King: A Steamy Marriage of Convenience Romance by Amy Olle

Author:Amy Olle [Olle, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-01T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

He’d refused to take the bed, and she woke up the next morning alone in an empty room.

With a reluctant groan, she crawled out from under the warm blankets and trudged into the bathroom. Now that the holiday was over, the staff would be back, and there’d be work to do to prepare for next weekend, which was booked solid with guests for New Year’s Eve.

As she washed her face, she tried to concentrate on the day ahead, but all she could think about was Rory and all that had happened on their first and only Christmas spent together.

After they’d cleaned the mess in the kitchen, they’d made another batch of cookies, then proceeded to eat them all while reminiscing about their favorite Christmas memories from when they were kids, taking care not to bring up anything dark or upsetting.

Stuffed with sweets, they’d then raided the wine stores in the tasting room. For the rest of the day, they’d sampled flavors and avoided any talk of the painful parts of their pasts, the future, and most of all, their present situation.

Things should’ve been boring or awkward between them, but they were far from it. They’d explored the house, daydreaming about how they’d update the inn’s décor and the vineyard’s branding if they were in charge.

At first, she was hesitant to share her thoughts with him, afraid that they were stupid or silly, but he’d latched onto her ideas, feeding off them to add interesting takes of his own with a contagious enthusiasm that spurred more ideas from her.

It was the most they’d ever talked, and she discovered she liked the man just as much as she appreciated his good looks and the appealing sound of his rich, lyrical accent. He was attractive to her in every way.

Then, when they’d moved to the bedroom to sleep, she’d offered to take the floor so he could sleep in the bed.

He flatly denied her.

After a brief argument in which he never budged from his original position, she’d given up.

“Then why don’t you just sleep in the bed with me?” Exasperation infected her tone. “It’s big enough for both of us.”

Alarm had stolen over his features, and he’d stared at her for a long moment, before saying, gruffly, “Absolutely not.”

With that, he’d collected his things and disappeared into the bathroom.

Her chest had ached as she’d listened to the sound of the shower running, and she’d scolded herself for forgetting, once again, how he hated her. So much so that even the thought of sleeping next to her annoyed him.

Now, she finished washing her face and dressing, then she left the quiet suite. With their time alone now over, Emerson stepped into the whirlwind of activity Diane and the girls created as they buzzed around the inn, cleaning and preparing for the week ahead.

Over the next few days, she and Rory were both sucked into the bustle, and she caught only brief glimpses of him late at night or early in the mornings.

She suspected he was avoiding her.

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