too calm. It’s kinda freaking me out.” She gave my shoulder a squeeze. “You’re trying to figure it out and put meaning to it, but more than likely, it’s just a random pic.”
“He looks happy. She looks happy. I think they’re together. Maybe I wasn’t the one for him and he saw it.” I bit my lip hard. Blinked.
Her face reddened in anger. “If that asshat cheated on you, I’ll freaking kill him when I see him. . . . dammit . . . he’s such a gargantuan ass! He probably goes to some kind of asshat convention each year in, I don’t know, Asshat, Texas.”
“Tell me how you really feel.” I sent her a weak smile.
She nudged her head at the pic. “He’s black and white and you’re digital color, babe. You can do better.”
“Like who?”
“I may have had more than my fair share of martinis tonight, but I definitely noticed sparks between you and Dax. It’s weird. He’s starting to grow on me. It’s just—tonight at the diner, the way you looked at him and the way he looked at you. I want a guy to look at me like that.”
“It’s lust. That’s all Dax has to offer anyone. He only wants to have fun.”
She stewed on that as the door swished open at her floor. “I can walk you to your room and we can talk for a while if you’re still wide awake?” she offered.
“No. Get some sleep. Don’t worry about me.”
She grudgingly left. I waited until she got in her room, and then I popped back in the elevator and pulled out my phone, which had been turned off. I turned it back on, but instead of getting on Instagram and stalking Hartford, I pulled up my phone contacts and gazed at the cell number Dax had added before we’d left the diner. I snorted when I saw he’d added his name as Sex Lord—but with a question mark. Was this Dax’s version of humility?
My finger hovered over the call button.
What would I say?
The elevator pinged for my floor and I got off. With a deep exhalation, I tucked my phone back in my clutch while at the same time digging for my key card.
“Where is it?” I muttered, riffling through the zipped side pockets.
Awareness that I wasn’t alone in the narrow hallway seeped in, and my eyes swept the area. No one was going to or leaving their room, but at my door I saw a male figure reclining on the floor, his head dipping into his chest as if he were asleep.
What was he doing here?
I walked over to him and bent down.
“Dax, wake up.” I shook his shoulder gently. “Hello?”
Heavy eyes fluttered, squinting open. “Remi?”
“Who else would it be?” I plopped down on the carpeted floor next to him. “The question is, what are you doing outside my hotel room?”
Bloodshot, tired eyes roved over my face and landed on my lips. “After you left, I got this weird feeling. Paranoid that Chad knew where your hotel was or that he’d gotten your full name. I called you but you didn’t pick up, so I came over to make sure you were okay. I tipped the porter to give me your room number.”
“My phone was on silent since we talked to the police. I just now turned it on. Sorry.”
“Where’ve you been?” he asked, coming more awake and scratching at his unshaven jaw.
“We walked from the Tower of London. Guess I was too hyped up from everything.”
His eyes narrowed. “You should have come straight back.”
I arched a brow. Smiled. “Since when do you keep tabs on me?”
He let out an exasperated sigh, stood, and put out a hand to heave me up. “Maybe I’ve decided you need a bodyguard 24/7 just to keep you safe.”
“You applying?” We faced each other inches apart.
“You don’t want me to fill that position. We both know it.” He blew out a breath. “Come on, get your key out and let’s get you inside.”
I found my key, slid it through the slot and opened the door. Dax stepped inside in front of me and held the door open as I came through.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Give me a sec,” he said. “I want to check the room.”
What? I was fine.
No one was in my room but him, and he was the one I didn’t need to be alone with.
He stalked around the space, checking the bathroom, under the bed, inside the closet, and even outside the window to the small