Page 42 of Love and Other Champagne Problems

A soft double knock came at my door, pulling me from the depths of my wandering mind. I would’ve assumed it was my mother coming to check and make sure I was in my room, except it was after seven o’clock in the evening. Surely she’d gone home by now. My father, too. I hadn’t ordered dinner yet, and housekeeping had already stopped by to freshen up my room earlier. It left one person.

And sure enough, when I got up to peer through the peephole, I found Sumner standing in the hall. He had his hands in the front pockets of his light wash denim jeans, his loose-fitted shirt rolled up to his elbows and tucked into his waistband. His gaze was cast away from the door, but he rocked forward onto his toes as he waited.

The strongest desire to not open surfaced. In fact, that feeling was accompanied by another strong desire to never see Sumner Pennington again. After Saturday, theidea of facing him built to be something akin to meeting Aaron Astor in my head—awkward. I couldn’t think of the last time I’d formed an apology, but for the way I snapped at him, Sumner deserved one.

Sumner knocked again, firmer this time, startling me into unlatching the door.

“This is a surprise.” I launched into a greeting, clearing my expression. “Did you run out of things to do on your days off?”

Not an apology. Not even close.

He tried to be quick about it, but I watched as Sumner’s gaze scanned my body, as if on their own accord. “Wow. Is this the first time I’m seeing you in something other than a suit?”

I looked down at the loose floral lounge shorts and the dark long-sleeved shirt I wore. My legs were pale, ghostly, since rarely did I ever expose them to the sun. The long sleeves were tight, a shirt with a higher percentage of spandex so that it stuck to my figure. Most definitely not a suit. In fact, he was seeing more of the shape of my body than he ever has.

I had the overwhelming urge to shut the door between us. “What are you doing here?”

Sumner’s hands were still in his pockets, and he still rocked on his heels. “I thought I’d stop by.”

“I don’t need to go anywhere.”

“Not as your secretary,” he replied. “As your friend.”

It was the most beautiful chance for me to apologize, wasn’t it?Speaking of being friends, I was a bad one on Saturday, lashing out at you when it wasn’t your fault. I’m sorry.My ego wouldn’t form the words. “You’ve grownattached in all the time we’ve spent around each other, hmm?”

“I’m bored out of my mind,” he admitted without shame. “Who knew you were my main source of entertainment?”

I could’ve said the same. Since the housekeeping and room service rarely spoke more than five words to me when they stopped up to my room, even this brief interaction with Sumner felt like I was a dry sponge and just the briefest conversation with him poured water back into me.

I stepped backward into my room, offering the door open. “Want to come in? I can have room service bring us up something to eat.”

Sumner peered past me and into the interior of the hotel room for only the briefest moment. His eyes snapped back up to mine, as if he was embarrassed about something he’d seen. “Let’s go for a walk instead. After being cooped up for the past two days, I’m sure you’re ready for some fresh air.”

“How did you know I stayed in my hotel room?”

Sumner opened his mouth to speak but wavered, as if he knew the excuse he’d been about to give wouldn’t hold water. “Yeah, fine, I was listening for your door to open. I was going to ‘bump’ into you in the hallway, but since apparently you were never going to come out, I figured I’d take matters into my own hands.”

I drew in the slightest breath at the words. He’d been keeping tabs on me. Giving me space until he couldn’t stand it anymore. How I treated him on Saturday hadn’t sent him running. He hadn’t thrown his handsup in annoyance, in exasperation, and walked away from me. He’d just been giving me space, but never planned to leave.

A warm feeling unfurled in me, near painful. “Let me grab my hotel key.”

I let the door fall shut between us as I retreated to retrieve the key. Before heading back out, though, I looked at myself in the mirror beside the door. My eyes were wide and dark, and my hair looked a bit rucked up, as if I hadn’t run a brush through it. I combed my fingers through it, smoothing it down against my collarbones as best as possible.

It's just Sumner, I reminded myself.There is no one here to impress.

I smoothed my hand down my hair once more, and when I thought it looked good enough, I opened my hotel room door.

We walked down the hallway in silence, and when we came up to it, I reached for the button to summon the elevator at the same time Sumner did. Our fingers brushed an inch from it. It was a millisecond of contact, but enough that the warmth of his skin jumped to mine. We both jerked back, and Sumner curled his hand into a fist as I cleared my throat.

Awkward. I pressed the button. “So, what did you do yesterday?”

“Caught up on sleep. Called a few friends back home. Watched bad TV. You should tell your parents they need to invest in getting Netflix for the rooms or something.”

“I’ll share my password with you.”

“Ah, we’re that close now, are we?”

His words were teasing, but they only aided in increasing the awkward tension in the air. I wasn’t sure if I should’ve laughed at it, but by the time I decided yes, it was a joke, I should’ve laughed, the moment passed.

---