Page 65 of Dirty Little Mistake

"Welcome to the Peabody, Ms. Young," the young man greeted, his fingers flying over the keyboard as he flashed a practiced smile.

"I was wondering if I could get a room on the twenty-fourth floor."

He smiled politely. "That floor houses our penthouse suites."

"Would it be possible to upgrade?"

"I'm just getting here, but I believe I heard that floor is off-limits tonight." His gaze dropped to his computer. "Let me check."

His eyes widened for a moment. "Well, it is showing one room available." He paused and flicked a glance around like he was looking for someone to double-check, but everyone was busy.

"So, can I upgrade?" I asked, trying to distract him.

"I'm not seeing any reason you can't." He shrugged, leaning forward. "They usually only block it off if we have someone famous staying, but honestly, I worked yesterday and didn't hear anything about it." He leaned back and started clicking on his keyboard. "We have one two-bedroom penthouse suite that is still available for $4568.00."

The price hit me like a physical blow. My eyes widened, and I felt the blood drain from my face. A strangled sound escaped my throat before I could stop it. I swallowed hard, forcing my features into what I hoped was a neutral expression. My fingers, suddenly clammy, fumbled with my credit card.

I knew that my credit card had an available balance of over $15,000 thanks to my aunt and uncle, but I didn't usually spend more than normal monthly expenses. However, this was an emergency. "I'll take it."

It took him a few minutes to get me checked in. "Here you go, Ms. Young. The elevator is behind you. You'll need to scan your card and then hit number 24. Let us know if you need anything."

"Thank you," my gaze dropped to his name tag, "Michael."

I hurried to the elevator and quickly mimicked my earlier actions. The elevator's gentle hum seemed to grow louder with each passing floor, the enclosed space suddenly feeling claustrophobic.

By the time I reached the 24th floor, my heart was pounding in sync with the rhythmic 'ding' of passing levels. The doors chimed open, and blaring music filled the halls.

This was definitely where the bands were. They were probably unwinding and celebrating their final concert.

This wasn't how I wanted any of this to happen, but it looked like it was going to work out. I would find where the music was coming from, knock, and surprise him. Then we'd go back to my room.

I glanced at the card-sized envelope with my room number written in black Sharpie.

"Suite 2401," I mumbled, my gaze flashing up to the gold sign indicating my room's direction. "To the left." But the music was coming from the right. "Go get changed, Cam. You do not want to smell like a dirty airport when he sees you again for the first time in weeks."

Loud laughing trickled down from around the corner to the right, and I couldn't help myself. I moved in the opposite direction of my own room.

There were six rooms to the right down a long hallway and six rooms to the left, and my guess was the band occupied all rooms except the one I was occupying.

There was a chance Trystan was locked away in his room getting ready to call me, but I'd at least find Saylor and Creed, who could point me in the right direction.

The first two double-door rooms had the doors closed, but the further I moved down the hall, the louder the music got because the doors were open.

My heart raced as I inched closer and closer to the rooms. The fear that he might not be excited to see me cut through my thoughts, and I pushed it away. He asked me every time we talked if I could make it to his next show.

Two blondes stumbled out of one of the rooms topless, and I froze. One was tall and thin, wearing see-through pink bikini panties, and the other was shorter and thick with a yellow thong. "Groupies," I muttered, shaking my head.

"Oh hey," the pink panty girl slurred. "We ordered towels an hour ago; what is taking so long?"

I narrowed my eyes, my face twisting with confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Towels," she said slower this time like it would make more sense, and then it dawned on me. They thought I was housekeeping.

I shook my head. "I'm not housekeeping," I forced a smile. "Just trying to get to my room." I nodded forward.

"Oh." The yellow panty girl scowled, her gaze sweeping over me. "Our bad." They both laughed and crossed the hall into the room on the opposite side.

I took a step forward and stopped again, thinking maybe I should just call him, but quickly shook it off, knowing I had nothing to worry about. Trystan had not only made it clear I was his and he was mine, but he'd shown it.

---