckled, letting out a breath as her shoulders relaxed. “Sorry—no. I’m just tired. Can’t think straight.”

“I can go back down to the lobby with you to get another key,” Jess offered. “I’ll just drop these off real quick,” she said, nodding down at the water bottles.

“No,” Sam said, shaking her head. “No, that’s okay.”

She was overthinking things. Jess was right. It wasn’t some gigantic decision. She was just letting what Tiana said earlier get in her head.

“Are you sure it’s okay if I crash with you?” she asked. “I don’t want to take up your space. I know how you like to take up the whole bed.”

A smile cracked over Jess’ lips as she rolled her eyes. “I think I can deal with sharing for one night.”

“Right,” Sam mumbled with a smirk as Jess pushed past her down the hall.

She followed her to the end as she stopped in front of the last door on the left.

Jess switched the bottles to her other arm as she pulled her key card out and held it up to the door. The lock box beeped, andJess pushed the door open, holding it as Sam walked through after her.

Cold air swept over her.

“Think you have the AC blasting high enough?” Sam muttered as she switched on the main light.

“I love the air conditioning in hotels,” Jess replied, placing her things down on the dresser below the TV. “If it’s really cold in the hotel room, it makes the bed feel so much better when you go to sleep.”

Sam hummed, sitting down on the edge of the perfectly made bed.

“I have some clothes you can wear, if you want.”

“Oh,” Sam mumbled as she stifled a yawn. She hadn’t even considered the fact that she didn’t have any of her stuff with her. “Yeah. Thanks.”

She pulled her phone out, checking her latest emails as Jess went through her suitcase on the floor in the corner of the room.

She typed out a few replies, answering assorted questions from the development team before Jess stood back up.

She tossed a couple items beside her on the bed. “Are those okay?”

Sam picked up the large black t-shirt and sweat shorts, turning them over. The corner of her lip tugged upward when she saw the familiar college lacrosse logo on the front. She’d worn that shirt before. More times than she could even count.

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Jess walked to the bathroom with another set of clothes in her hands, then called back over her shoulder, “I’m gonna shower real quick.”

Sam waited until she heard the water running. Then she stood, pulling each item of clothing off before quickly replacing them with the shirt and shorts Jess had given her. She folded herclothes neatly and set them on the chair beside the small table in the corner of the room below the window.

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