Page 98 of Hayden's Stalker

I look over at her room with its closed door, which feels symbolic of the metaphorical door she keeps shutting between us. I sigh and pick up the book I left on the coffee table and start to read, hoping she wakes soon so I can get a hotel breakfast.

“Morning,” Tati says, and the single word is as loud as the crash of a drum cymbal in my head.

“Shh, not so loud,” I groan.

Tati grins at me and asks, “Got a hangover?”

“Yes. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up so I can go get a cooked breakfast in the Club Lounge.”

“Sorry, I would’ve gotten up earlier. Let me go see Jesse quickly?” she asks.

I manage a nod, then look back down at my book as she walks away. I only manage to get a page read before she appears again. I watch her walk toward me, and memories of our kiss come to my mind.

She doesn’t seem to remember it because she says, “Okay. Jesse’s going to come to breakfast with us so that I can have some, too.”

“Cool. Let’s go. My head hurts, and I want to eat some bacon.”

She nods and leads the way back to Jesse. We take the elevator down to the fifteenth floor, where we head to the hotel’s restaurant for any guests staying in a certain level of room. The other guys prefer room service breakfasts, but I love hotels’ buffet breakfasts, though I do prefer when they have exclusive restaurants like this one. There are fewer prying eyes to watch me eat.

Sure enough, when we approach the restaurant entrance, the hotel staff member’s eyes widen with recognition as she looks at me before asking in a professional tone, “Room number and name, please?”

“2310 and Sherlock Holmes.” I give the usual pseudonym I use for checking into hotels.

She looks down at a list before she nods and ticks off my name, then looks back at us. “Excellent. Table for three?”

“No. Two, please,” I smile at her.

Her eyebrows raise before she catches herself and clears her features, then leads the way to a table by a window where we can look at the view. Jesse stays near the entrance to the restaurant as usual, and the hotel staff member walks away after she takes our coffee order. I smile at Tati, and she smiles back.

“I’m dying for food,” I tell her.

“Let’s get something to eat, then,” Tati says and stands to lead the way over to the food.

It smells amazing, and I take some of everything, piling my plate high with bacon, toast, mushrooms, and eggs, before I grab a second plate for a stack of pancakes. Tati gets herself a bowl of granola and some toast, then we head back to out table where coffees have been left for us.

Tatiana takes a sip of her coffee and says, “You seem hungry.”

“I’m hoping this will help my hangover, since I’d like to enjoy my day off.”

She nods. “Makes sense.”

I slice off some bacon and begin to eat. I don’t say anything to Tati, and we eat in silence. As time passes, I wonder what she will say or if she’ll say anything at all to me. We’ve eaten together before, but it’s strange now that we’ve kissed.

Eventually, she asks, “Did you have fun last night?”

I smile at her. “A little too much fun, apparently.”

“Do you remember playing poker after dinner?”

I frown at her as I try to remember. I know we were going back up to Seb’s, but everything after dinner is a bit of a haze of drinks and laughter until I was eating room service and drinking coffee with Tati while we watchedQuantum of Solace.

“Vaguely. I remember Seb said we would go back to his suite to play poker.”

“You’ll be happy to know you won, even though you shouldn’t have,” she laughs.

“Well, that’s a relief,” I grin at her.

“Yeah, then Ethan and I had to help you back to your suite so you could go to bed.”

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