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Dean looked around as well and laughed. “Looks like we overstayed our welcome.”

“Not at all.” The waiter placed their check on the table. She and Dean both reached for it, but he was quicker.

“Let me pay, since you got the room,” she said.

He frowned. “Hell no. I’m a bachelor who eats at the kitchen counter alone most nights. I’m grateful for the company and conversation.” He slipped his card into the leather bill holder.

“Well, thank you. But just know that I’m paying for the cab back to the airport and buying you a big-ass cup of coffee when we get there.”

Dean smirked. “Deal.”

They apologized to the waiter when he returned, then headed back to the hotel lobby, dragging their carry-ons.

Despite the late hour and the fact she’d had a long day, Vivian felt energized and wide awake. “I’m usually dead to the world by this time of night,” she confessed. “Somewhere along the line, Pip’s bedtime became mine.”

Dean pushed the button for the elevator, then turned to look at her. “Meanwhile, I put in way too many late nights.”

When the elevator doors slid open, they stepped on and for the first time in hours, a silence fell between them. Not a bad silence, just a comfortable one as they rode to their floor.

Dean produced the key card, unlocking the door and holding it open for her to drag her bag inside.

The first thing she noticed was the king-sized bed occupying most of the space in the room. Apart from that, there was one desk, one chair, a dresser, two nightstands, and nothing else.

“Damn,” Dean mumbled from behind her, as he stepped in and closed the door. “I asked about a rollaway. The guy at the front desk said they didn’t have any left, but he promised to double-check and deliver it here if he found one. I could tell from the way he said it, he wasn’t optimistic. But I hoped maybe we’d get lucky.”

“It’s okay. We were lucky just to get the room, given all the canceled flights,” she pointed out. She glanced around again.

“I’ll sleep on the floor,” Dean said.

She laughed. “Nope.”

“It’ll be fine, Viv.”

“Absolutely not.”

“I spend a good third of my life on the road, so I’ve learned to sleep on planes, busses…hell, one night, I slept on a locker room floor after a nasty snowstorm.”

“This isn’t a locker room. It’s your room,” she reminded him. “If anyone is going to sleep on the⁠—”

“Don’t even finish that sentence,” Dean said gruffly. “The reason you’re here is because I wasn’t about to let you sleep on the airport floor. So there’s no way you’re sleeping on the floor here, either.”

“Okay.” She bit her lower lip, glancing at the bed. She spoke before she could second-guess her decision. “We’re adults, Dean. I think we can survive sharing a bed for one night.”

He hesitated just long enough that she couldn’t resist teasing him.

“Unless you’re afraid of my big brother,” she taunted, unable to hide her grin.

“I’m not afraid of Victor Reed,” he retorted, in a dark voice that sent a delicious shiver down her spine. Probably not the best reaction, considering she was about to crawl under the covers with the sexy man.

Better to put a bit of distance between them before she started offering Dean more than just half the bed. Opening her carry-on, she tugged out her bathroom bag and her pajamas. “I’ll only be a minute,” she said, as she walked across the room.

“Take your time.” Dean didn’t bother opening his bag. Instead, he slipped off his shoes, sank down on the bed, and leaned back against the headboard. Reaching for the remote, he turned on the television and started flipping through channels.

It had been a long time since she’d shared a bed—or a remote—with a man. Five years, to be exact.

Vivian would have expected this to feel awkward or uncomfortable or wrong. However, none of those emotions appeared. Instead, she was overwhelmed by something she hadn’t experienced in so long, she thought it had died with Phil.

Desire.