The two disappear into the elevator, leaving Chloe and me alone in the pool.
“Will you put your shorts on?” she asks, chancing a look at me.
“Does my being naked make you uncomfortable?”
“It makes everyone uncomfortable, hence the alcohol.”
“You’re talking to me again,” I point out.
She sighs, turning to face me as she treads water.
“See?” I say. “You can’t even see anything.”
“You’re still naked.”
“Can you see my cock?”
“There’s a principle here.”
“And what’s that?”
“There are laws about decency.”
“I’m on private property,” I counter.
She shakes her head. “Do you always argue this much?”
“You’d know if you didn’t avoid me all the time.”
“I don’t avoid you.”
“No?”
“I pretend you don’t exist.”
I don’t mean to laugh, but she has a pirate smile, working to either goad me or ensure my ego is completely shattered. “Why do you pretend I don’t exist?”
Her smile slips, but then her eyebrows rise as she continues to tread water. “Does it matter?”
“It depends.”
Her smile resumes. “On?”
“If it’s true or not.”
“It is.”
“You don’t know me.”
“I know enough.”
I swim closer, catching the uneasy glint in her eyes that only fuels my confidence like a textbook sadist. “What’s that?”
“Why are you trying to make me nervous?”
“Do I make you nervous?”
She remains still, only turning to watch me as I circle her. “In the same way swimming beside an alligator would.”
I move closer, knowing the water is clear and lit well enough that she could see every part of me if she looked. “You don’t trust me.”
“You have a reputation.”
I flash a shark smile—predatory and intentional. “The rumors are all true.”
“They’re nothing to be proud of.”
I shrug. “Debatable.” I move closer, noting the way the tip of her nose and cheeks are red from getting too much sun yesterday, and that the faint indent above her lip can be traced to her chin with a shallow dimple there. “Just ask,” I tell her. “Ask me to kiss you.”
She rolls her eyes. “Was I not clear enough last night?”
I lean closer still as a particularly loud crack of thunder followed by a burst of lightning highlights the sky. Her foot brushes my leg as she continues to tread water, and I run my tongue over a drop of water along her jaw.
Chloe raises her hands, pushing away from me. “I don’t know why you’re doing this, but you need to stop. I’m not playing some game with you.” Anger and hurt flash in her eyes before she turns and swims to the edge of the pool and gets out.
“Are you guys crazy? Did you see the lightning?” Cooper asks as the elevator doors open. “Let’s go upstairs and celebrate our last night in New Orleans.”
Chloe grabs a towel, wrapping it around herself. “I’m tired. I think I’m going to bed.”
Cooper turns his attention to me. “Tell me you put some shorts on.”
“You might want to close your eyes if you don’t want feelings of inadequacy to haunt you.”
The last thing I hear before the elevator doors close is Cooper chuckling.
10
Chloe
“I don’t think I’ll ever find a bed this comfortable again,” Nessie says, spreading her arms over it like she’s making a snow angel.
“They probably have the same beds at all the locations,” I tell her. “But I’m bummed to leave as well. I never had jambalaya, and I really want more beignets.”
“I bet Tyler could arrange it so you could get both before we leave.”
I shove the last of my makeup into my overnight bag and move to pack it in my suitcase. I didn’t tell her about the club or the pool. I can’t even figure out why. Maybe it’s because I think she’ll tell me he was teasing or joking? Or because it might create a point of contention that would make the next fifteen days painful and awkward? “That’s okay. Austin is supposed to have good food, right?”
She laughs. “That’s something I’d be asking you. You looked this stuff up. I barely looked anything up for Austin because I knew we were staying just one night.”
We turn as Cooper knocks on the door. “They’re here to grab the bags. You guys ready?”
I look across our bags and empty room. “Yeah.”
He nods. “We can meet Tyler in the lobby. He said he’d be ready by ten so we could head for Texas.”
Nessie woke me up and dragged me out of bed at six this morning to go for a jog with her, saying I owed her after the ghost tour. I would have complained more if it hadn’t allowed me to get a longer look at the Garden District.
“He’s not back yet?” Nessie asks.
Cooper shakes his head. “Maybe he had a meeting or something?”
I shrug, giving a final glance at the room. “I want to see the atrium down in the lobby. Let’s go see if we feel any cool breezes followed by a warm gust.”
Nessie shudders. “Still not funny.”
I grab my purse, and we move slowly through the hotel suite, parting ways with the beautiful space.
“Should we try calling him?” Vanessa asks, tossing her empty coffee cup in the recycle bin.
Cooper glances at his cell phone that confirms we’ve been down in the lobby for three hours. We’ve seen the entire thing, twice. We saw the shops where I bought a T-shirt and a postcard to send to Mom and Dad, the full atrium filled with exotic plants and a small waterfall, and even the crocodiles. When it hit noon, Cooper texted him, but when he didn’t hear back, we crossed the street and had lunch at a small restaurant. Lunch ended up being a silver lining because I finally got my shrimp jambalaya, and it was definitely worth the wait. We ate in a hurry so that we’d be back to the hotel, not wanting to delay the seven hours and change we have to drive to reach Austin.
“I’ll send him another text. He said ten, right?” He looks at Nessie because I held to my word last night, though they both teased
