“We’ve got to find our phones, Tony. Now. And somewhere around here has to be our keys. I’m checking by the hot tub.”
“I’ll take the TV. Too bad this place doesn’t have a coffeemaker.”
Coffee sounded like heaven. Something that would take her mind off what may or may not be stored on the cloud right now that could torpedo her career before it even began. No, she had to find that phone. Hayden advanced on the hot tub as if it was a beast blocking her path to caffeine. The dark red heart-shaped tub lay recessed inside a wooden platform. Burned candles lined the tub. Good grief, they’d really gone for the romantic cliché. Hell, they hadn’t even bothered to drain the thing.
Too much of a hurry?
Hayden felt her cheeks burning and darted a glance toward Tony. Wrong move, because right now the towel was slipping and all she could see was his gorgeous ass. Maybe that wasn’t so bad. Because his ass was muscular and toned and a treat she wasn’t likely to enjoy again. Maybe she’d had the right idea last night.
If she were to put her new roll-with-it philosophy to the test, she could drop the bulky sheet at her feet. Cross toward him. Slowly trail her fingertips down the muscular slopes of his back...
Her nipples puckered against the sheet, and the tight hold she had on the restricting barrier slackened. An oh-so-heady, limb-loosening blast of desire rushed through her.
She whirled away from him. Sex with a stranger might have sounded like a good idea at one in the morning. But Hayden had only ever made love to a guy she cared about. Who cared about her. Could she have mind-blowing sex with a stranger? Apparently she had last night. But right now? In the cold light of day when it went against everything she believed at her core?
Tony’s not exactly a stranger, the daring side of her brain reminded her. That side of her had been quiet for so long, beaten down by long hours in the library and physically exhausting work in the restaurant that paid her tuition and rent. She couldn’t afford a mistake. Not at this point in her life when she was about to make all the dreams for her future now her reality.
Something silver and shiny winked in the sunlight. She pushed one of their discarded red towels aside with her toe to get a better view. It was her favorite hoop earring. She dropped to the floor to pick it up. An inexpensive high school graduation gift from her grandmother, but it was priceless to Hayden. She scooted around the floor trying to find the other earring. She could not roll with losing those.
Bingo! There it was. She stretched to reach it.
Tony made a strange choking sound just as she thankfully grabbed the cold metal hoop.
“What?” she asked. Maybe she should be asking what now?
“The sheet shifted when you started crawling on the floor, and...I think I found your tattoo.”
Hayden’s stomach tightened. “Seriously? But I didn’t see—”
“It’s in a spot, uh, not easily noticed.”
The fact that Tony appeared completely uncomfortable was a point in his favor. Hayden took a deep breath. After all, she’d been perfectly resigned to a tattoo five minutes ago. Yeah, perfectly.
“Okay, tell me quick, like you’re ripping off a bandage. Butterfly, flower or heart?”
“Dragon.”
“As in cute, puffy smoke or...?”
“Scales and flame. Medieval. Kind of fierce.”
Hayden collapsed against the smooth wood of the hot tub’s platform. So much for rolling with it. She began to laugh. “I’ve always heard tattoos were painful, but I’m not even tender.”
A quick two-rap knock on the door startled them both and a voice sounded from the other side. “Good morning, it’s Betty from last night.”
“Betty?” she mouthed at Tony. His shrug said he had no recollection, either.
“I have your breakfast,” Betty said.
“Open the door,” he whispered to Hayden as he raced for the bathroom and shut the door. Her stomach had rumbled at the mention of food, so any kind of I’m-literally-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo meltdown would just have to wait. She tightened the sheet under her arms and made for the door.
A smiling, kind-eyed lady greeted her from the other side of the door. The sun shone brightly behind her and a light breeze ruffled her hair. Birds sang their morning songs in the trees. It was that perfect kind of day that always seemed to spring up when your personal life was completely out of whack.
“I have your breakfast basket right here. Biscuits and gravy, pumpkin spice muffins and a carafe of coffee.”
Yes!
She had about a million questions for this woman. But they could wait until after she was dressed. And fed. And without a gorgeous man in her field of vision.
Betty gave her a little smile and leaned in close. “I see the clothes I left for you last night are still here on the porch, so I’ll just hand you the basket.”
Hayden couldn’t hide her cringe. Betty looked as if she could be Hayden’s grandma’s younger sister, and Hayden felt as if she’d been caught doing something very, very wrong. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. What must this kind woman think of her?
Of course when she considered this situation rationally, a stranger’s opinion shouldn’t bother her. You don’t live for others; you live for yourself.
Blah blah blah. Hayden understood all about the validation trap. That didn’t mean she could shake it off easily. It bothered her that Betty assumed Hayden had been apparently way too intent on the man in her bed last night to even employ the ten seconds it would take to grab a bag of donated clothes.
Nothing like that would ever bug the other young women in her engineering classes. But then, most of them hadn’t been raised by grandparents who seemed old-fashioned even to people of their own generation. In a word, she was mortified.
Betty’s voice lowered. “Sorry again about not being able to find a bra in your size, but there’s an extra cami in the pile so you can layer.” Then she flashed Hayden a comforting smile and the embarrassment and awkwardness churning inside her vanished.
Hayden loved Betty in that moment. The woman would be in her will. If she ever wrote a book, it would be dedicated to her. But coffee or clothes, which was more important?
“Thanks,” she gushed to their host as she took the basket.
Betty handed her the small mesh grocery bag with the clothes that had been left for them the night before. “Bill has your car down by our cabin. He’s gotten most of the smell out, but, you know, humans never win when they face a skunk.”
“Huh? Oh, yes, so true.”
“But it was so sweet of you to save the dog, although it wouldn’t have been the first time he’s lost a battle with a skunk, too.” Betty turned to leave. “Oh, and checkout was at noon. But since you guys didn’t get here until after ten last night, and we don’t have any other bookings, feel free to stay until two.”
Hayden closed the heavy oak door and leaned her head against the smooth wooden surface. Then she realized she’d missed the opportunity to find out more from the woman. “I was going to ask so many questions,” she mumbled.
“You still can,” Tony said as he emerged from the bathroom, still looking as gorgeous as when she’d woken up in his arms. Still same towel low on his hips. Surely that bag contained some sanity-saving pair of pants he could wear.
Still, she couldn’t handle any more conversations with Mr. Should Be a Model for Pec and Ab Magazine. She thrust the sack of clothes into his hands.
“You can get dressed first,” she offered, sounding way