Page 14 of Christmas in July

"No, no, I couldn't."

“Well—you could help me spend more of my mother’s money, and we could upgrade to the presidential suite,” he suggests with a grin.

It's like a scene from a bad Christmas movie.

“It only costs $2200 per night for the presidential suite,” Sally tells us. “It’s a beautiful apartment, massive and well-furnished with a heated rooftop pool, marble showers and a mattress that feels like sleeping on a cloud. It comes with a full kitchen, 24/7 butler service and spa treatments. You will both love it.”

“I will be a perfect gentleman and sleep on the couch,” Teddy says. “You can have the magical mattress, little lady. Just join me—remember, you promised Henrietta. If you don’t keep an eye on me, I might go looking for some rocks.”

"I wouldn't want to inconvenience you like that,” I tell him. “I'll just catch an Uber to the next town."

"That might be a little difficult as there are no Ubers nearby,” Sally explains. “I just checked because I was craving Christmas tacos for my lunch break.”

“What exactly are Christmas tacos?” Teddy asks curiously. “Actually, don’t tell me. I want to find out for myself. That’s mainly what I drove all this way for—to investigate the tacos.”

"You like tacos?" I ask him softly.

"Who doesn't like tacos?" he asks, as if it's the craziest thing in the world to imagine. “We have to grab some later. Heck, we can send our butler to grab some tacos for us, and some for Sally. So, are you going to sleep with me or not, little lady?”

I make a face at his phrasing. "Well, it's your room—I should take the couch while you take the bed.

"Jolly good idea. You should definitely take the couch as punishment for your complete lack of foresight and planning. That way you’ll remember this mistake, and it won’t happen again. Don't you know that the most important part of any trip is the planning? Gosh. Millenials. Am I right, Sally?”

“Yes, you are, sir! Reservations are of utmost importance,” Sally says with a bright smile.

Oh my god. Kill me now. They are ganging up on me!

But I’m too tired to protest anymore, or even to try to make witty banter.

Teddy senses this, and takes my suitcase away from me after he pays for the room, and we head to the elevator.

“This is a crazy day,” I say, leaning against the wall as he pushes the button.

He turns to me with a chuckle. “Well, little lady Lani, I'm afraid you'll have to give up on trying to get away from me. It seems like fate has some rather strong ideas about keeping us stuck together on this trip.”

“Is it fate, or is it Suzy and Sally?” I ask. “Did you pay them or something?”

“How do you know that Suzy and Sally aren’t the fates, come down from Mount Olympus to screw with us?” he suggests.

“Because there arethree fates,” I inform him. “So it’s obviously not them.”

“You forget our flight attendant, Stacy,” he points out, lifting three fingers solemnly.

“No!” I say with surprise.

“I bet she’s in on it too. She probably put some drugs in our champagne.”

“Drugs to make us have an extra good time, and make Lamborghinis and Snowflake Creek look extra beautiful?”

“Maybe,” he says thoughtfully. “Either way, we are very much stuck here in extreme luxury, with excellent company, so why complain? We might as well give in and enjoy our time together. Anyway, I really needed a travel buddy, so I’m glad I found you.”

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