Page 8 of Sweet Virgin

Gripping the edge of the counter, I leaned in. “Hi, yeah, so I'm in room fifty-three and the maid said I needed to come talk to the manager. What's going on with my room?”

“Oh. . . Yes, Miss Landry, your room.” Tapping the keys on her keyboard, she glanced between the screen and my face. “I'm sorry, but the credit card you gave us has been declined.”

Wait, what?

Declined?

That wasn't possible, they accepted it this morning when I checked in. How the hell could it be declined?

“No no no no, there's some type of mistake here. My card worked this morning, I paid for a full week.”

“Not exactly. We took down your information, but we didn't try to run your card through until a little while ago, and it was denied. I'm sorry, the clerk should have informed you that we don't always bill for payment at time of check-in. If you like, we accept cash or check, would you like to pay that way?”

“I'm sorry, this isn't making any sense.” Yanking out my wallet, I tried to hand her my card. “Here, try again.”

“We ran the numbers through three times, I'm sorry. We do accept other forms of payment, but your card is no good. We could try another card if you have one.”

“I don't have another card.” Hanging my head, I laid my palms flat on the counter.

This couldn't be happening. There was nothing wrong with my card, I had plenty of room to pay for this. As I stood there dumbfounded and perplexed, it hit me.

My father must have canceled or frozen the card. That had to be the answer, that was the only thing that made sense. The card had my name on it, but he was the primary holder.

Damn it!

How could I forget that?

Dragging my nails through my hair, I cupped the sides of my neck between my forearms. I couldn't believe I had forgotten we had a joint account. I was broke. There were no more funds for me to tap into, no savings account or secret stash for me to use.

“Allie, let me—”

Holding up my hand, I cut Kealen off. “No.”

“You don't even know what I was going to say.”

“I don't need to, I don't want any more help.”

His fingers brushed the hair off my shoulder, tickling down my back. “I already told you, you might need another option.”

“And?” I asked, tucking my wallet back in my purse.

“I'm your option.” Kealen held his arms out, a big smile etched across his face.

The woman behind the desk let her eyes drift between us. The phone started ringing with different tones, chirping in like a flock of birds. Backing away from the counter, she said, “Honey, if I were you, I'd take option number two.” Winking, she sat down in her chair and answered the phone.

What is she getting at?

“Come on, I know what we can do.” Kealen went to the door and pushed it open, holding it for me.

There was no place else for me to go and I wasn't about to let him pay for a night. Tomorrow I'd be in the same boat; broke and homeless. But it wouldn't change anything, what harm was there in enjoying whatever idea sprung into his head.

Grudgingly, I threw my bag over my shoulder and stepped back into the bright sunlight. “Could this day get any worse?”

“It can always get worse, but it won't.”

“You can't know that, you have no idea what I've been through.”

“You're right, I don't, but that was before.”

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