SKY
I had intended to give River a nice and normal response, but my brain had other ideas. It was as though once Stacy had warned me about the kind of man River was, I couldn’t see him any other way. And all the things I’d heard about him since hadn’t helped. He slept around, but didn’t get serious with anyone. River fit the mold of a playboy pilot to a T. Hell, he’d probably been the one they made the mold after.
In my mind, River had somehow morphed into every guy I’d crossed paths with during my college years. The kind who lied to get what they wanted from a girl and manipulated her into thinking she was special when she wasn’t. I’d fallen for the act more times than I could count back then, hating myself each and every time after. I refused to fall for it at this stage of my life. I knew they always said that men matured slower than women, but I was starting to think that some didn’t mature at all.
The four of us walked through the airport toward our designated pickup area, where we’d load up in a van waiting to take us to our hotel. I hoped it was nice and that the room service would be operational, especially since we’d be stuck there for the next few days.
Staring at the storm outside the airport windows, I knew I wouldn’t be getting back to Florida anytime soon. That much was clear. My mom was going to be so disappointed. For once, I had actually planned on being home with her, my brother, and my niece for Thanksgiving. I’d missed the last three since I’d started working for the airline, much to her displeasure. I actually enjoyed being in a new city each year, trying to find turkey with my friends from the crew. It had become a tradition of sorts, and I looked forward to it. Plus, the holiday pay was a nice bonus.
But this year, my mom had convinced me to come home. Mostly because my brother and his family would be at their in-laws for Christmas, so if we didn’t have Thanksgiving together, then who knew when I’d see them again? Apparently, I was always working, and my niece was getting bigger by the day, destined to forget all about her auntie Sky if I didn’t come around. I didn’t want that to happen, so I had requested the time off.
We all neared the exit, and I grabbed my jacket, buttoning it up tight as I braced for the cold that I was certain would hit me the second we stepped outside. I was a Florida girl through and through. Humidity I could handle. But the snow and frozen ice chunks that blew through the wind? Those always seemed to chill my bones hard and fast. I never quite got warm enough.
“Ready?” Chad asked as we got even closer toward the exit doors. “The van’s right there.” He pointed at it, and we all nodded, ready to hand the driver our luggage as quickly as possible.
Once we were situated inside the van, the driver flashed us a concerned look. “I’m really hoping we don’t get stuck on the way there,” he said, and my eyes widened.
“What? You think we’ll get stuck?” The question slipped through my lips.
Thanksgiving in a hotel with River wasn’t exactly my idea of a great time, but being stuck on the side of a road in a snowed-in van sounded even less appealing. I saw it all play out in my head. River would try to convince me to have sex with him.
One for the road, he’d say. He’d beg. He wouldn’t stop talking about it.
Then, we’d die with his frozen penis inside my vagina, and that was how people would find us. Stuck together forever.
They’d write that we were in love. Or that we were trying to stay alive by sharing our body heat. When the truth would be that I was giving him a pity fuck so he’d finally stop talking and shut up for once.
“We should be all right, but we really need to go,” the driver answered.
“Are we waiting on anyone else?” River asked, and the driver shook his head. “Let’s hit it,” he said before smacking the back of the seat with his palm.
Pulling out my cell phone, I typed out a quick text to my mom, letting her know that I was snowed in and wouldn’t be making it for Thanksgiving. She was definitely asleep at this hour, but it was better I let her know sooner rather than later. She’d wake up to the message and no doubt call me about it instead of texting back a response. I needed to remember to put my phone on silent once I got checked in and settled in my room for the night. The last thing I needed was to be woken up at some ungodly hour, just to be yelled at.
Thank God the only scary thing about the drive was how slow we had to go. The roads were slippery, and the visibility was awful. Near whiteout conditions at times, which were definitely only going to get worse as the night wore on. It took us over an hour to get to a hotel that was typically fifteen minutes away, at most. Seeing the red neon lights through the falling snow made me smile.
We’d made it.
I couldn’t wait to take a long, hot bath and hoped that my room had a tub. We piled out of the van, thanked the driver, grabbed our bags, maneuvered through the double doors, and walked up to the front counter, bringing in clumps of snow with us.
The first thing I noticed was how many people were up at this hour and hanging out. It seemed like every single corner and table was filled with families and people on their laptops. When I saw trays of food still being delivered, I breathed out a sigh of relief. I was hungry and had only packed a few light snacks. Nothing that would actually settle my grumbling stomach. And since our flight had been so short, we hadn’t had anything that I could take from the galley. No pretzels, no peanuts, no cookies. Nada.
“I’m so happy to see that food,” Carmella whispered toward me as the woman at the check-in counter typed frantically on her keyboard, working some sort of magic with her fingers, like they always seemed to do.
“I want to order one of everything,” I said with a laugh.
I signed the check-in sheet that the airline had called over. It had each one of our four names listed with the checkout date noted as pending. Never a good sign.
“Please tell me I have a bathtub,” I mumbled toward the hotel employee, who was still typing on her computer as she grinned to herself.
“All your rooms do. You actually got the last four. We’re all sold out,” she said before handing me a single key card. “Here you go. You’re all on the same floor.”
“How about we head to our rooms, change, and meet back down here in ten?”
It was River who was asking. I hadn’t expected it or even considered the fact that everyone would want to hang out together. Weren’t they exhausted like I was? Didn’t they want to soak in a long, hot bubble bath until the water turned cold?
“Is the bar still open?” Chad asked.
“It’s open until the crowd starts to die down,” the employee answered.
“Really?” I asked.
“We typically close around eleven, but the bartender decided to stay and keep the bar open He lives about an hour away, so he’s stuck here too.”
“That was nice of him,” I said as I exhaled.
“Meet in ten?” River pushed once more, and we all agreed—me begrudgingly—as we headed toward the bank of waiting elevators.
The doors opened with a thud, and we all stepped inside as Carmella swiped her room key and promptly pressed the seven button.
“We are all on seven, right?” she asked, and we all said, “Yes.”
When I stepped off, my eyes searched for the signs on the wall that would direct me toward my room. “I’m this way.” I gave a head nod toward the right.
“I’m the opposite,” Carmella said with a nod of her own.
“Me too,” Chad said.
I wasn’t sure which one of us he was referring to, but I saw him following in Carmella’s direction.
I started walking and felt River’s presence close behind me. He kept his distance as I read off the numbers next to the doors in search of mine.
“I’m here,” I said as I stopped abruptly, and River stood right next to me, his suitcase at his side.
“Me too.”
“What? We’re not sharing a room.” I knew my voice sounded horrified, but if he thought I was sharing a room with him, he had another thing coming.
“I’m in the one next to you, apparently.” He pointed at the door right next to my own that I hadn’t even noticed until now.
“Adjoining rooms? Did you ask for that?” I asked accusingly.
“Only in your dreams, sweetheart.”
“More like nightmares,” I growled before swiping my key and pushing inside, locking River out.
I heard him though. Moving around in the room next to mine before I noticed the door between our walls. I double-checked my side to make sure it was locked before I tossed my suitcase on top of my king-size bed and unzipped it.
The first thing I did was unpack all of my bathroom essentials. I knew that most people just dropped their makeup bag on the counter and lived out of it, but I wasn’t one of them. I needed all of my hair and face stuff organized. But only those things. My clothes usually stayed inside my suitcase unless we were on a long layover and I had dresses that needed to be hung up in the closet.
Grabbing my toiletry bag, I carried it into the bathroom and smiled at the tub. “I’m coming for you later,” I warned before I started pulling out my things and setting them on top of the counter.
Night creams and face wash on one side. Makeup, primer, and sunscreen on the other. Brush and hair products near the blow-dryer. Toothbrush, toothpaste, makeup remover, and a fresh washcloth right next to the faucet.
A loud knock scared me half to death, and I jumped before looking at my reflection. I looked like ass. My hair, which had been in a perfect ponytail when I started this morning, now had strands of red blown all over, sticking out like I’d stuck my finger in a light socket.
Another knock.
That wasn’t my front door. Walking to the adjoining door, I unlocked it and pulled it open to see River standing there in jeans and a black T-shirt, his hand in the air, poised to knock again. No man should be that sexy and that aware of it.
“What do you want?”
His eyes looked at me, and he shook his head in disapproval. “You’re not ready.”
“I was unpacking.”
He laughed. At me. “Unpacking? Really?”
I snarled, and he quickly backtracked.
“Can you get changed so we can go? They’re already downstairs, looking for a table.”
“You don’t have to wait for me. I’m a big girl. I can meet you down there.”
He leaned close to me, like he’d done in the airport earlier, but this time, his cologne was fresh, and it wafted into my senses, invading them completely. I had to stop myself from closing my eyes and inhaling.
“Might want to brush your hair first.”
“Oh my God. You’re such a jerk.” I shoved at him, trying in vain to get him back on his side of the wall so I could slam the door in his face and never open it again.
“Meet you down there then,” he said before closing his door first.
I stood there like a fool, staring at it, stewing.
I hated River Santos and his stupid cologne.