He looked down at her and I saw his profile in Reception Betty’s bright parking lot lights and when I did I held my breath.
If he was that handsome in profile, so handsome he was breathtaking; he’d be sensational full on.
That’s when I decided I really hated her.
They got close to the door and he moved suddenly and quickly. Swinging her up in front of him, she wrapped her legs around his hips, her arms around his shoulders and tipped her head down to look at him. But he seemed to be peering in the room like he expected to see something or someone, something or someone important, something or someone he was looking forward to seeing. But before he found that something or someone, she fisted a hand in his hair, tilting his back, her mouth went down on his and they entered the room necking.
He closed the door with his booted foot.
Yes, sensational. If he could pick her up like that and carry her anywhere, he was beyond sensational.
“Like the pool?”
I jumped and pushed off the side with my foot, my head jerking around as I stared at the Reception Guy who checked in Lucky as Hell Girl that I hated. He was standing at the side of the pool and looking down at me. I was so engrossed in Handsome Harley Guy and Lucky as Hell Girl I hadn’t heard him coming.
“Sorry?” I asked.
“The pool,” he answered. “Like it?”
“Um…” I mumbled, staring up at him. “Yes.”
“It’s heated,” he informed me.
“Um…” I mumbled again. “I can tell.”
“Betty ‘n me got it relined last year. One or t’other of us clean it every day. Best pool in the county.”
I couldn’t disagree. It was a fantastic pool, clean, heated and everything.
Therefore I said, “It’s really nice.”
He rocked back on his heels and took in the pool with his eyes before he looked back at me.
“Thanks. Ned,” he said.
“Uh, my name is Lauren,” I said back and he laughed.
“No, pretty lady, name’s Ned.” He jerked a thumb at himself. “I’m Ned.”
“Oh,” I replied, feeling like an idiot. “Hey Ned.”
“Hey back at cha Lauren.” He grinned. “Betty tells me you’re stayin’ awhile.”
“Yeah,” I told him thinking he seemed friendly enough but not certain how much to share because, well, I didn’t know him and every girl in a pool in the parking lot of a hotel on the edge of Nowheresville should be smart and not tell their story, current or past, to some random man who snuck up on them. In fact, girls like that should get out of the pool, get into their room and lock the danged door.
“That’s great.” Ned was still grinning. “We don’t get a lot of long timers. Weekenders. Nighters. Yeah. Long timers. No.”
“Oh,” I replied, my eyes going back to the long block of hotel, specifically to my room where I figured I should be at that present moment.
“That’s Neeta,” Ned said and I looked back at him.
“Neeta?” I asked.
Ned nodded. “Neeta and Jackson,” he shook his head, “bad news.”
My gaze slid back in the direction of the hotel. He’d misinterpreted where I was looking. He thought I was looking at Harley Guy and Lucky as Hell Girl’s room.
I didn’t inform him of his mistake. Instead, I asked softly, “Bad news?”
“Yeah,” Ned answered. “She swings into town and shoo!” My eyes went to him to see he’d put his hands up at his sides and had taken a step back. “We brace.”
“Brace for what?” I asked.
He dropped his hands. “Brace for whatever Neeta’s got up her sleeve.”
“Is that…” I stopped and motioned toward the Harley and the convertible with my head, “Neeta with that man?”
“Jackson, yeah. He’s great, a good man, smart, solid, salt of the earth. Loses his mind around Neeta, though. Then again, not many men wouldn’t but I’m guessing you know all about that.”
My eyes had wandered back to the Harley as I treaded water and Ned talked but I looked at Ned when I heard his comment.
“I do?”
His grin came back and it was bigger this time, brighter, transforming his whole face making me think he might just be a friendly innkeeper in a biker town in the Rocky Mountains, just like he seemed.
“Sure you do. Ain’t shittin’ me, pretty lady.”
He was right. I wasn’t shitting him mostly because I had no idea what he was talking about.
“Figure, though,” he went on and his eyes moved toward the Harley, “you’d be worth whatever trouble you might cause.”
“What?” I whispered and he looked back at me.
“I’m a good judge of people,” he informed me instead of explaining himself.
“Yes?” I asked because I didn’t know what else to say.
“Yeah,” he replied quietly, moved closer to the edge of the pool and squatted down. I kept treading water and staring at him. “See,” he continued, still quiet, “any trouble you might cause I’m guessin’ would be trouble you don’t mean to cause.”