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Ana
“What do you mean only one room?” I asked in surprise.
The man sitting behind the desk did not seem to be fazed. Though, he did look over my shoulder at Blaise from time to time. “Looking up your reservation, you only reserved one room,” he repeated.
I know I may have gotten the rooms pretty late last night, but I knew I got two of them. There’s no way I would have purposely forced Blaise to share the same space with me.
“Well, do you have any other rooms available?” I tried, hoping I’d have a little bit of luck on my side. Even if we were completely separated, I figured Blaise would be more comfortable in his own room. A place I couldn’t go breathing down his neck.
The man typed away on his computer for a moment before shaking his head. “We are completely booked tonight. Checking in this late, it’s harder to find rooms–”
“It’s fine,” Blaise interrupted him behind me. “Just give her the keys so we can get some rest.”
I couldn’t tell if my heart skipped because of the deep growl in his voice or the fact that we would be sharing a room. Now was not the time to get excited. I needed to keep my head on my shoulders. Otherwise, I might accidentally slip up again and do something I shouldn’t.
After dealing with checking in, we finally got our keys and headed to the room we’d be sharing for the night. Blaise hardly said a word all the way up until we walked past the door.
Entering the room, I immediately explored and checked out what all came inside. After abandoning my luggage near the door, I heard Blaise’s curse as he kicked it trying to keep up. I was too preoccupied checking out the different coffees and teas near the microwave to care if he had actually damaged the luggage. Though I did manage to mumble an apology before I got too lost.
The room felt large, giving us plenty of space amongst each other. A night here seemed like a pretty good pick if I had to say so myself. Even if I made a mistake, it wasn’t too bad of one.
Hearing him sigh in relief after sitting down on the bed caught my attention. Stealing a glance of him over my shoulder, my chest tightened when seeing him hunched over. After spending so much time dragging him around while sightseeing, I hadn’t even considered how Blaise felt about doing all that moving.
One look at the guy and I could see the pain in his expression. Even if he tried to hide it, he didn’t do a very good job. Not sure if I should apologize, I stood there looking like some heartless fool.
One of his hands pressed against his upper thigh and I immediately knew the problem. Whether he wanted to admit it being an issue or not, I knew his leg had to be bothering him. Blaise didn’t like talking about his prosthetic, but I could have only imagined the damage all that walking had done.
Twisting around, I hesitated. Knowing his feelings, I tried to be careful with my words. The last thing I needed was for him to feel worse. For as long as I knew the guy, I couldn’t remember a single time he ever relaxed.
“You can take it off if it’ll help,” I offered him, playing with my fingers as I took a step near him. I didn’t want Blaise to see it as some kind of weakness. All I wanted was for him to feel comfortable around me. To finally be able to relax. This was still a vacation after all. I’d be failing if I couldn’t at least help him with that.
“I’m fine,” he grumbled, pulling his hand away from his leg. The guy was stubborn as hell, I would give him that. Though, I wasn’t ready to let him continue to suffer.
“I promise I’m not going to run away and make you chase after me. You can relax, Blaise. We’re staying here for the rest of the night.” Offering a smile, I hoped he took it as a look of peace.
As if knowing how much I would bug him until getting my way, he sighed. Leaning down, he took his time rolling up his pant leg. Despite all of the time we spent together, it was a rare occurrence to see his prosthetic. I was always curious about his injury, but I never had the courage to ask him further in detail.
That was a can of worms I didn’t think either of us would be willing to open. Maybe one day. Not tonight. The last time I had mentioned his past with my brother, his face scrunched up. It was as if thinking about the past physically hurt him. Not wanting to cause him any pain, I decided not to talk about it since.
“You’re not making it any easier by watching me,” he muttered under his breath.
Heat brushed my cheeks as I got caught. Tearing my eyes away, I turned and searched for something more interesting in the room. Sadly for me, nothing possibly could have been more interesting than the man who sat on the bed. The one single bed the room had to offer.
I hadn’t even registered that yet. Blaise had yet to bring it up ever since we had gotten the keys. I’m sure he believed that we would live. We were both grown adults.
Hearing a thud along with a relieved sigh, I felt a bit thankful as well. It was good to know that he wouldn’t be in any more pain.
Sneaking another glance at him over my shoulder, I watched him rub at his leg, stripping the fabric off of it. “Do you need anything? I don’t mind–”
“Don’t go thinking that I need you to take care of me,” he interrupted without missing a beat. Even with his attention turned away from me, it was like he knew how I was looking at him. I bet that scowl of his had grown at my concern.
Feeling like I didn’t deserve to argue against his gruffness, I decided not to push. Instead, I stepped toward him. Watching him drop away the sock-like fabric that covered his leg, I tried not to stare at his missing limb.
“Does it hurt?” As curious as I was, I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
He finally looked at me with his brows lowered. I knew it was a question I probably shouldn’t have asked and I expected him to shut me down immediately. Instead, he shrugged.
“Use to. Almost every single day, even after it healed up. Now it’s just a pain in my ass.” Through his annoyance, he made me laugh. That grumpy expression of his softened a bit before he looked away. “It’s getting late. If we want to get up early enough to beat traffic, we need to figure out sleeping arrangements.”
