Page 8 of The Reading

With the need to ignore the huge chasm between us, Vivian and I had put in more hours in this one week than we’d had in forever. Cold, detached, professional, we had barely made time to eat, and we had made it a point not to eat together. No ordering room service together, no picking at our food while we sifted through pictures and whatnot, no bouncing suggestions off each other…

Nothing.

Vivian had ended up spending all week cataloguing her pictures and reports in silence, and I’d done the same. We’d acted like polite strangers, and the worst of it was that we had ended up kicking ass. With nothing but work to concentrate on, we were ahead of the game on our three claims, and I should feel proud of that.

Instead, I still felt pissed off.

At any rate, Vivian and I were scheduled to fly back home tomorrow morning, so that was something at least. Though I was currently single and didn’t have any plans for Valentine’s anyway, it’d be nice to be back home with some distance from Vivian.

The knock on my door snapped me out of my thoughts, and I knew that it was room service. Too exhausted to leave the room, I had chosen laziness for my last night in Oklahoma. It was already past eight, late by dinner standards, but the hotel served room service until ten. I figured a nice tip would be enough to curb any annoyance at late orders.

When I opened the door, a pretty blonde was standing on the other side, her uniformed still pressed nicely, a sweet smile on her face.

Too bad angry brunettes were my only fetish these days.

I stepped aside and allowed her to push the cart into my room. “Thankyou.”

She placed the cart in the center of the room, between my bed and the sitting area, then she glanced around a bit, and I wasn’t sure why at first.

When her blue eyes met my gaze, it wasn’t hard to guess. “Is there anything else you’d like?”

Yeah, the pissed off woman in the next room that’s currently freezing me out.

“I think that’ll be it,” I answered, wishing that I could take her up on her offer. After all, tomorrow was Valentine’s Day, so that was just as good as an excuse as any to get my dick wet.

“Are you sure?” she asked, taking a step closer. “The kitchen is open until ten.”

“I’m sure,” I assured her. “Thank you.”

She shrugged a dainty shoulder. “If you change your mind, just call the front desk, and they’ll send me back over.”

Subtly wasn’t her strong suit.

“Thank you,” I repeated.

I followed her towards the door, making sure to lock it once she was on the other side. I was officially a dumb fuck, and one that couldn’t remember the last time that he’d gotten laid.

The adjoining suite room door opened, and I was horrified to notice Vivian walking through it, no bra underneath her tank-top. I was even more surprised when she said, “I thought I heard voices.”

I jerked my head towards the room service cart. “Room service was just delivered.”

Vivian’s jaw clenched, and I had no idea what to make of that. Still, that was nothing compared to what she hit me with next. “You know what? I think you need to go out tomorrow, get some dick, then maybe you’ll chill the fuck out.”

My entire brain misfired with that.

What. In. The. Actual. Fuck?

“Wh…what?”

“You need to get laid,” she repeated. “Unless you can’t get that stick out of your ass long enough to make room for something else.”

“What?”

“Well…because…because…well, because you’re gay,” she muttered, suddenly unsure.

“I’m what?”

Her brown eyes widened. “You mean…you’re…you’renotgay?”

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