Page 11 of The Holiday Disaster

Kingsley stepped aside to reveal a cozy room decked out in warm brown and cream tones. A brown claw foot sofa sat on the left wall that was clearly meant for decorative reasons instead of comfort. A large fireplace was stationed on the wall facing the queen size bed…

Wait a minute.

My head flung to Kingsley. “One bed? There’s only one bed!” My voice had gone to the screechy level of harpies. If it had been rational Ethan, evenImight have thought that I was overreacting a tad bit, but obviously reason had been thrown out the door long ago.

“You can have the bed. I’ll sleep on the couch,” I said, my shoulders deflating as I looked at the couch that wouldn’t even fit a child. I could already feel my bones complaining about the pains I was sure to have in the morning.

“Don’t be silly. The bed is big enough for both of us. I’m not gonna bite…unless you want me to, of course,” he said with a wink that had all the blood in my body rushing to my face.

I turned away from him, my fingers fiddling with the hem of my sweater to try and keep the blood from heading south as well and making the situation a billion times more embarrassing.

I wouldnotadmit that I found him attractive. Kingsley was the most mediocre person I’d laid eyes on. He didn’t affect me in the slightest. He chuckled, and the deep rumble didn't help with my self-brainwashing.

He was an ogre. Uglier than an ogre.

I took a peek at him and quickly flicked my gaze away again. He was an ogre only if ogres were the most magnificent creatures in this world. There was no one who could persuade me otherwise.

“Why don’t you shower first? I need to call and update my parents,” he said, and my head couldn’t nod fast enough as I scrambled to the only other door in the room.

I quickly stripped out of my travel-worn clothes and hopped in the shower. The firm water pressure as well as the piping hot spray did wonders to ease my tense muscles but nothing to calm the fire that was already burning in the pit of my stomach.

The night couldn’t get any more mortifying for me, and I refused to rub one out with Kingsley right next door, so I turned the temperature to as cold as I could handle. The icy-cold water immediately helped in cooling me down, dampening my emotions as well as numbing the feeling in my body. I washed under the chilly spray for another minute to make sure all intrusive thoughts had cleanly gone down the drain along with the grime from the day.

Once I was squeaky clean—in mind and body—I let the water warm up again before turning it off.

I covered myself with the soft towel and, of course, that was when I realized I didn’t have any clothes besides the dirty ones on the bathroom floor. The thought of putting back on clothes that were full of airplane germs made me queasy. It was either that or go back out there and face Kingsley naked.

Fuck my life.

NINE

KINGSLEY

“Yes, Mom, I’m safe. Don’t worry, the airline is covering our stay until they can get us back in the air,” I reassured my mom for the thousandth time. “And I’m not alone. Ethan’s here with me.”

“Ethan? He’s such a sweetheart. Always so studious, unlike a certain someone I know.” I rolled my eyes at that. Just because I wasn’t getting straight A’s didn’t mean that I wasn’t studying. Not everyone was cut out for academia. Although I did agree that Ethan was a sweetheart. “Helen is so proud of him. She said he’s always studying at the library, always going steadfast toward his dreams. Perhaps you could join him and some of that determination would rub off on you.”

“Yep, he’s the best,” I said, doing my best to ignore the fact that she used the phrase “rub off.” All moms should be banned from using that phrase. Besides, if I was going to rub anything off of Ethan, it wouldn’t be determination.

I shook those very inappropriate thoughts away just in time for the bathroom door to open to reveal Ethan wrapped up in white towels and wearing the white disposable slippers provided by the B&B. One towel was around his waist with another around his shoulders like a shawl. Dammit if he wasn’t adorable.

“I gotta go, Mom. Love you, bye.” I hung up the phone before Mom could get in another word. My entire focus needed to be on Ethan, especially when he was giving me those adorable doe eyes. I must be grinning like a fool since he started scowling as soon as he saw my expression.

I schooled my features, clearing my throat as I said, “Do you want me to grab your clothes for you?”

His scowl turned back into his doe eyed expression. He looked so helpless. “I, uh, don’t have any clean clothes with me.”

“What do you mean? You have a suitcase that weighs as much as you do. How do you not have any clothes?” I asked with the tilt of my head.

My comment earned me another glare. “I’m notthatlight, excuse you. And I-I’m still growing!” He crossed his arms as if to emphasize his point. Never mind the fact that he probably hadn’t changed in the last two years since he had his growth spurt at sixteen. He wasn’t short, but compared to my height of 6’2, most people were short. I bit my cheek to keep from laughing and angering him even more.

“You’re right, you are. Now, back to the topic at hand. What is your suitcase stuffed with if not clothes?”

The anger left him again to be replaced by embarrassment. I inwardly chuckled at how quickly his expression changed from one extreme to the other. Perhaps one of the reasons I loved teasing him was to see all the faces he made.

He muttered something under his breath, but I was too absorbed in my thoughts to catch it. “What?” He said it again, but his words were so fast it came out as a mumbled mess. “What did you say?” I asked again, taking a step closer to him.

“I said it’s all textbooks! Don’t come any closer!” He put a palm up facing me as if he could stop my movement. Apparently he could since I stopped in my tracks and held my hands up in a “surrender” posture.

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