Page 17 of Stocking Stuffers
A slightly awkward silence followed at that. Sasha cleared her throat and stared at the floor.
“Well, I’ll let you get to sleep.” Valerie snapped back into her role as host. “My chef won’t be able to come in with the weather so bad, so breakfast is all on me tomorrow. I’ll serve at nine, but if you’re early or late, no problem. We’ll get you fixed up, I promise. Any food allergies or sensitivities?”
Sasha shook her head.
“Okay. Goodnight, Sasha. If you need anything, my number is on the pad of paper on your bedside table. And Perry is next door. He can help you too.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate everything you’re doing for me.”
“Of course.” Valerie gave her another one of those quick hugs, and like the first time, it choked Sasha up with emotion.
Once she was alone, she changed into a pair of velour sweats and a T-shirt, then fell back onto her bed. There was a small water spot on the ceiling, and it filled her with relief. She wasn’t sure she could handle this cozy-ass place if there weren’t some underlying imperfections to cut the flawlessness.
Christmas lights wrapped around the posts of the bed and flickered through the filmy canopy curtains. She was too exhausted and satisfied to get up and turn the twinkle lights off.
She should go retrieve her Double Trouble from the bathroom counter, but she didn’t want to run into Perry. Plus, if she left it there, it would give him something to think about. She liked that idea a lot.
Thinking about Perry made her simultaneously nervous and excited. Mid-orgasm Perry was her new favorite Perry. He’d been delightfully tousled, his hair a mess of sweat-damp curls and his clothes all askew.
She suddenly wished that they’d done something that was a little more naked, more horizontal. She wanted to see his whole, long body on display.
Wanted that exposed feeling of being naked together, of skin on bare skin.
Talk about a red flag.
At least Valerie had presented an easy escape, a way to disengage. If Valerie hadn’t knocked, Sasha would probably have taken an extra second to stare, then an extra second to kiss him.
Perry’s enticing sweetness was a disaster waiting to happen, so thank God they were on the same, no-strings page.
With that last thought in her head, she snuggled down into the softest, most comfortable bed ever. Then she fell asleep.
* * *
Sasha woke up to a blaring,God-awful noise coming from her cell phone.
She groggily stared at her screen. It was a weather alert.
An extended Blizzard Warning.
She tossed the phone toward her bedside table, but there was no bedside table there. Her phone hit a wall. She sat up straight in bed.
Where the fuck was she?
“Oh, no.”
Falling back onto the bed, she buried her head under a pillow. The Winterberry Inn.
That was why her room smelled like cinnamon and spruce trees. As the sound of the shower in the connected en suite shut off, warmth hit her cheeks and spread heat down her body. Perry must be in there.
Naked.
Seeing a naked Perry wouldn’t be a bad way to start the morning. But the bed was so comfortable, so snug.
Instead of propositioning Perry again, she grabbed her phone from the floor, slid deeper under the plaid flannel covers, and texted her brother, Benji.
Sasha:I need advice.
Benji:Oh, girl talk?
