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CALLIOPE

A loud knock startled me so badly I nearly fell off the couch. I’d only meant to rest there for a minute before grabbing my toiletries and getting ready for bed. Apparently, I’d nodded off.

Twisting around, I wondered if I had imagined the sound. The hallway outside my room had been quiet since I stepped off the elevator, and I hadn’t ordered anything. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure room service was a thing at The Abyss.

Then another knock came, deep and deliberate. I padded to the door and cracked it open, immediately forgetting how to breathe.

Adan stood in the hallway. The man from the bar with the piercing blue eyes and dark, intense stare who’d starred in my dream just moments ago.

He stood behind a sleek black rolling cart covered in silver-domed dishes.

I blinked a few times, but he didn’t disappear. “Um…am I still asleep?”

His mouth curved slightly. “Not unless you dream about late-night meal deliveries.”

“You brought me food?” I squeaked, my cheeks heating as soon as the words left my mouth because he obviously had.

“Since you got waylaid by the storm, I thought you might be hungry.”

My stomach betrayed me with a loud growl. I wrapped an arm around my middle and tried not to look as flustered as I felt. “I mean, I am, but I could’ve called down myself.”

“Now you don’t need to.”

I opened the door the rest of the way to let him in, my heart thudding as he pushed the cart into the room. Nothing about my reaction to him was normal. But I didn’t want him to leave.

He stopped near the table in the corner of the sitting room and lifted one of the domes, revealing a steaming plate of pasta with roasted vegetables and herbs. “This one’s vegetarian, just in case.”

I shook my head with a soft laugh. “You definitely don’t know me.”

A glimmer sparked in his eyes. “Not yet.”

My breath caught in my chest at the weight in those two little words. I crossed the room, hoping movement would hide my reaction.

“Maybe the steak with truffle potatoes and asparagus will be more to your liking.” He lifted two of the lids in unison. “Or chicken Kiev with wild rice and peas.”

“Yum.” I licked my lips and stared. “They all look delicious, even the vegetarian pasta, but that’s way more than I could eat for two big meals, let alone a late-night snack.”

“I wanted to be sure there was something you’d like, but you don’t need to finish it all.” He pulled out one of the four chairs and gestured for me to sit down.

After he pushed my chair in, I twisted around to flash him a grateful smile. “Would you like to join me?”

It must have been a trick of light because I could’ve sworn his pupils expanded to fill his entire eye for a moment. But when I blinked, they were back to the same gorgeous shade of blue as before. “Absolutely.”

He asked what I wanted before setting a plate in front of each of us—chicken for me and steak for him—before sitting across from me. Then he bent low to grab an ice bucket, two glasses, and a familiar bottle from the bottom of the cart.

“It’s a good thing you brought so much. Another drink of that whiskey would put me straight on my butt without getting plenty of food in my belly.”

“Then we can save this to enjoy with dessert.”

Sweets were my biggest weakness. My gaze flicked toward the last dome on the cart—the only one he hadn’t lifted yet. “There’s dessert?”

“Of course.” He lifted the final cover, revealing a chocolate tart with berries and fresh whipped cream.

My eyes widened. “This is way more than a late-night snack. It’s a feast.”

“Hardly,” he disagreed as we dug into our meals. “But I can make sure breakfast fits that description, if you’d like.”

After swallowing a delicious bite of chicken Kiev, I pointed my fork at him. “What are you…some kind of room service ninja?”

His lips curved. “That’s one way of putting it.”

“Well, I hope whoever runs this place knows their staff goes above and beyond.” I gave him a teasing smile. “Even for their unexpected guests.”

“I’m sure he’d appreciate the feedback.”

I tilted my head as a new thought occurred to me. “Wait…do you actually work here?”

“I suppose you could put it that way.”

My eyes narrowed at the slight glint of humor in his blue orbs. “What exactly is your job?”

He hesitated a beat. “I’m the owner.”

My jaw went slack. “The owner?”

“Yes.”

I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that. “And you brought me dinner.”

“You looked like you needed it.”

“That was very kind of you.” I cut into my chicken to mask the trembling of my fingers. “And unexpected.”

“You’ll find The Abyss is full of surprises.”

“That’s certainly been my experience during the short time I’ve been here.”

We ate in companionable silence for a few minutes. The food was divine, and I was far too hungry to pretend otherwise. But as I chewed another bite of peas, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Adan was studying me with more intensity than he let on.

When we were ready to move onto dessert, he filled my glass with a splash of the honey-infused whiskey. I took a small sip, enjoying the warmth that rushed to my belly. The liquor was the perfect accompaniment to the rich chocolate tart, but I couldn’t gulp it down. My tolerance was low on the best of nights, and this one had been anything but normal.

Drinking at all under these circumstances—in a strange place with a man I’d just met—wasn’t something I would usually do. But something about being here with Adan made me feel safe. Not just the physical comfort of being in a luxurious hotel far from the storm, but a strange sense of protection that I didn’t quite know how to explain. It hummed beneath the surface of my skin like a low vibration, steady and sure.

“You okay?” Adan asked.

I nodded quickly. “Yeah. Sorry, just thinking.”

“About?”

I hesitated. “Honestly? One of the things I’m wondering about is how much this room is going to cost me.”

His brow arched slightly. “Worried it’ll blow your budget?”

“You’re assuming there was a budget in the first place.” I flashed him a sheepish smile and swept my hand in a half circle to gesture toward the high-end furnishings of the massive suite. “And considering how fancy everything is, I expect to get a bill that makes my credit card weep.”

Adan chuckled, the deep sound curling low in my stomach. “You don’t need to worry about that happening.”

I squinted at him. “That’s a comforting answer with exactly zero details.”

“I guess you’ll have to trust me.”

“I’m not usually great at relying on strangers,” I admitted with a soft laugh. “Especially mysterious ones who show up at my hotel room with dinner after dark.”

He tilted his head. “Yet here you are, enjoying dessert with me after our shared meal and drinking whiskey that could drop a lesser mortal.”

“Touché.” I laughed and took another sip. “Do you always treat lost guests like royalty?”

His gaze never wavered. “Only the special ones.”

My throat went dry. “That’s a very smooth answer.”

“I never gave it to anyone before. Just you because I don’t say things I don’t mean.”

My cheeks heated again, but not from embarrassment this time. I shifted in my chair, caught between flustered and fascinated.

Before I could think of something clever to say, a low chime sounded from the hallway. It was barely audible but still clear. Adan frowned and tilted his head, as though he was listening to something I couldn’t hear.

“What was that?” I asked, glancing toward the door.

He blinked and offered a neutral smile. “Just part of the building’s internal alert system. Nothing to worry about.”

That sounded a little more intense than your typical fire alarm. But I let it go. For now, at least.

“You said The Abyss is full of surprises,” I said, trying to lighten the mood again. “Anything else I should know during my short time here?”

Adan leaned back slightly in his chair, his expression unreadable. Although I had the odd sense that he wasn’t happy with my mention of not being here for long. “That depends on how open you are to having your view of the world turned upside down.”

My heart gave a funny little skip. “I’ve traveled all over. Nothing really shocks me anymore.”

His smile was slow and wicked. “Then you haven’t traveled far enough yet.”

Something electric sizzled in the air between us. And at that moment, I had the sense that I hadn’t stumbled into this place by accident at all.

His gaze held mine as the air between us shifted—as though something unseen had stirred in response to his words. The chandelier above us shimmered, its glow pulsing ever so slightly, as though the building itself had drawn a breath.

“What was that?” I whispered.

Adan didn’t look away. “The Abyss has its own kind of awareness. It senses things most places never will.”

“That shouldn’t be possible.” A shiver chased down my spine, but it wasn’t fear. Or not completely. More of a dizzy, weightless feeling that came right before your world tilted off its axis.

“You’ll find that the inconceivable is the norm here.”