“Where do you think you’re going? It was a joke, Princess.” My mouth cuts short any plans she had to form a retort.
My lips glide against hers, and my hands travel slowly from her waist up the full length of her torso before I move them to cup her face. She sighs, moving to press her stomach and chest closer to me. I’m acutely aware that we are standing in the middle of a busy hotel lobby, but kissing her is more important than acting in a socially acceptable manner. I’m not usually one for PDA but right now it’s my new favorite thing. Someone coughs a little too loudly for it to be anything other than a cue that we need to move the floorshow to the room, except Blair and her mom are here together and I haven’t booked a room. I’m fairly certain seeing us kiss passionately in the lobby isn’t something her mom is going to be happy witnessing. I’m fighting a losing battle with myself to pull away when she solves my dilemma and breaks the kiss. Her face is still flushed as she breaks into a huge grin. It sends my pulse into a frenzy and I can feel my heart slam painfully against my ribs.
“That’s how you should greet me from now on, by the way.”
“That can be arranged, Princess.”
“Good. Oh, and Ethan?”
“Yeah?”
“You might want to take your jacket off and reposition it somewhere else.”
Wait, what? I look at her confused, and she glances down to my junk quickly, before meeting my eyes again. I feel my own cheeks flush with the realization that my jeans feel a hell of a lot tighter than they did before I kissed her.
“That’s your fault,” I tell her while moving my jacket to shield myself.
“Lead the way to your room. I need to use the restroom.” I wink and follow as she walks ahead of me laughing.
I’M SITTING ON the floor Indian-style as Mom lectures me on being safe, stopping when we need to, and not driving when we’re tired. Ethan is in the bathroom and Mom has pounced on the opportunity to go over the same details that she’s already drilled into me before Ethan arrived. To say she’s not entirely on board with letting me travel home with him is the understatement of the century, but having discussed it to the point of wanting to strangle each other over our differences, she finally relented. We had a forty-five minute showdown wherein she point blank refused to let me drive home. She listed everything from the fact that we had both been in a crash and were perhaps medically not ready to operate heavy machinery (she’d die of worry), to flat out begging me to just fly back with her. After tears on both sides we finally agreed that she would take us in her rental car to go get Ethan’s Camaro, and then he and I can go and see if our things are still at the campsite before we drive home. I get that she’s feeling anxious; I am too. In truth, I’d be traveling back with Ethan regardless of whether or not I have her blessing; at least this way it’s amicable.
Her speech is cut short by the sound of water powering against the bathroom basin, then shutting off abruptly seconds before the door creaks open and Ethan emerges rubbing his hands on a washcloth. We all stop and look at one another as the room falls silent.
“Am I interrupting something? I can leave you to talk if you’d like.”
“No, Ethan, it’s fine. I was just reminding Blair not to drive tired and to be careful. If either of you are feeling unwell make sure that you stop and call me. Just use your common sense, the pair of you, okay?”
“Yes ma’am,” he replies and I snigger. Mom looks over and rolls her eyes at me.
“She hates being called ma’am. Makes you feel old, doesn’t it, Mom?”
She leers at me, and then huffs, announcing that she’s going to go fill the ice bucket. I stretch lazily and move from my position on the floor to the bed.
“So what’s the plan then? You want to set off this afternoon, or first thing in the morning?”
“I don’t mind,” he answers through a yawn as he sits down next to me, leaning his back against the headrest.
“You seem pretty tired. I think we should go and collect your car, then come back here and set off tomorrow. Is that okay with you?”
“Sounds like a plan. Come here.”