Page 15 of Dirty As Puck
Oh lord. Professional distance, Rochelle! He’s still an arrogant athlete who sees you as a threat.
The hotel lobby smells like industrial disinfectant and broken dreams, but the desk clerk is friendly enough when I check in. My room is on the third floor, overlooking what appears to be either a construction site or a very organized junkyard.
At least it’s private. No risk of doing something stupid with Morrison when he’s twenty blocks away at the team hotel.
I drop my bags and immediately notice the temperature. It’s cold enough in here that I can see my breath, and when I check the thermostat, it’s set to seventy-two but clearly not working.
Twenty minutes later, after trying every troubleshooting trick I can think of, I’m standing in a hotel room that feels like a meat locker, wearing my winter coat and contemplating my options. The front desk clerk apologizes profusely but explains that the heating system is down for the entire building and won’t be fixed until tomorrow afternoon.
Perfect. Just perfect.
I could stick it out. I’ve survived worse accommodations during my freelance days. But the team plays tomorrow, and I need to be functional for interviews and game coverage, not fighting hypothermia in a budget hotel.
Which means swallowing my pride and asking the team’s travel coordinator about emergency accommodations.
Thirty minutes later, I’m standing in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, where the team is staying, trying not to feel like a complete failure at basic travel planning. The coordinator is an efficient woman named Sarah, checks her tablet and frowns.
“We’ve got a problem,” she says. “The hotel is fully booked because of some medical conference. I can get you a room, but it would have to be shared accommodations with one of our travelers.”
Shared accommodations.In other words, a roommate. “What are my options?”
Sarah scrolls through her tablet. “Coach Williams has a suite, but he’s specifically requested privacy for game preparation. Most of the players are doubled up already...” She pauses, and her expression suggests she’s found something problematic. “The only available space is a room with Kai Morrison. He booked a single, but it has a couch that converts to a bed.”
No. Absolutely not. Not after what happened on the plane.
“Are you sure there’s nothing else? I could take a rollaway in someone’s room, or—”
“I’m sorry, but that’s all we have. It’s just for the night.”
One night, yes, but almost forty-eight hours in the same room as Morrison, pretending that kiss never happened while trying to maintain professional boundaries.
This is a disaster.
But my alternative is spending the night in a hotel room cold enough to preserve meat, and I have a job to do. “Fine. But I want to make it clear that this is purely practical necessity.”
Sarah nods and hands me a key card. “Room 1247. Mr. Morrison is already checked in.”
The elevator ride to the twelfth floor feels like ascending to my own execution. I’ve covered athletes before, maintained professional relationships with subjects who were attractive, difficult, or both. But I’ve never had one kiss me like Morrison did on that plane. It desperate and demanding and completely without permission.
And I’ve never kissed one back like I was drowning and he was oxygen.
I knock on the door to room 1247, and Kai opens it wearing dark jeans and a gray shirt that clings to his chest in ways that should be illegal. His expression goes from neutral to annoyed the moment he sees me.
“What are you doing here?”
“My hotel’s heating is broken. Your travel coordinator arranged emergency accommodations.”
Kai’s jaw tightens. “Let me guess. They put you in here.”
“Just for the night. I’ll stay out of your way.”
“Perfect. Just what I need… a reporter camped out in my room.”
The dismissive tone in his voice makes anger flare in my chest. “Trust me, sharing a room with you isn’t exactly my idea of a good time either.”
“Then find somewhere else to stay.”
“There is nowhere else. The whole place is booked because of some medical conference. You think I’d be here if I had any other choice?”
