Page 26

TWENTY-SIX

KIT

We pulled into a packed parking lot at a hotel outside of Columbus, Georgia, fifteen minutes before ten, exhausted.

“I’ll take the book tonight.” Trent sighed, stretching his arms overhead as we exited the car. He tucked the already worn pages into his back pocket before rounding the car and pulling our luggage from the trunk. Team Barbie pulled in next to us.

“Good evening.” Mike greeted us as he emerged from the driver’s seat in a Hawaiian T-shirt and a pair of black shades. Hayden wore a tight-fitting romper that matched his shirt.

“Hey, Malibu,” Trent laughed. “You’re in late. I figured we’d be the last ones.”

“We got lost on some back roads, trying to take a shortcut. It didn’t pan out, clearly,” Hayden huffed. She hefted an overnight bag out of the backseat and followed us into the lobby.

“What’s going on here?” Trent wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me out of the way of a wildly gesticulating drunk standing in a circle with five other guys. Each of them wore badges around their necks.

“Conference?” Mike guessed.

“Shit,” Hayden muttered under her breath. “I hope we get a room.”

The unruly herd of people in the lobby barely flinched as we muscled our way them to the reception desk. A frazzled-looking woman raked a hand through her black, curly hair. She nodded, humming a “yes” over the phone cradled in her hand before setting it down and exhaling loudly.

“Sorry,” she stammered, collecting herself. “How can I help you?”

Trent nudged me forward.

“Reservation for Kit Holden.”

She frowned, eyes scanning her computer. “Here you are. I just need a credit card for incidentals, and I’ll get your room keys.”

I scanned my card and took the keys. Trent eyed the full lobby, nodding to Hayden. “Why don’t y’all go first.”

“Hi.” Hayden beamed at the receptionist. “We don’t have a reservation. Do you have a room available?”

The receptionist frowned, eyes flitting back to the screen. “We don’t. Booked up completely thanks to the printer expo.”

“Printer expo?” Trent asked.

“It’s a thing, apparently.” The receptionist shrugged. “They come here every year. There are tons of them and they all get…” She lowered her voice. “Very, very drunk. Let me see if anyone else has a spare room.”

She tapped her keyboard and let out a sigh. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any openings at our partner hotels, either. You might want to head about a half-hour north. There are a bunch of options off the interstate there.”

A wrinkle formed in the middle of Hayden’s forehead. “Guess that’s what we get for not planning ahead.”

“Tom and Ashley are usually so good about making sure there’s nothing going on at the check-ins,” Mike mumbled with a shrug.

Trent’s eyes locked on mine, and he mouthed, “Should I give them my room?”

I shook my head. Absolutely not. I couldn’t spend a night with Trent. Especially not after last night.

“So, back in the car?” Mike asked, pulling off his blond wig.

“I don’t want to get back in that car.” Hayden tipped her head back. “I’m tired.”

“I’m tired, too.” Mike’s smile grew tight, the edge in both of their voices hinting at an upcoming fight.

I groaned, leveling my eyes at Trent. “Fine.”

“Seriously?” He cocked his head, and I nodded again. “Why don’t you take my room? I can bunk up with Kit for tonight.”

Hayden jolted with surprise. “Seriously?”

“I booked two queens. We’ll probably survive,” I said with fake confidence as my pulse quickened.

“You’re a lifesaver!” Mike gushed. Trent and Mike worked with the receptionist to turn over the reservation. A few minutes later, Mike had a room key. “Let us buy you a drink before bed.”

Despite my exhaustion, bed didn’t hold the same appeal as it had a few minutes ago.

“Sure,” I relented. “That’d be nice.”

The throngs of printer enthusiasts grew thicker as we walked away from the lobby, standing nearly shoulder-to-shoulder, three people deep at the bar. Trent cleared the way for us, searching for Ashley and Tom above the heads of the very loud, very wasted printer employees.

“Over there!” Trent yelled over the mixture of loud conversation and classic rock.

“Holy shit, are you Trent Vogt?” A guy wearing a blue suit and a loose tie craned his head up, eyes growing wide.

“Nope,” Trent answered tersely. “I get that a lot, though.”

Despite the denial, the man whispered to the woman next to him. Her eyes lit up, smiling widely at Trent. “I’m a huge Breakers fan! I follow your rally account!”

Trent cringed. “Yep, I guess you caught me.”

She slipped in between us, grabbing his arm. “Oh, that’s so exciting! I sort of hoped you were heading toward Columbus, but how could I know that you’d be staying at the same hotel as the conference? Mind if I buy you a drink and introduce you to a couple of people?”

I stifled a laugh as Trent glanced back with a look of panic. I waved. “Have fun with your new friends! I’ll check us in!”

“Guess you might not need that second bed after all,” Hayden said with a wink.

My throat tightened, not considering that possibility just a minute before. The woman Trent wandered off with was a little older than me, and attractive, more attractive than me anyway. An unfamiliar pang of jealousy coursed through me, but I plastered a smile on my face. “That’d be ideal.”

Tom and Ashley crammed into a corner booth at the back of the bar. Mike spotted them first and lead the way.

“Well, we didn’t expect this.” Ashley gave us a friendly smile and gestured to the crowds. “Are all your stops posted?”

“Minus one,” I admitted.

“Punishment post?” She frowned sympathetically.

I nodded.

I’d rewatched the video, spending way too long admiring Trent than I’d ever admit. After plastering emojis over all the private bits, and an extra emoji over Trent’s abs because to be frank, those were every bit as lust-worthy as the rest of him, I still hadn’t decided whether to submit the video for points.

“So…” Tom prompted. “Are you gonna post it now?”

I should have kept Trent around. I didn’t know how to vie for extra points. My cheeks heated at the thought of admitting we’d gone naked.

“We were sort of hoping we could get some points for the stop.”

Tom shook his head. “No can do. You’re lucky I didn’t dock you for losing your book.”

“What if we went down…” I winced. “Naked?”

Ashley spluttered out a laugh into her drink, and Mike and Hayden whipped their heads toward me.

“Both of you?” Tom asked.

I nodded. “We took a video. One that I edited.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t want to see Trent Vogt’s junk.” Tom’s nose wrinkled.

“I do!” Ashley said.

“Me too, actually,” Hayden said, grimacing slightly at Mike’s offended frown. “Just out of curiosity.”

Tom sighed, his chest rising and falling as he worked his jaw. “Alright. Show me the video.”

I unlocked my phone and handed it to Tom. He set it on the table and pressed play. I leaned away as the rest of the group crowded in to watch.

I’d edited the video down to a little over a minute and every second felt like a lifetime. A couple of laughs sounded from the group, and I searched the bar for Trent, failing to find him among the crowd of printer professionals in business suits and sheath dresses.

Just as well. He didn’t need to see the video either. If Tom wanted me to post it for points, that was a hard no, and Trent wasn’t around to argue with my decision.

“Well,” Tom’s voice cut through my thoughts, and I turned back to the table. “That’s funny as hell.”

“I’m not a great swimmer.” I rubbed the back of my neck, shifting on my feet.

“And it’s so sweet.” Hayden clutched her hands to her heart. “Trent dove right in there after you.”

“I wouldn’t have minded getting rescued by Trent,” Ashley said with a lifted eyebrow.

“Fine, you met the penalty stop requirements, and I’ll give you three extra points.” Mike handed back my phone. “Five if you post it.”

“Three would be great,” I said, fingers already itching to erase the video.

“The offer stands until tomorrow, in case you change your mind.” Tom leaned back in his seat and took a swig of his beer.

I smiled politely, but there wasn’t a chance in hell that I’d post the video. Three points were plenty.

“Can we watch it one more time?” Hayden asked eagerly.

Mike shot his girlfriend an annoyed look before turning to me. “You’ve definitely earned a drink. What can I get you?”

“I’m not picky.”

“Margaritas!” Hayden said, wrapping an arm around me. “Two each, because that bar is mobbed.”

Mike waded into the crowd as Hayden pulled me into an empty booth, pushing the empty glasses left to the corner of the table.

“What are you two up to, anyway?”

“Still nothing.”

“But you saw him naked!” She pitched across the table, eyes wide. “That's not nothing. He’s hung, isn’t he? Tell me before Mike comes back. He’d be super jealous if he knew I was asking, but I need to know.”

I ducked my head, fingers fumbling for the phone in my pocket. “I didn’t really look.”

“Liar. You have it on video!” She raised an eyebrow. "Unless he edited the video."

I shook my head. “Absolutely not. You saw me flailing in the water. It's embarrassing enough that he witnessed me drowning firsthand. I wasn't giving him the opportunity to watch it again.”

“He’s totally into you,” she teased in a sing-song voice.

“Of course he isn't. He just took off with some rando,” I argued. “He’s a shameless flirt, and we’ve gotten way too comfortable with each other on this trip. It’ll pass.”

Even though I meant the words for Hayden, I needed them for myself. I’d rewatched the video as Trent drove, analyzing and reanalyzing the video. He'd been out of frame as I rode down the rocks, reappearing when I sank under the water, mouth open and sucking in a wet breath. Then he dove underneath, pulling me up, his face contorted with worry and…affection? As I'd coughed up water and struggled for air, I hadn't registered how he'd pushed the hair out of my face or his concerned murmurs, too muffled to pick up over the roar of the river.

And even as I reminded myself exactly what I'd told Hayden – he's a flirt, we're spending too much time together, it meant nothing – I kept rewatching the video, wondering if she wasn't right.

Hayden’s face fell. She played with the ring on her right hand with a frown. "I just sense something else between you two, you know?"

“Didn’t you just warn me about him the night before?”

“I didn’t warn you,” she metered her words. “I just didn’t peg you two as a possibility. But after that video…”

She collapsed with a sigh and then straightened, letting out a giggle. “I just think you’re both so cute together.”

Definitely cute. So cute that Trent was flirting with some other woman on the other side of the bar. Thankfully, Mike returned with our drinks and put an end to any conversation about Trent and I.