Page 30 of Love to Prove You Wrong

No, no, no. I had to head downstairs, call someone to fix Justin’s TV, and go home. I fisted the sheets, their softness making me sigh. Justin’s scent was all over the bed. I took a deep breath.

Gah, none of this was helping me. I needed my brain to send a signal to my body to get up and get out, but the connection between the two was as malfunctioning as Justin’s TV.

I didn’t want to fall asleep, but I could let my eyes rest for a minute. Five minutes tops. I’d be out of there in no time.

∞∞∞

I woke up in a puddle of my own drool staining the pillowcase. Classy. I yawned. How long had I been asleep? It couldn’t have been long. Still, I had to get out of the room before Justin returned.

I sat upright and shrieked when my hand touched something hard. I flipped the light on. Right next to me on the bed I saw a person’s shape. At least, I hoped it was a person and not some wild animal.

Dark hair peeked out from under the covers and a hand appeared at the top seams, pulling the sheets down. Justin greeted me with a lazy smile.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

He ran a hand through his hair and laughed while propping himself up against his pillow. “I pay to sleep in this room, remember? The real question should be: what areyoudoing here? Do you sneak into other guests’ rooms like this, or am I the only one?”

I glanced over at the television, still as dead as before. “I came to check on your television. It was nothing but routine business.”

He looked at me with a gaze that told me he didn’t buy my weak explanation. “Sure, routine business. Also, there’s a peanut sticking to your forehead. Did you take those out of my snack basket?”

“No.” Right on cue, the peanut fell onto the bed and landed next to the crumpled packet I’d devoured the night before.

Justin picked the peanut up and held it in the air like a piece of important evidence. “I would call this guilty as charged.”

“I needed to see if the snacks we offer are of sufficient quality,” I said. “We often conduct research like that.”

The corners of his mouth twitched. I could tell he was having trouble not bursting out into a laugh. “That’s quite the research. Sneaking into guests’ rooms, then sampling their snacks before falling asleep in their bed.”

I blinked. I had just slept in Justin’s bed after eating his food. A lot of women would be jealous of me, but I didn’t want him to think I was one of them, let alone be seen as unprofessional.

I jumped out of the bed like it was full of spiders. My eyes flitted toward the bathroom, and for a moment I contemplated escaping through the window, only to realize seconds later we were not on ground level and I might break my neck fleeing from this situation.

I cleared my throat. “It’s the truth. I don’t even like you, so why would I be here if not for the television?”

He laughed as if I had told him something utterly ludicrous. “You do like me, Addy. Why do you keep insisting you don’t?”

Because you’re irresistible and the only way I can deal with that fact is by telling myself I hate you.

“I’m sorry, I’d better go,” I said, ignoring his question.

Justin smiled at me. “Fine, go. But one day I’ll get the truth out of you. Do you need me to escort you to your house? It’s three in the morning.”

I gasped. “Three a.m.?”

What the heck? It was about eight when I came to his room and now it was the middle of the night?

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” I asked.

He shrugged. “You looked so peaceful that it didn’t feel right to do so. You were even smiling and sighing in your sleep. But I was exhausted and the thought of spending the night on the floor didn’t appeal to me, so I slept next to you. I promise I stayed on my side the entire time.”

I put my shoes back on. “Well, thank you for letting me crash here, I guess? No need to escort me, by the way. This is Old Pine Cove. The crime rate is almost nonexistent, and my house is just next door.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

I nodded. “Uh-huh. Sure I am.”

Gah, now I sounded like that green guy. What’s his name? Yes, Yoda.

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