When he rolled away from her, he pulled her close. She pressed her cheek against his solid chest, but before she could speak darkness took over and she slipped into dreamless sleep.
Chapter 11
It felt invasive to watch her sleep.
Pulling back from her as slowly as he could, Simon got out of bed. She stirred but didn’t wake up.
He grabbed his clothes and walked into the bathroom to clean up and get dressed. With that out of the way, he stepped back out and assessed the room. Simon had no idea if this was Heather’s room or his. The best thing to do was get to the bottom of this to avoid another mix-up. Not that he regretted ending up in a room with Heather.
Making love to her had been incredible, but the best thing about them getting stuck in a room was that he had finally gotten the chance to apologize properly. She deserved to know how much he regretted those ugly things he had said to her.
When his eyes landed on her sleeping form, he smiled. Her auburn hair was still damp, fanning around her. He’d never seen her look so peaceful.
Silently he reached for the blanket on the bed, pulled it back, and covered Heather with it. Still asleep, she let out a soft, satisfied sigh.
Feeling restless, he grabbed his cell phone to check his messages and headed out to the front desk. After fifteen minutes of talking to the receptionist and one of the hotel managers, Simon managed to get some answers about the room mix-up and got a new room key to the vacant room across from Heather.
Once he took his duffel bag to his new room, he headed back into Heather’s room to check up on her. If he was being honest, he was doing more than checking up on her. His heart couldn’t stand to be away from her for too long. With each passing minute, he missed her more and more. A week ago, this kind of yearning would be absurd to him, but he knew that he loved her now and his feelings for her made sense.
He walked into the bedroom to find her stretching and yawning.
“You’re awake,” he said softly.
She blinked and pulled the blanket tightly around her. “How long have I been asleep?”
“About an hour,” he replied.
“I guess now that I’m up you want to talk.”
The truth was, he didn’t. Not now anyway. When he had apologized to her, he had stopped just short of confessing that he was in love with her. Because he had no idea how she would take it. Would she feel the same way? Or would she throw it back in his face?
On top of his anxiety about how that kind of declaration would make her feel, there were the ethics involved. She might have moved to a different department, but she was still his employee. As her boss, he had to be careful about revealing something that earth-shattering to her.
“You should get some rest,” he said. “It’s been a long day and you’re probably tired.”
“Where are you going to sleep tonight?” she asked sleepily.
He couldn’t tell if she was just curious or if she was trying to invite him to spend the night. “In the room across the hall. One of the hotel managers explained that we probably got a staff key by accident.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Staff keys can open all the rooms, right?”
He nodded. “That’s how we both got into the same room. Our keys could pretty much open any room in the hotel.”
“But what about the room number?”
“This is room 37,” he said.
“It said 38 when I walked in.” She must have noticed the skepticism on his face because her eyes narrowed. “I swear it did. I’m not lying.”
“I know you’re not lying,” he said slowly. “Maybe you made a mistake. I mean, you’ve had a long day. The exhaustion might have made you read the wrong number. Combine that with the mix-up with our room keys and it was probably an accident waiting to happen.”
“It seems like a very convenient accident,” she said with a frown.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning we’re not very well-behaved when we’re alone. Which you know very well,” she said.
“You still think I did this?”
A smile tugged at her lips. “I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”
“Heather, I didn’t do this.”
“I’m not mad,” she said.