AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He seems just as satisfied to help as I use the plastic key to open the hotel room door.
It’s no more than ten minutes before Chase comes up to find that it took only about seven for us to demolish the food. The boys are licking their hummus-covered fingers as he drops their forgotten iPad on the small coffee table in the two-bedroom suite.
I can’t even meet his eyes. I know I shouldn’t have done what I did, but trying to make excuses and reason that he’s the one who started thewe’re datinglie, won’t decrease my chances any of him firing me when we get back to Texas.
Hell, he could fire me right now, and I’d just have to hope that he’s kind and gracious enough to make sure I made it back to Texas.
“Do they have a pool here, Daddy?” Cale asks.
A sad smile spreads across his face as he nods. “I packed your swim trunks. Is that how you want to spend your evening?”
The boys yip and holler, bouncing up and down animatedly with excitement.
“We have to wait for them to bring up our bags,” Chase says.
The boys are a little disappointed with the news, but it’s nothing compared to when they were in front of their mom.
I clear the mess from lunch, feeling a little crappy for helping the boys eat his portion of the food, but they were right. That hummus platter was phenomenal. Concierge knocks on the door just as I’m done, and in a flash, the boys are scrambling to get changed for the pool.
Chase leaves my overnight bag just outside of the door to the second bedroom before disappearing into the other one with the boys.
I chew the inside of my lip, wondering just what I should do. On one hand, he’s here, and per our work contract, I’m off duty when he’s with the boys, but he did ask for my help during this trip.
I grab my bag and head to the room to change. I didn’t bring a bathing suit, but I’m desperate to get out of these leggings and get some air on my skin.
Silence greets me after a quick trip to the bathroom, and I can’t help but feel a little disregarded to discover that they left the room without even calling out to me. It makes me feel dismissed and unwanted.
The old habit of chewing on the corner of a cuticle rears its ugly head as I stare at the door, trying to decide what to do. I honestly feel like I’m in a damned-if-I-do damned-if-I-don’t situation, but I don’t think doing too much has ever gotten someone fired. I opt for heading out and finding the pool.
The sound of loud, happy boys greet me as I open the door to the pool. Chase is standing in thigh-deep water, but the droplets covering his skin and wet hair tells me that at some point, he fully submerged himself. I hate that I wasted time in the room making a decision and missed that.
He doesn’t bother to look my way as I grab an open spot off to the side. I’m forced to sit in a hard-backed chair because all the loungers are taken. There are more women here than there are children playing, but I guess you don’t have to have kids to enjoy a pool. As I watch them drool and so obviously take pictures of him, I realize that they're not here for the crisp water.
He tolerates the attention until one woman tries to grab Cole’s hand when he climbs out of the pool to go to the slide. Chase scowls at her, requesting, in a more polite tone than I ever could manage, that she not touch his children. Five minutes later, he’s decided they’re done, wrapping a towel around each boy, and heading out.
Once again, he doesn’t acknowledge me, and the air feels thick on the ride down in the elevator.
Despite the late lunch the boys ate, they’re ravenous for dinner.
Asking me what I’d like from the room service menu is all the focus he gives me, so I slink away to the bedroom and wait for the food to arrive. It feels less like he’s avoiding me if I’m not in his line of sight, but it doesn’t stop my mind from racing with regret the entire time before I hear room service knock on the door.
The meal is spent in silence on my and Chase’s part, but the boys have a great time retelling their time in the pool as if we weren’t there to witness it.
After dinner, he disappears into the other room, reminding the boys they have to grab a bath before bed.
I wait on the couch this time. Maybe apologizing for the rash behavior will be enough to get back into his mostly good graces, but if not, maybe he’ll fire me. Not knowing what’s going to happen is worse than facing the fact I may be looking for a way home.
When he reenters the living area, he’s carrying the extra pillow and sheet set fromthe closet.
“I’m sorry I kissed you,” I snap out, my finger once again going to my mouth so I can chew on the corner.
He frowns in my direction as if disappointed I’d even bring it up in the first place.
“Just don’t let it happen again.”
I nod and make my escape, glad he didn’t fire me. As much as I struggle being around him all the time, living at home with my horny parents is much, much worse.
Chapter 15
