Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
“You don’t have to carry my stuff, Fitz,” she called, jogging after him.
“It’s fine.”
The automatic doors slid open, and they were hit with a wall of cool air smelling of industrial cleaner. She’d expected temperatures to be warmer the farther south they drove so she hadn’t bothered to pack her winter coat, but the early April air in Missoula still had a real bite to it and the air-conditioning didn’t help. She rubbed her arms, following Fitz into a lobby with shiny brass light fixtures, a stacked stone fireplace, and wood floors everywhere.
“Wow,” she murmured.
At the reception desk, a girl appeared from the back, coming to an abrupt stop when she spotted Fitz.
Setting their bags at his feet, he leaned his folded arms across the Formica counter. “Hey,” he said, voice low and deep. Even behind him, Ren could hear his trademark smile in the sound, and she looked up in time to catch the woman’s visible swoon.
“Hey—hi.” She swallowed. “Good eve—Welcome. To the Missoula…Checking in?”
Smoothly, he reached into his back pocket and pulled his wallet out. “I have a reservation.” He handed her his ID. “But was wondering if we could add a second room?”
The woman pushed a cloud of frizzy curls from her face and typed in his name. “Hmm. I do see your reservation here…one night, in a double?” She glanced sidelong at Ren and then quickly away. “But you want a second room?”
“That’s right.”
She pressed a few more keys and winced. “It looks like we’re fully booked because of the rodeo and won’t be able to add another room tonight.”
He lowered his voice further, dripping honey. “You sure?”
The girl stared at him for a long, silent beat. Ren looked from Fitz, to the girl, and back to Fitz again, wondering what was supposed to happen. Finally, he cleared his throat, and the girl jolted back into awareness. “Um…y-yes. Unless you want a room on the club level.”
“How much are those?”
She swallowed thickly. “Those are two fifty.”
“Two hundred and fifty dollars?”
“Yes.”
“Per night?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“In Missoula?”
“Yes.”
“On a Tuesday?”
She swallowed again, eyes flickering away. “Yes.”
Fitz deflated, turning to Ren. “You can take the room. I’ll sleep in the car.”
“No!” she yelled, startling them all. “No way. If anyone sleeps in the car, it’s me.”
He shook his head. “We’re not doing that.”
“Then I won’t even walk upstairs to the room,” she said. “I mean it, Fitz.”
After a moment of jaw-clenching contemplation, he turned back to the girl at the counter, resigned. “Fine. I guess we’re doing the one room. Is there a rollaway you can send up?”
She nodded, then stopped. “I—no, sorry. Unfortunately, this size room doesn’t accommodate one.”
“Don’t worry,” Ren told him in a whisper, “it’s not like there will be any hanky-panky.”
The girl smothered a laugh, and Fitz glanced at Ren with a smirk. “Hanky-panky?”
“You know. Like kissing and canoo—”
“Yeah, Ren, I know what hanky-panky is.” With a quiet laugh, he handed over his credit card, signed a screen when prompted, took the key card, and wordlessly picked up their bags again. “Thanks,” he said over his shoulder, charm turned off.
Ren smiled at the other woman, saying a quick “Thank you very much” before jogging after Fitz to the elevators. In silence, they stepped in when the doors opened, and Fitz hit the button for the fifth floor.
“I really don’t mind sleeping on the rug,” Ren told him.
He exhaled through his nose, eyes up as he watched the numbers climb, and then exited without answering. Ren fully intended to keep arguing, but when he unlocked the door and indicated that she should go in ahead of him, she pulled up short in shock.
She’d never even been in a hotel, let alone slept in one, and simply didn’t have the words for how stunning it was. The room itself was as big as half of her cabin back home, and when Fitz stepped through a door and turned on a light in a bathroom, Ren let out a cry, covering her mouth with her hand. “A bathroom in the room? For real?”
When Fitz emerged, Ren would have sworn he was fighting a smile. “Well, at least you’re easy to please.”
“I’ve never slept in a hotel before.”
One dark brow lifted. “Never?”
“I’d never even spent a night away from my own bed before Corona.”
“No shit?”
“Not even a little shhhhh…it,” she told him.
Fitz looked playfully shocked. “One day on the road, Sweden, and you’ve already got a mouth on you.”
While he stepped out to put the parking tag in the car, Ren looked around, opening drawers and exploring what the room had to offer. A dresser with room for clothes, an empty fridge that didn’t appear to be plugged in. The view wasn’t much—a street, empty hills in the distance—but even if Fitz was unimpressed, Ren couldn’t get past the luxury of having everything at their fingertips.