let out a sexy little giggle before offering, “I can take something.”
“I’ve got it, but if you could open the door, it would be great.” It went against my instincts as a gentleman to let her hold the door for me, but the circumstances called for it.
The codger behind the desk gave us a knowing look before asking, “Back for more dancing between the sheets?”
Vi narrowed her gaze at him. “Our reservation is for two nights. Correct?”
When he nodded, her eyes took on an ornery gleam before she said, “Have a marvelous evening. I hope the passionate sounds coming from our room don’t bother you too much.”
After that bold statement, the man’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. Vi sauntered down the hallway. I couldn’t do anything but shake my head in awe of this surprising woman and follow behind her as the old man yelled after us, “Have fun!”
I had no doubt that I would, although it probably wouldn’t be the kind of fun the old coot had in mind. Just being near this magnificent lady was more entertaining than getting naked with the bimbos from the show had been.
That realization frightened me to my core. This was too important to mess up, but screwing up relationships seemed to be my specialty.
25
Violet
I pretended to be self-assured as I strutted down the inn’s hallway, but my insides were quaking. It seriously felt like my stomach was turning inside out.
I needed to call Soraya for one of her signature confidence-boosting pep talks, but our pizza would get cold if we didn’t eat it right away. Once we were in the room alone together, the only way to slip away from Oliver would be to hide in the bathroom. Staying in there too long wasn’t exactly conducive to romance. If I was going to make this happen, I was going to have to figure out a way to do it without Soraya’s help.
My poised façade was foiled by my hand shaking as I tried to make the metal key work in the room’s door handle. If Oliver noticed, he was polite enough not to point it out.
Eventually, I got the door unlocked, and we went inside. The room had a definite chill to it, so Oliver offered to start a fire. When I lifted a single brow in his direction, he answered without me having to ask. “I learned enough from how you built it last night that I can probably handle it. Besides, man-make-fire.”
His caveman tone and sentiment had me tipping my head back in laughter. His humorous wit still caught me completely off-guard. It wasn’t fair that he was so impossibly sexy and disarmingly charming.
Matching his deep, dense tone I said, “Fine, but if man-needs-help, woman-make-fire.”
“Good to know,” he said amiably as he knelt down to begin stacking the wood in the fireplace grate.
I set about prepping our meal. The pizza joint had given us a bag with paper plates and plastic utensils, so I set those out on the small oak table, along with the cold cans of Moxie I had purchased at the gas station.
Once Oliver had the fire blazing to his satisfaction, he turned and sounded delighted when he said, “You got us Moxie!”
“I did.” Smiling, I held one out for him.
It didn’t make any sense, but butterflies fluttered their wings in my stomach as I waited for his reaction to my favorite soda. He popped the tab open and took a big swig.
His satisfied, “Ahh,” made me feel a bit better, but my nerves were still too jittery to eat greasy pizza.
Deciding it was now or never, I pulled the last item out of the bag and set it on the table. Clearing my throat, I said, “I also bought these because I’m planning to seduce you tonight.”
Oliver nearly choked on the second drink of Moxie he’d been gulping down when he caught sight of the box of prophylactics I had set down between us.
His stunned eyes darted between mine and the box. Finally, he said, “Most people don’t announce it in advance.”
Lifting my chin, I said, “Well, I’m not most people.”
“Definitely not,” he said as he slowly shook his head, looking utterly bemused.
I was surprised that he hadn’t lunged for me yet. I’d done everything short of hit him over the head with the fact that I wanted to have sex, but he was still standing a good distance from me and we were both fully clothed. I allowed a huff of frustration to