Page 49 of Trip Me Up

19

SAM

Shufflingout of the elevator at the hotel, I could almost feel the weight of the fluffy, white comforter I planned to pull up over my head to block out the world. No texts. No talking. Just me and my guilt.

And Bilbo Baggins.

The little guy had napped hard after our adventure in Central Park this morning, and I hadn’t wanted to drag him to another bookstore, so I’d tiptoed out alone. Though I hadn’t planned to go to Qiana’s after. Our blanket fort would have to wait for me to take him out to pee.

I expected Bilbo Baggins to have heard my footsteps, but there was no snuffle under the door as I slid the card into the lock. Was he still asleep? When I opened the door, I checked the bed. Only a few black hairs on the white comforter. One more frantic glance around the tiny hotel room confirmed Bilbo Baggins wasn’t in it. My heart stuttered to a stop. Then it raced. Maybe he was under the bed. In the bathroom. Hiding behind a curtain? Had something happened to him? Was he wandering the streets of New York, alone and terrified? I pursed my trembling lips and whistled.

A muffled bark answered. It sounded like it came from next door. Niall’s room. How could he have gotten in there? The adjoining door had been locked when I’d left.

I unbolted and threw open the connecting door. Niall’s side was already open. Did he always keep it ajar?

It didn’t matter when Bilbo Baggins danced at my feet. Kneeling, I scooped him up and cuddled him over my heart, then I buried my face in his silky fur. “Bilbo Baggins, what are you doing here?”

Then I froze. Oh no. I’d barged into Niall’s room, uninvited. What if he was in bed? What if he was in bedwith Gabriela?I closed my eyes tight against Bilbo Baggins’ side.

I sensed a body looming over me, and heavy steps sank, muffled, into the carpet next to where I squatted. My heartbeat slowed.

Niall’s voice cascaded down from far above. “Bilbo was barking. I was afraid someone would complain and report him to the hotel staff. So we, um, liberated him.”

“Liberated?” I opened my eyes. The stiff knees of Niall’s jeans were two feet from my face. At least he was wearing pants.

“Yeah, um.” His feet shifted. “Gabi picked the lock.”

“For real, you guys should stay in hotels with better security.” Gabi’s voice came from the chair, not the bed. Her shoes were off, her legs curled up under her.

“We’re staying in adjoining rooms for exactly that reason, Gabi,” Niall said.

“What?” My fingers stilled in Bilbo Baggins’ fur.

“Yeah, I—” Niall scrubbed his hand through his hair. “After that first night, in Chicago, when we had adjoining rooms, it seemed like a good idea. Safer. So I called Qiana and asked her if we could have them going forward.”

“You put us in adjoining rooms?” Heat crawled from my chest up my neck.

Gabriela levered up out of the chair and stood next to Niall. “If you guys adjoin each other, that means no one else can come in that way. While you’re here, I’ll get some portable locks for the exterior doors from my cousin. That mutt of yours is no guard dog. He went right to Niall.”

What if I’d left my laptop open? I’d been working on my dissertation earlier. He could’ve seen it, discovered my secret. Heidi would enforce that NDA I’d signed. Martell would kick me out of my program. No Ph.D. I’d have to move back in with Mother and Charles. The heat boiling inside me had nowhere to go, so machine-gun words shot out of my mouth. “You went into my room. You invaded my privacy.”

“Whoa.” Niall held up his hands like a shield. “We were trying to help.”

Same as my family. I’d thought he was different. He wanted to protect me, but he gave me space when I asked for it. Not today. He’d stomped right through the boundaries he’d told me we needed.

“I don’t need your help. I don’t want it. I can handle myself. And my dog.” Scooping up Bilbo Baggins, I stumbled to my feet and stormed back into my room, slamming both doors. I bolted the door on my side and slid the chain.

Bilbo Baggins wiggled out of my arms and leaped to the carpet. He sneezed twice.

I sank to my knees and rubbed his soft ears. “Sorry, Bilbo Baggins. You were only trying to be friendly,” I whispered.

He pushed his cold nose into my palm. If Niall hadn’t rescued him, the hotel manager might have come and taken him. And Bilbo Baggins probably preferred being kidnapped by Niall to being confiscated by the manager.

So why was I still so upset?

When Gabi flashed into my brain, my skin heated again. Gabi standing not six inches away from Niall today at the bookstore—definitely in the intimacy zone. Gabi’s bare feet on the carpet of Niall’s hotel room, her shoes piled next to Niall’s. Maybe when Gabi went up on her tiptoes in front of Niall, Niall didn’t back away from her kiss.

Jealousy wasn’t something I often felt, at least not of a romantic variety. Since Stephen, I never let myself care enough about my partners to feel it. But in Niall’s room, it had controlled me, made me lash out.

Shit! Those prickles of jealousy meant I’d let myself care about Niall. Even though there was nothing to feel jealous of. Niall didn’t like me like that. That much was clear.And he shouldn’t. He had exactly the kind of life I didn’t want. Public. Photographed. All I wanted was to hide away in a lab, far from the fans, the book talks, the people.

The heat washed right out of me, leaving me shivering on the carpet. My throat felt scratchy. Maybe I’d caught something at the convention or one of the signings despite Niall’s compulsory hand sanitizer.

Tea. Tea would soothe my throat. Maybe there was some in the minibar.

I’d just stood when there was a knock at the door. Not the inner, adjoining door, but the outside door.

A knot tightened in my stomach. I could guess who it was.

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