Page 57 of Playing Hard to Hate
“Griffin Silver. Look it up and tell your manager what I want. I want an answer in twenty minutes. Give me the keys now.” The kid nodded and handed me the two room cards with shaking hands.
“Ooh, I’m so scared of the big bad Griffin Silver.” Tatum howled with laughter as I ushered her into the fucking elevator, hoping no one had snapped a picture of us.
“What happened to laying low?” I growled in the elevator.
“Thought that was for outside only,” she answered, taking this prime opportunity to check her nails out.
“Well, it meant until you were in the fucking room, locked away from the public eye.”
“Noted. Be more specific next time.”
“For fuck’s sake.” I reached for my hair again, lacing my fingers through and grabbing a clump at the top while my heart rate dropped, and I could finally breathe again.
“Your mother wouldn’t appreciate you swearing in front of a woman.”
“Good thing she isn’t here then.”
“I’m not sharing a bed with you,” she said as soon as we stepped into the luxurious room.
“Couch doesn’t look too comfortable.”
“I don’t care.” She snatched her bag from me and stormed into the bathroom, where she proceeded to take half an hour.
I had gotten confirmation about the room service being covered, so I ordered us some food and waited for her to make an appearance. I considered trying the door handle because I hadn’t heard her lock it but thought better of inviting her wrath.
She sang horribly to some tune while in the shower, and I grinned, remembering when she told me that one day she wanted to be a singer.That was definitely not a career path in her future.
She emerged from the steamy bathroom fresh-faced in a pair of tiny shorts and a tank top, which somehow made me want her more than the stupid tiny bikinis did today.
It was going to be a long fucking night.
After showering and putting on a pair of black boxers and sweatpants, I left the bathroom.
“You forgot a shirt,” she said, flicking through the channels on the TV.
“Didn’t bring one,” I told her honestly, to which she rolled her big green eyes and sighed.
“Plan on sleeping naked too?”
“No.”
“Well, I do.” She didn’t look at me, but from the little smirk curling her lips, I knew she was lying.
“Great. Make sure to leave the lights on so I get a show.”
“Ha. In your dreams, Silver.”
“Yeah,” I said weakly hoping this wasn’t going to be one of thoselast time seeing each other again moments. “Unfortunately,” I agreed with her. She gulped loudly before settling on some movie and then got comfortable under the covers.
She ate the chicken I ordered tiredly, her eyes slowly closing as she kept falling asleep. I had to keep nudging her awake, and despite her little nasty threats, I knew she would be hard on herself tomorrow if she didn’t eat all her macros for the day. We hadn’t had much time to eat, so it was crucial she ate this meal.
Once she finished the food, she fell back against the pillows and promptly fell asleep, soft snores filling the room along with the credits of the movie she put on.
I turned the TV off, put the plates outside our room, and then slid my sweatpants off and slid into bed. She instantly rolled into me and cuddled into my chest.
It wasn’t the night I had envisioned in my head, but it was a close second. Happy to not have had another argument about why we were wrong for each other, I took it as a win, just glad to be next to the girl I never thought would speak to me again.
The next morning,she woke me. We’d both overslept, and she was rushing to throw clothes on and brush her teeth. I made sure to put the hat on her before she left the room and did my best to keep distance between us, but I knew it was futile once we reached the beach.
