“You okay?” Damien suddenly asked her.
Her gaze flew to his. She thought she might see something in his eyes…something that showed this song was affecting him, too.
But she saw nothing. Which only hurt her more.
He was oblivious to her pain.
So she responded, “I’m fine. Just tired.”
Chapter 5
Three and a half hours later, they had only gone about one hundred miles, far enough to take them past the Delaware River and the New Jersey state line into Pennsylvania. Much of the drive, Kendra had gripped the door handle, her body tense as she feared that they would veer off the barely visible road in front of them.
But Damien was an excellent driver. He took his time, was cautious, and though Kendra knew anything could happen, she felt safe with him.
Just past the Delaware River was a town called Levittown. Damien exited on Bristol Pike Road.
“You want to get off now?” Kendra asked.
“It’s already after midnight,” Damien replied. “I think it’s time to find a hotel and get some rest before we get up in the morning and keep going.”
Kendra couldn’t argue with his reasoning and was in fact looking forward to some time to herself. She needed to put some distance between herself and Damien for the night.
“Wait here,” Damien said when he pulled up to the first hotel they reached. “I’ll confirm that they’ve got rooms.”
Kendra did as instructed, figuring that the popular, midsize hotel chain would surely have vacancy for the night. But Damien returned to the car a short time later and gave her the bad news. There were no rooms.
“What?” Kendra asked.
“We’ll just head to the next one.”
At least there were a few hotels on this stretch of road, and they headed to the next one. But that was full, too, at which point Kendra began to worry. She didn’t want to get back on the interstate, not now. The snow was still coming down, and the fact that they’d made it this far without incident was a blessing.
Damien hurried toward the car after going to the third hotel, another low-level building that appeared to be very new. Kendra put down the window, hoping that he wouldn’t have more bad news.
“Bingo,” he said.
“Thank God.”
“Which suitcase do you need from the back?”
“Oh. I need the big one. That’s got all my clothes and toiletries.”
“Okay.”
Damien went to the back of the vehicle, and Kendra got out of the car. He saw her huddle into her coat and shift on her feet in the snow. The boots she wore were stylish but not in the least effective for this type of weather. Once he had her big suitcase unloaded, she took hold of it. He then took out his suitcase and laptop bag and helped take the luggage inside the brightly lit foyer of the hotel.
“Let me park the car,” he told her.
Kendra waited. She wasn’t sure she had ever been so happy to see a hotel in all her life.
Once Damien came back into the hotel, Kendra walked with him to the front desk. She would take care of her own lodging arrangements.
“Crazy night,” Kendra said to the clerk behind the desk, who appeared to be in her early twenties. She also appeared to be bored with her job, if the fact that she hadn’t responded to Kendra was any indication. Her eyes were fastened to the screen of an iPhone.
“How much for a room?” Kendra went on, a little annoyed.
The clerk didn’t lift her eyes from her phone as she responded, “One fifty-nine, plus taxes.”
“Excellent,” Kendra said. “We’ll take two.”
“There’s no need for two rooms,” Damien quickly interjected.
Kendra’s eyes flew to his. “Excuse me?”
“We won’t even be here long,” Damien countered. “Just long enough to get a good night’s sleep before hitting the road again.”
“Separate rooms is the way to go,” Kendra insisted in a low tone, though the clerk could hear every bit of their conversation. Not that she was paying any attention to them.
“You want two rooms?” the clerk asked, finally looking up. She sounded dumbfounded. And the way her eyes were narrowed with suspicion, it was obvious she was wondering why on earth they wouldn’t want to be in a room together.
“Yes.”
“No.”
Kendra and Damien spoke at the same time.
“Damien, seriously, what are you doing?” Kendra asked.
“Being practical. I plan on showering and heading straight to bed.”
Kendra’s face flamed. This clerk would now be thinking that she wanted to go to the room and do something other than sleep…
“I’ll make the decision easy for you,” the clerk quickly said, getting a word in now that she could. “We have only one room available.”
“What?” Kendra exclaimed.
“With the storm, a lot of travelers have decided to come off of the roads and wait for the weather to get better. The only reason we have one room is because someone who booked didn’t show up by midnight. It’s probably the only room available in the area.”
“We stopped at two other hotels and there were no rooms,” Damien explained. “We’ll take it.”
Inwardly, Kendra groaned. She thought she saw a self-satisfied smile on Damien’s face.
Nothing she could do to change the situation, so she said, “At least tell me it’s got two beds.”
“I think this is a first,” the clerk said, a smirk on her face.
“Excuse me?” Kendra asked.
“That a woman comes into a hotel with a man this fine and wants two beds. Oh, wait—you two are related?” As though the clerk now believed Damien to be a free agent, she eyed him up and down with lust.
“Are you going to answer my question?” Kendra asked, not amused. This young girl was completely unprofessional.
The clerk waved a dismissive hand and offered a sheepish grin. “I’m sorry. I know that was wrong.”
Kendra leveled an unflinching stare on the woman. She was used to giving this kind of look in her role as a senatorial aide. “Two beds?” she tried again.
“One,” the young woman responded. “But it’s a king.”
“As I said, we’ll take it,” Damien told the clerk. He placed a credit card on the counter. “Obviously, we don’t have another choice. And I’m not prepared to drive around the city, hoping we find a hotel with two rooms available.”
Kendra bit her tongue. Damien was right, and there was nothing more to say on the matter. It was just that she would rather walk on a bed of hot nails than spend the night in a hotel room with the man who had crushed her heart.
“Fine,” she said and forced a smile. “It’s no big deal.”
Though her protest earlier had made it clear that it was a big deal.
Once she and Damien had the room key and were heading toward the elevators, Kendra said in a lowered voice, “You can sleep on the floor.”
* * *
Upstairs, neither spoke as they got their suitcases open and began to get the items they would need before bed. They passed each other like two ships in the night, though the tension between them was undeniable.
Damien wished that Kendra would loosen up, not act as though she was heading to a date with the executioner.
“You know,” Damien began as he watched her carefully arranging her silk pajamas on the bed, “maybe we should just talk about…about whatever’s on your mind. Because you totally changed once you realized we’d be sharing a room.”
“I changed.” Kendra scoffed, then went back to her suitcase. “Oh, that’s a good one. I changed.”
Damien frowned. He’d have to be dense not to get what she was referring to.
“It’s obvious we need to talk,” he went on.
Kendra didn’t respond. She continued to rifle through her suitcase. Damien had already seen her take out a bag that held her toothbrush and toothpaste, plus her pajamas, so he couldn’t imagine how mu
ch more she needed from her luggage.
A blind man could see that she was just stalling so she didn’t have to face him.
“Why don’t you shower first?” Kendra suggested, still not looking at him.
“You sure?” Damien asked her. No point pushing the idea of talking if she didn’t want to. Kendra never did anything she didn’t want to do. “I don’t mind waiting.”
“No, you go ahead,” she told him. She pursed her lips as if in deep thought over the contents of her suitcase. “I can wait.”
* * *
Kendra had figured she would shower first and get into the bed before Damien could but then thought better of it. Because if Damien went into the bathroom first, then she could prepare his bed on the floor.
And that’s exactly what she did. Sure, there was enough room for the two of them on the bed, but there was no way on this Earth that she was going to sleep with him.
She took two of the oversize pillows and the extra blanket from the closet and arranged them on the floor. She pouted, knowing that the makeshift bed looked far from comfortable. So she pulled the comforter off of the king-size bed and added it to the floor, too.
“There,” she said to herself, satisfied.
Then she sat on the edge of the bed and listened. Listened to the sound of the water running. And her mind drifted back to the Labor Day weekend they’d enjoyed in Washington, D.C., ten years ago. They’d felt like a real adult couple, getting a hotel room in Georgetown and spending the night there.
That time, Kendra and Damien had even showered together…
Why are you doing this to yourself? she asked herself. For God’s sake, get a grip.
But that didn’t stop her from remembering how quickly her plan to wash Damien’s back in the shower had derailed. Once her hands had smoothed over his hard body, he had turned and faced her, then pulled her into his arms.
Kendra forced her eyes open and swallowed. Why was it so easy for her to remember the past? A past she should have forgotten years ago.
Because you’re in a hotel room with him, when you had never expected to see him again.
The shower stopped. Kendra quickly jumped up and got the television remote. She wanted to look busy…though she had no clue why it would matter to Damien if she’d been watching television or sitting quietly.
She found CNN, where they were talking about the massive snowstorm that had hit the East Coast and how thousands of travelers were stranded.
She heard the door open, and she turned. “They’re saying the snow—”
The words died on her lips when she saw Damien exit the bathroom in just a towel. And for one glorious instant, her eyes took everything in. His well-defined pecs, his washboard abs. And good God, the glimpse of thigh she could see where the ends of his towel came together at the front.
A rush of smoldering heat consumed her.
But Kendra soon came to her senses. She spun her head around, saying, “For God’s sake, Damien! Put some clothes on!”
“What’s the matter? I’m wearing a towel.”
“You’re practically naked!” Not to mention that his body was glistening with the water, which only made him look more appealing.
“Relax. I realized I didn’t bring any clean clothes into the bathroom with me. Besides, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”
Kendra’s eyes widened. If she’d been eating, she would have surely choked. How could he be so casual about this? The last time she had seen him without clothes on had been lifetime ago. And he certainly hadn’t looked the way he looked now. Now, he was far sexier.
He was a grown man.
“Tell me when you’ve got clothes.”
“It’s not that big of a deal,” Damien told her.
“Yes, it is.”
* * *
Damien smirked as he headed to his suitcase, although he wasn’t exactly sure why. No, that wasn’t true. He did know. The fact that Kendra was so flustered at the idea of seeing him in a towel told him she still found him attractive and this knowledge pleased him.
At the front desk, she had gone on as though the last thing she wanted to do was share a room with him, which he’d figured was because she was angry with him over the past. And sure, that was no doubt a part of it. But maybe there was another reason. Because he had seen the glimpse of lust in her eyes when they had first settled on him as he’d walked out of the bathroom.
Damien was betting that she still found him attractive. He definitely still found her attractive, which his rational brain told him didn’t make any sense.
The fact that they would be spending a night at a hotel had weighed heavily on his mind as they’d driven. He hadn’t been able to not think about the time they’d shared a hotel room in Georgetown. And on a purely physical level, he knew that if she wanted to do something other than sleep, he wouldn’t be able to resist her. Because, as if no time had passed since he’d last seen her, his heart was beating faster with her in his presence.
However, he was smart enough to know that he should not go there with Kendra. Loving her had brought him the worst heartbreak of his life. When they headed off to college, she had all but changed into a different person when he’d asked her if she would consider transferring to New York to continue her studies as opposed to at Howard. He had seen a side of her then that reminded him of his mother. A strong, unflinching side.
Damien loved his mother, but she could be difficult to deal with. He didn’t want a partner in life who was never going to compromise, never going to see that someone else’s idea might be as good as her own.
He’d come to fear that perhaps being involved with Kendra was going to lead to heartbreak sooner or later, so not long after they had begun their respective lives at their respective colleges, he quietly slipped away.
It wasn’t so much that she was at a different college, but the few times they had spoken and he had suggested that she come see him, it had been an argument. He had gone to see her in D.C., yet she wouldn’t agree to visit him. She’d come up with a myriad of excuses as to why he should head to see her again, but the message Damien had gotten was that she thought that by conceding to his will, he was somehow dominating her.
It was a number of little things where she always had to have her way that had caused him to put together a big picture that didn’t look too favorable. How challenging would it be to deal with someone like that for a lifetime? God knew his father had miserable accounts with his mother, who had dominated him.
“Are you going into the bathroom?” came Kendra’s frustrated question.
Damien found his pajama set and then turned. Kendra now had her hands covering her eyes. A smile on his lips, he headed for the bathroom door. “I’m heading inside now,” he told her. “It’s safe for you to turn around.”
Chapter 6
When Damien exited the bathroom the second time, he was wearing his pajamas—the shirt and the bottoms. At home, he would typically wear only the pajama bottoms, but with Kendra’s reaction to him earlier, he didn’t dare.
He looked at Kendra and noted that she seemed relieved. Then his eyes went from her face to the makeshift bed on the floor.
He shook his head. “That’s where I’m going to sleep?”
“Yes,” Kendra replied tersely.
“Wow. You weren’t joking.”
“I know it’s not the best solution,” Kendra said, a hint of contrition in her voice, “but you’ll survive.”
Damien wanted to ask her what she was so afraid of, but he knew that wouldn’t be the best way to handle the situation. Instead, he said, “You know, it’s going to be quite a long drive from here to Louisville. I’d rather not have a stiff neck or back.”
Kendra said nothing.
“Are you really so afraid that I would take advantage of you after all this time?”
She still said nothing. She was going through her large purse now, for God knew what.
“This bed is definitely big enough for two people.” Da
mien gestured to it. “Heck, for four people. I promise I’ll stay on my side of the bed—far far away from you. I’d just really prefer a comfortable mattress.”
“You have to make this difficult?”
“I was in a car wreck,” Damien said softly. “Three years ago. Nothing major, but on occasion I suffer some back pain. So, I’d really prefer to not sleep on a hard floor.”
“Fine, you can have the bed,” Kendra said, exasperated. “I’ll sleep on the floor.”
And before Damien could say a word, she grabbed her things and stormed off to the bathroom.
* * *
In the bathroom, Kendra dropped onto the edge of the bathtub and buried her face in her hands. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. What was wrong with her?
She was with Damien Monroe. In a hotel room. So what? She had to find a way to get ahold of herself.
Clearly, Damien wasn’t feeling any anxiety at the idea of being alone with her, sharing time together, sharing space. Obviously, he had forgotten about how hot they’d once been between the sheets because he looked completely unbothered by their current situation.
The moments passed as Kendra continued to sit on the tub’s edge, and images of Damien exiting the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around his waist popped into her mind. As she thought of how strong his glistening body had looked, an altogether different feeling came over her.
Lust.
No, she told herself. It was impossible. She hated Damien. Maybe not hate, but something close to it. Certainly she should be able to look at him and not find him attractive on any level.
She finally stood and started the shower, hoping that as she washed her body, she would also wash all of the unwanted feelings for Damien down the drain.
* * *
When she exited the bathroom, Kendra found Damien on the bed she’d put together on the floor. She stopped in her tracks, feeling a slight touch of guilt.
He had also turned off the television and all the lights except the one on the nightstand on the left side of the bed.
Kendra resumed walking, heading to the suitcase, where she placed the folded clothes she’d worn for the day on top of it.
Then she got into the bed and turned off the light.
Merry Sexy Christmas Page 13
