Page 18 of Love’s Strongest Soldier

“You two are a lovely couple,” she said with a smile.

Everyone had the exact same reaction whenever they saw us. I was so tired of correcting them that I said “Thank you” and continued on about my way.

“Let me find out you’re into cougars,” Luxe joked when I made it back to the table. She had already dug into her food.

“She said we were a nice couple.”

She snickered when she heard me say that. “You and me a couple . . .?” Her index finger pointed in between us. “Ha! That’s funny as fuck. I don’t rob cradles.” After she said that, she stuffed her fork into her mouth. She was lucky as fuck that I was on a mission right now or else I’d bend her ass over and make her eat those very words.

Dinner seemed to have lasted a million years. Luxe ordered all that got damn food, knowing full and well she wasn’t gon’ be able to eat all of it. The woman asked if she wanted to-go plates and Luxe told her no. Just wasted all that damn food for nothing.

I led her out the door and held the door open on the truck for her to get inside while I watched our surroundings. It didn’t matter that it seemed we were safe here, I still wasn’t letting my guard down.

Jumping in alongside her, I shut the door, and the driver pulled off. The ride back to the hotel was silent. Luxe had drank almost the entire bottle of champagne by herself. I could tell the way she was staggering a bit that she was a bit tipsy and needed to make it to the bed. The truck hit a bump in the road, and Luxe’s body tilted over into mine. Her hand landed on my thigh. She stared up at me with wide eyes.

“Sorry,” she said and snatched away. She scooted over a bit away from me as if she was embarrassed that she touched me.

“You’re good,” I assured her to ease her mind.

As we pulled up toward the hotel, we noticed flashing lights. “What’s going on?” I questioned as the truck came to a halt. “Wait right here,” I told Luxe and got out of the truck.

I neared the hotel and found Christine, the chick who was working the front desk. “What happened?” I tapped her on the shoulder and asked.

“Someone decided to use real candles in their hut and set it on fire. Your suite has some smoke damage. We were able to get your belongings out of there, but you won’t be able to stay there for the night.”

“So what are you saying?”

“You two will be moved to another hut. Follow me so that we can get your keys.”

I took another look at the black smoke coming from the huts before flowing her toward the entrance of the hotel. When we got inside, she stepped behind the desk and grabbed a pair of key cards.

“This was the last suite that we have available. Let me know if I can help you with anything else.”

I took the keys back out to the truck. “What happened?” Luxe wasted no time asking me.

“The hut next to ours caught on fire. They moved us to another one.” I looked down at the room number. “Hut twelve.”

“That’s crazy,” she said as the driver pulled off and headed toward the hut where we would be staying.

When the truck stopped, I helped Luxe out and then walked her up to the door. I opened the door, and this hut was much smaller than the one we were staying in.

“I just know this one ain’t . . .” Before she finished her sentence, she entered the hut and headed straight to the bedroom part. “It’s one bed! Oh my God, are you kidding me!” That’s all I heard coming from the bedroom.

I shut the door behind me and locked it. Our suitcases were placed next to the door. I followed Luxe’s voice to the bedroom part to find a huge king-sized bed. It had a heart shaped out of rose petals on the sheets.

“I can’t believe they gave us just one bed.” She was worried about the bed; meanwhile, they had the room set up like we were on our honeymoon.

“It’s fine, Luxe. You can just sleep in here, and I’ll take the sofa.”

Luxe brushed her hair back out her face and dropped her head. “No. You don’t have to take the sofa. I’m sure it’s gon’ be uncomfortable.”

“I’m not taking the bed and letting you get on the couch.”

“You’re crazy if you think I’m going to sleep on the sofa. We’ll both just take the bed.”

“Both?”

“Are you scared or something? There’s a million pillows in here. We can just place some in the middle. Don’t cross the pillow and sleep with clothes on. We should be fine.”