at the resort too, right?” Selena said, suddenly good to go.
“Yes...”
“You are?” Leslie looked confused.
“Everything else was booked,” he said.
“Right. The famous author in town.”
Selena beamed up at him as he stood. “So, we’re all headed the same way.”
Wow, Selena was as subtle as a wrecking ball. “We are. I’ll give you both a ride?”
“We’d love one,” Selena said.
“Sure,” Leslie said, as though she’d rather be accepting a ride from Selena’s stalker, then hurriedly led the way out of the bar.
Selena linked her arm through his as they followed and Levi got an odd nostalgia-like feeling of another love triangle. But once again, he was not on the right side of it.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE BED WAS turned down when they got back to the room and Selena collapsed backward onto it as soon as she’d kicked off her boots and removed her ski suit. “I call dibs on the bed.”
Leslie sighed. “It’s a king. Neither of us are huge. I think we can share.” She rubbed her forehead, the stress of the last twenty-four hours accumulating in a vein in the front of her head. Eoghan’s update hadn’t been promising. Still no leads and the police hadn’t been able to get any prints or DNA from Selena’s bedroom. The stalker was smart...which made him even more dangerous.
“Why didn’t you get a room with two beds?” Selena asked.
“This was all they had available.”
She opened their shopping bags and hung the items in the closet.
Damn... Levi’s jacket. She hadn’t been sure how or when she’d have an opportunity to return it, but now he was just on the floor above them... Room 406. After turning down Selena’s suggestion to grab another drink in the lobby bar, they’d parted ways, but not before he’d let them know which room he was in, in case they needed anything.
They wouldn’t.
But she should return the jacket now and get it over with. She didn’t want to have to see him again. That evening had been enough time.
Enough time for her to feel the pain of the past creeping in again. Enough time to recognize that a lot of life had happened in the last few years and enough time to realize she missed him. Which was the last thing she needed right now. Listening to him chat with Selena—it had been torture not to just let her guard down and try to enjoy the evening with him, take a much-needed break from the stress and laugh with him, talk to him, reconnect with him.
But if she had, walking away again once all of this was over would be hard. She’d be opening herself up to having to start over with the distancing she’d achieved. Distancing that was necessary to keep moving forward.
“I’ll be back in forty seconds. I just need to return...” She stopped, noticing Selena out cold on the bed. Mouth agape, a soft, low snoring came from her. Hopefully, she was out for the night. Unfortunately, she was sprawled across the center of the bed, so Leslie would be sleeping in the armchair.
She quietly grabbed the room key and the jacket and slipped out of the room. A too-short elevator ride later, she knocked on Levi’s door.
His expression was a mix of concern and happiness to see her. Better make this quick. Without Selena there as a buffer, this could go off the rails fast. She held up the jacket. “Thanks again.” He took it and she turned to leave. “Night.”
“Leslie!”
Could she pretend not to have heard him? How rude would it be to just ignore him? Too many years of friendship prevented her from being an asshole, especially when he had helped them that day. Reluctantly, she turned around. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry if I did or said something wrong,” he said, leaning against the open hotel room door frame.
She shrugged. “You didn’t. In fact, I think you’ve got yourself your own stalker.” Joke. Be sarcastic. Anything but show real emotion. Wow, maybe she really was a Chandler.
“Leslie, you can stop,” he said.
She should have ignored him. This was too dangerous. Being alone with him. The two of them sharing the tragic bond of losing someone they cared about. Having so much history between them. “Stop what?”
“The smoke and mirrors act. I can see through it.”
“Wow, the smoke I knew about, but mirrors too, huh?” Keep it light. Don’t let him bait you into this.
“You don’t have to keep acting tough around me,” he said, letting the door to the room close as he walked toward