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“That’s right,” he corrected himself as he walked closer on thick, strong thighs. “You told me you run.” He stopped just inside my personal space. “Maybe you’d like the treadmill.”
I had to look up to meet his eyes, but I stood my ground. This close, his sweaty body was more magnetic than intimidating. I nodded. “Treadmill?”Muscles, chiseled abs, happy trail, muscles, chiseled abs, happy trail—my libido-soaked mind was on repeat.
His hand came up to my face.
When he touched my chin, I backed away. “No. We can’t.” The words didn’t at all match my instincts, which were to move closer and wrap my arms around him—or maybe skip that part and jump up wrapping my legs around him.
“Don’t be a baby. I’m just looking.”
His tone challenged me. “Oh.” I shifted back toward him, ashamed that I’d misjudged the situation again. “It’s not that bad.” It had to be the goddamned pheromones he gave off or something. They were messing with my brain.
He gently pulled my chin left and then right. “That door really didn’t like you.”
As keyed up as his proximity made me, all I could get out was a laugh. “Right now, the feeling is mutual.”
He stepped away, giving me a little space, and cleared his throat. “The treadmill is over here.”
A glance down at the bulge in his pants told me his body didn’t think this had been a platonic review of my injury any more than my scrambled brain did. I didn’t follow him. “About last night...” If he’d sent my bags to his room because he’d expected me to join him in bed, this had to be cleared up.
His mouth fell open. “Sorry. I got carried away in the moment. I mean, after… It’s no excuse. I should have behaved better. I wanted to apologize, but you’d already gone to bed.”
“I know you think you’re God’s gift to women, but that was too much, even for you.”
“Maybe.” He shrugged, looking only a bit sheepish. “It was entirely my fault. I couldn’t think straight after you almost…”
“Almost what?” I asked.
“Fell,” he said. That single word reframed everything he’d said. My God, he thought we were talking about the kiss that didn’t happen.
I settled my hands on my hips. “And that made you think I should be in your bed?”
“What are you talking about? You’re the one who tried to seduce me by announcing that you were going to usemy shower.”
“Only because you had my things placed in your bedroom, like you expected me to sleep with you. And besides, when I said I needed a shower, I didn’t know it was your room.”
“You thought I wanted you in my bed?” He laughed so hard he doubled over. “If your bags were in there, it’s because that idiot Sylvester can’t follow directions—the guy you insisted I tip.”
I turned ten shades of red. This ranked as an epic misunderstanding, but somehow I was equal parts disappointed and relieved.
Anger boiled up inside of me as I realized he thought the idea of sleeping with me was laughable. But instead of letting loose the kind of verbal barrage I always sent his way, I bit my tongue. “I’m going for a run, and not on a treadmill.”
* * *
Evan
Our weekend concierge,Xavier, greeted me as soon as I leaned against the wall of the lobby. “Anything I can do for you, sir?”
I pulled out my phone. “No. Just waiting for my guest.”
“Miss Allie?” he asked.
I nodded, checking my email. “Yes.”
“The log doesn’t mention a last name.”
I looked up. “That’s right.” Alexa wanted to keep her name from the papers for as long as possible. To be safe, I’d been using my old nickname for her and never mentioning her last name.
Xavier wasn’t on the short list of people I considered trustworthy. It wasn’t unheard of for staff to make a little money on the side by tipping off the paparazzi.
