ASPEN
Ireally didn't have the extra funds to spend on a hotel room, but I was exhausted and wanted to be out of that truck more than I’d wanted anything in a long time.
Coal parked the truck and turned to me. "I'd like to pay for your room."
"Oh, no, I couldn't—”
"You burned through a lot of gas keeping me warm last night. It's the least I can do."
I hadn't even considered the gas consumption, but I would have burned through the same amount of gas with or without him. However, I really didn't have the extra money to spend on a hotel room, particularly since I was currently unemployed. And I didn't want to tell him any of that.
"I'd feel bad taking up two rooms when there's only two of us. Maybe we could share one?" I suggested.
He grinned. "Works for me. I need to grab a change of clothes from my bike. Do you need anything from the back before we go inside?"
I nodded. "Yes, I need clothes too, and I'll grab some more snacks."
After gathering our belongings, we made our way into the hotel and reserved a room. The hotel itself wasn't anything fancy, just your average three-star hotel along the side of a highway. But after spending fourteen hours in a moving truck at a standstill on the snow-covered highway, it felt like the lap of luxury.
"Do you want to shower first?" he asked.
"No, you go ahead. I couldn't find my toothbrush. I'm going to go down to the gift shop to see if they have one."
I actually did know where my toothbrush was, but I really needed to poop and didn’t want to do that with him in close proximity, so I made up an excuse to go find a bathroom somewhere else.
After taking care of business, I stopped by the gift shop and bought a toothbrush to corroborate my story. Then, I made a phone call I should have made the night before.
“Hey, Aspen. I was starting to get worried about you. Did you make it to Devil Springs okay?”
“Actually, no, I didn’t. It started snowing, and I got stuck in that mess on the highway. I’m going to spend the night at a hotel and try again in the morning.”
“Okay,” he said, sounding distracted. “Thanks for calling. Let me know when you finally get there.”
“Will do,” I promised and headed back to my room.
I opened the door to the hotel room and took a few steps inside before I looked up and came to a complete stop. Coal was standing a few feet away with clothes in one hand and a towel wrapped around his waist. When he looked at me, his bright blue eyes widened as water dripped from his dark blonde hair.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I hate getting dressed in a steamy bathroom, and you weren't in here when I checked two seconds ago."
I should have stepped to the side and let him continue to the bathroom, but I couldn't take my eyes off his abdomen. Yes, he had muscles and ripples for days. Even the coveted V that makes so many women drool, myself included. But that's not what had me staring at him like I had absolutely no manners.
Before I could stop myself, I closed the gap between us and reached out to trace one of his scars with the tip of my finger. "What happened?"
We stood in silence for what felt like an eternity, with my finger still gently resting against his scarred skin. Enough time for me to realize I had asked a question I had no business asking.
“I’m sorry,” I said and took a step back. “You don’t have to answer. That was incredibly rude of me to ask.”
He cleared his throat and wrapped his hand around mine. “It’s fine. I was shot three times. These spots are where the bullets went in,” he said and moved my finger to each of the rounded scars. Two were close together near the middle of his stomach while one was off to the side by itself. “And the straight lines are from where the surgeon went in to get them.”
“Can I ask what happened?” I asked while tucking my hands into my pockets to keep them from touching anything else they shouldn’t.
“You can,” he grinned, “but I can’t tell you.”
I nodded, reluctantly accepting his answer, but I wasn’t sure if he didn’t want to talk about it because it was a traumatic event or if he wasn’t telling me for a different, possibly darker, reason.
“But you’re okay now?” I asked, trying to hide how awkward I felt.
“Yep,” he said. “All good.”