Page 3 of Whisker Me Away

He stares at me for a long moment, like he can’t believe what he’s seeing. My ego puffs up just a little bit. When he realizes he’s staring, his cheeks turn bright red. Then he blinks. “Sorry, what?”

I can’t help but chuckle. I’m not sure my ego really needs this kind of stroking, but I’ll take it, especially as the man before me is hot as fuck. It feels good to have someone so openly checking me out like that.

“I said, we’re supposedly sharing this cabin.”

“Sharing? What, that can’t be right,” he says, more of a murmur to himself than in actual response to me. He turns around and grabs his own ticket, rechecking all the details. “My ticket says I’m staying in this cabin.”

“So does mine,” I explain. “This is going to sound kinda weird but I actually won this vacation.”

Before I can say more, the guy’s brown eyes somehow manage to widen even further. “No way! I won this trip too! Did you win it from a YouTuber contest?”

I nod my head. “Yeah. Wait, so did you? Do you think they double booked us?”

The guy bites his bottom lip, suddenly looking incredibly lost. Something inside of me wells up, some instinct to hold this guy in my arms. To make sure he’s okay and protect him from the world.

What the hell?

I clear my throat, doing my best to push those feelings to the back of my mind. We’ve only just met, I can’t be acting weird around him! Especially if we’re going to be traveling together.

“I know this is kinda awkward and not at all what either of us was expecting, but we can make this work, right? We have our own bathroom and shower.” I look over his shoulder into the cabin. “And it looks like we’ll each have our own sleeping space. It should be fine, yeah?”

The guy looks over his own shoulder before sighing and nodding his head. “Yeah, we can make this work.” Then he takes a step back, finally letting me into the cabin.

“I’m Cade, by the way.”

“Spencer,” he says with a little smile.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Spencer. Though, I’d have much rather it had been in a more pleasant fashion than me springing my presence on you like this.”

Spencer shakes his head, chuckling softly. “It’s okay,” he says softly. “It’s not really your fault.”

I set my bags on the floor next to my area. There’s a recliner right by the window that folds back into a bed. I sit down and look over at Spencer. He’s sitting in his own chair, wringing his hands in his lap.

“This is such a weird experience,” I say, trying to break the tension and help Spencer relax around me. “I have to admit, I never win things like this.”

Spencer’s eyes light up a little bit and my chest flutters with victory. “Neither do I! I actually didn’t even notice the email until later. I thought maybe they’d already given it away to someone else.” Then he winces, waving a hand at me. “Maybe they did but then I finally emailed and they thought why not give it to me too? I don’t know.”

“I can’t say I’m upset,” I tell him with a wink, watching as his face flushes again. Vacations are fun, but vacationing with other people is even more fun.”

“If you say so. I don’t vacation very often and when I do, I try to make sure it lines up during the summer months.”

I tilt my head. “Why is that?”

“Oh, umm, I work at a school.”

“Are you a teacher?”

Spencer shakes his head, his hair falling over his eyes. He pushes it back and my hand clenches in my lap with the desire to be the one to brush his hair out of his face, to softly tuck it behind his ear. What the hell has gotten into me? It’s like his scent is making me stupid!

“I’m their personal chef. Or lunch lad, whatever you wanna call it. It’s a private school so I’m only cooking for around 60 people instead of a thousand.”

“You’re a chef? That’s incredible. You’re never gonna believe this but I actually really enjoy eating,” I say with a chuckle, rubbing a hand over my fairly thick belly.

Spencer laughs back. “Most people do.”

I hadn’t even realized that much time passed but before I realize what’s happening, the train is starting to pull forward. Spencer and I both look out the window, watching the trees and buildings pass by, both of us grinning from ear to ear.

I still can’t believe this free vacation included a plus one but there’s something about Spencer that makes me excited about the rest of our time together.

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