Page 77 of Tripped By Love

“I hope everything goes well tomorrow. Let yourself enjoy the moment. You’ve earned it.”

My heart faltered. It wasn’t like my mother had never praised me or that she didn’t believe in me. It just felt like she was telling me something more. Something bigger. The truth was, I still didn’t feel like I’d earned anything, even though it was my recipes that had attracted Lance Ralley’s interest.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I said quietly.

We hung up, and the silence filled the car again.

My mind swirled with all the decisions I had to make and the responsibilities that followed me around. I’d been lucky to have my dreams come true, but the heavy weight of those dreams as they’d become real was even more than I’d expected. The non-stop work and long hours it took to make it all come together every day was never ending. I was tired. Exhausted deep in my soul.

Sometimes… Sometimes I wished for just a momentary break to recharge before diving back in. In two years, I hadn’t had that chance. Tonight…tonight maybe I could let it all go. For just one night. Maybe I could just be a woman standing in front of a man who she wanted with every fiber of her being without caring about what came next. Maybe we could lose ourselves in each other, living in this singular moment instead of the past or the future.

“Where are you at?” Marco asked, drawing me back to him.

I took a deep breath and told him the truth. “I’m thinking about how long it’s been since I’ve had a night all to myself. With no one to take care of and no kitchen or recipes calling to me.”

He navigated an off-ramp and made several turns the GPS was shouting out in order to get to the hotel. It wasn’t a five-star hotel. Just an average place where business people often holed up while traveling for work. I didn’t even think it had room service. But it had clean beds reserved for us in separate rooms. Visions filled me again like they had earlier of us sharing a room. Except, this time I could clearly see Marco’s muscled torso moving above me. Hands and bodies tangled amongst white sheets. It almost took my breath away.

“You’ve earned a night off, Angel,” Marco said. That word “earned” filled the air around me for the second time, battling with my conscience. “You work harder than anyone I know. Treat yourself for the next couple of nights.”

“Yeah?” I said as he pulled into the hotel and parked the rental in a slot not far from the lobby doors.

He nodded.

“You know what else I’m thinking?” I asked. He didn’t respond, just turned the car off and looked at me as I continued. “I’m thinking about how nice it would be to have one room instead of two.”

His jaw flexed, teeth grinding together.

“Cassidy?”

“Don’t. Don’t start spewing all the reasons we shouldn’t. I’m bone tired of doing the responsible thing, aren’t you? Don’t you want, for just once, to do the irresponsible thing?”

He closed his eyes, blocking me out.

I leaned in and ran a hand along his jaw.

“Marco.” His eyes opened, plowing into mine with heat and intensity. “Let’s be bad together. Really, really bad.”