Page 12 of Forgotten

“No,” I said. “The room was great, Flynn. It doesn’t matter. I’ll see you in Arlington?”

“You will!” he said. “I’ll be at this one. You’re going to kick ass, my friend.”

“See you there, Flynn,” I said.

I stared at the hair tie for a long moment before placing it in my bag. Maybe she didn’t want anything beyond last night with me, but I wasn’t so sure I was done thinking about her.

Chapter Six

Charlotte

The alarm on my phone going off almost didn’t wake me up.

At first, it was just a pleasant, familiar sound in the midst of a hazy dream, one I’d had many times before and tried to erase immediately upon waking up. One where I was naked, curled in a bed with Jesse Galloway, my body exhausted from an intense night of incredible sex, knowing that all I had to do was slide my hand down his chest, and he would most assuredly be ready for more…

I opened my eyes.

Oh, shit.

The alarm was real, and it was going off on my phone, which was in my pants pocket somewhere on the floor. The floor outside of the bed that I was currently stark naked in and inexplicably curled up with a very real Jesse Galloway.

It took a few moments to process what was going on as I slipped out of the bed and tried to find my pants. By the time I got to them, it had all come back to me, and I was debating the merits of absolute shame or absolute victory over my behavior last night when I saw the time.

I had exactly thirty-two minutes to be in the lobby of the hotel, ready to meet the CEO.

Waking up Jesse was not an option, but being seen in my current state was also unfathomable. Thankfully, I parked my car on the backside of the building, and inside the car was aduffel bag with an overnight kit, just in case I got stuck at the hotel one night for work and crashed in a room rather than go home. It had proven invaluable on several occasions and was looking to do so now as well. I also had a dress hanging in my office, which to my knowledge, was still standing wide open at the moment.

Of course, I’d left my car keys in the office downstairs…

I really didn’t have many choices. I had to call in a favor. A huge one, and one that I was going to have to pay back soon.

Still naked and collecting my clothes, I opened a text message to Jessica, the night clerk who would just be getting off her shift in a few minutes.

The text I sent was short, to the point, and asked for extreme delicacy. It also involved an offer to provide her a massive favor at her request no questions asked. As I slipped into the shower and turned on the faucet, hoping both that Jesse would and would not join me there, I used the manager’s app on my phone to check the rooms that were booked. Finding one that was empty, I sent that information to Jessica and got clean as fast as possible, avoiding getting my hair wet.

When I got out of the shower, just a couple of minutes later, Jesse hadn’t moved, and I slipped back into my clothes and ran for the door. I contemplated writing him a note, but I simply didn’t have the time, and instead, quietly closed the door behind me, ran down the stairs to the floor below, found room 714, and went inside to wait for Jessica.

When she arrived a minute and a half later, carrying my bag, the dress, and her makeup kit, she had a smirk on her face I’d never seen before.

“I never thought I’d see the day,” she said as she handed me the bag and walked into the room. “April Garafalo, doing the walk of shame.”

I was already in the bathroom with the door open, stripping off the old clothes and putting on the unimpressive but effective dress. It was a simple black dress, but it looked professional, and I could affix my nametag to it and look like I wasn’t trying to impress and play it cool, a shift in my planned demeanor for the meeting.

“Yeah, well, now you have,” I said, slipping the dress over my head. “What time is it?”

“Eight-fifty,” she said. “You’ve got about ten minutes.”

“Then I need to do makeup like the wind,” I said. “Bring me that makeup case.”

Five minutes later, I turned away from the mirror and looked at Jessica, who stood with her forefinger and thumb on her chin and her elbow resting against her other arm.

“Well?”

“I mean, you don’t lookbad,” she said. “But this isn’t CEO worthy either. Especially him. Have you seen that guy?”

“I have. I know. He’s very handsome. He’s also my boss, and I need to look professional at the very least.”

“You look professional,” she said. “I just thought you’d go for your normal.”

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