Page 53 of Get Lost

It also made her belly tighten, which was becoming a common occurrence and very problematic. She turned slowly to face him. “Do you need something?”

Alexander flashed his lone dimple. “No, but it looks like you do.”

“We’re good.” Kelsey raised her eyebrows. “What do you want, Alexander?”

He nodded at Lucky, his gaze dropping to the snack in his hands. “Wait a minute, you guys got Cheetos? I just got a bottle of scotch and some chocolates.” He looked at Kelsey expectantly.

“You got scotch?” Lucky asked, a hint of envy in his voice.

“You should go drink your scotch.” Kelsey met Alexander’s gaze, unwavering. “In your room. Alone. Away from me. Us,” she quickly added.

He chuckled, then motioned down the hallway. “I have two beds. You’re welcome to crash in there with me, let the girls take this one.”

Nessa’s face fell, but when Kelsey looked at her for input, she nodded. “Yeah, sure, I mean… that makes the most sense.”

Kelsey sighed, regretting what she was about to say before she even opened her mouth. “No, you guys stay in here. I can…” She looked at Alexander, noting with a rush of disdain that the self-righteousness had returned to his stupid face. “I’ll room with Alexander.”

Punch me.

“Are you sure?” Nessa asked softly.

Not even a little bit.

“Yeah. Sure. I’ll be fine.”

“Of course you will be.” Alexander flashed a cocky grin. “She’s aprofessional.”

Nessa looked back and forth between Kelsey and Alexander, rubbing her lips together, then shook her head. “No, you should go room with him, Lucky. The guys in there and the girls in here. I don’t want anyone to be uncomfortable.”

“Who’s uncomfortable?” Asshole Arroyo asked. “Not me. You, Kelsey?”

Jaw clenched, she shook her head.Don’t give him anything to go on.

Lucky watched Kelsey and Alexander exchange dirty looks disguised as pleasant smiles for a moment, then nodded. “On second thought, man, I’ll room with you.” He grabbed his luggage, then kissed Nessa on the cheek and left to follow Alexander to the other bedroom. “Alexander, right?”

“Alex is fine.”

When the guys were out of ear shot, Kelsey sighed. “This feels like shit.”

“It’s fine, Kels.” Nessa walked over and rubbed Kelsey’s upper arms. “Lucky and I live together now, remember? We can sleep in separate beds for three nights.”

“Four,” Kelsey corrected.

Nessa laughed. “Okay, four nights.Justfour nights. I think we can survive that extended time apart.” She reached for Kelsey’s suitcase and tried to take it out of her friend’s hand, but Kelsey held tight to the handle.

Shaking her head, Kelsey said, “You’re right. It’s just four nights. I can handle sharing a room with Alexander Arroyo for four whole nights. I am an adult.”

Nessa cocked one eyebrow.

Kelsey huffed. “I am. And I’m aprofessional.” She tried to mimic the way Alexander had said it, which was probably mimicking the way she’d said it earlier. “Why would I make a couple sleep in separate rooms when two singles can easily sleep in separate beds in the same room without kicking off World War III? I can handle Alexander. We’ll barely even be in our rooms, anyway, so we’ll hardly see one another outside of work. And we do have to work together, so we might as well try to get along.”

Nessa’s eyes narrowed as she scanned Kelsey’s face. “You sure about this?”

Haha, nope.“Yes. Go get that handsome boyfriend of yours and his little pants pistol.” Placing her hands on her hips, she mimicked Lucky’s earlier stance and said, “Bang.”

Nessa’s grin could’ve lit up the night. She squealed, then rushed out of the room.

Reluctantly, Kelsey followed, dragging her suitcase slowly, each click of the wheels over the Spanish-style tiles loudly emphasizing one more of her spectacularly stupid decisions.

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