He finishes his burger and grins as he swallows the last fry. “Beat you,” he taunts.
Damn it. I was in fact trying to beat him. How did he know it was a competition?
He stares at me for a long moment, long enough for me to get lost again in those beautiful eyes. I wonder what he’s thinking. Then he takes out his phone. “What’s your email address?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Why?”
“Humor me,” he says. “Who’s to say? Maybe I’m sharing a funny meme with you.”
“People do that with text messages,” I reply after taking a sip of my soda.
He raises an eyebrow at me. He leans forward and his voice gets husky. It has a definite effect on my body. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”
“Fine, it’s [email protected].”
He laughs out loud. “You’re email address is klurpy?”
I run a hand through my hair. “Look, it was an inside joke between me and my college friends. And your reaction is exactly why I’m hesitant to give my email out to random strangers.” I know I should be an adult and create another email address, but honestly who has the time?
My phone chimes. I check the message to see what he sent me. Luckily, I have just finished eating or I would have choked. What he emailed me isn’t a funny internet meme or a flirty message like I thought it would be. It’s a notification. From Paybot. It informs me that there is now three hundred forty-five thousand dollars waiting to be deposited into my account.
My eyes shoot up to meet his. He’s smiling, but it’s not the usual cocky smirk. He looks as happy as I am surprised.
“A deal’s a deal,” he says. “And after what you’ve been through, I wanted you to know that I am a man of my word.”
“Thank you,” I say. I should probably say more, but my mind is now a total blank. Shock does that to people. “And thanks for dinner, it was delicious.”
“It really was.” He sounds surprised.
I laugh. Then something shiny catches my eye. The engagement ring. Oh yeah. “What about the ring?” I ask. Then I get an idea. “I know, when I break up with you publicly on Sunday, I’ll dramatically throw it back at you. That’ll look convincing.”
It’s his turn to laugh. “You could. That sounds exciting, and I guess we never did talk through our endgame. But I want you to keep it. Please. It’s a gift. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun.” He checks his watch. “How about we go back to the hotel and strategize for tomorrow?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chase
The driver drops us off back at the resort a few minutes later. The time has passed so quickly.
Kaylee gets out of the car and straightens her hair before proceeding. She has that determined look on her face. She has been through so much and she’s still strong, confident, and kicking ass.
She can handle anything. I was telling the truth back at Banana Burger when I said that I haven’t had this much fun in years.
I speed up and hold out my hand out to her and then we whoosh through the resort entrance doors together. I have to admit, life with Kaylee feels comfortable and real. Even though it’s fake.
We walk hand in hand to the lobby and almost make it to the elevators before Kaylee stops walking and sucks in a breath.
“What?” I ask, stopping with her even though I don’t know why.
“Vivian,” she hisses, “what the hell is she doing here this late?”
Kaylee abruptly shoves me toward an empty hallway, and I see her cross the room to confront the woman in front of us. What the hell is going on now?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kaylee
As Chase and I go strolling in through the front door of the lobby, I spot Vivian. She’s coming straight at us. Without even thinking, I give Chase a hard shove into a nearby hallway and hope that it’s not too late. I also hope that he’ll play it cool and not do anything stupid.
Okay, Kaylee, don’t freak out. It’s perfectly normal for you to be strolling through the lobby of the place you work after dinner when you called in sick the rest of the weekend and told the nosiest coworker here that you may or may not need surgery.
I’m not imagining it either. Vivian sees me right away and makes a beeline to me.
“Who was that?” she asks, looking around me like I have him hidden in a back pocket.
“Who?” I decide to play dumb.
“That guy.”
“What guy?”
I watch as Vivian’s expression goes from suspicious to confused to concerned. “The guy you just shoved into the hallway. That guy.”
Don’t say anything dumb. “Just a guest.” Shit, that is a way wrong response since I’m currently a hotel employee. I knew it right away when I said it. I’m not off to a good start here.
Vivian’s eyes get wide. “Okay, well, you’re sick, so maybe you shouldn’t be here, um, interacting with the guests.”
Vivian has a very good point. I cough. Because I’m supposed to be sick. “You’re right, Vivian. I’m totally going to listen to you. It’s just that I care so much about all of the guests here, I can’t help it.” Way to make it weird, Kaylee.
Vivian puts a hand on my shoulder and steers me toward the lobby exit. “Listen, you really should be resting up for your operation.”
Oh shit. I forgot what I said earlier. Because that was when I was stressed. And hungry. And cornered. Like right now. I already know I’m an awful liar. Now I’m an awful liar with a bad memory.
Maybe if I don’t remember, she won’t either. “Hey, about earlier. I just wanted to make it clear that they haven’t exactly decided if I even need the surgery yet.”
Vivian gasps. “They might not even be able to operate?”
It takes me a moment to try to figure out what she means.
