Always Remember (Memories #2)(3)
Author: Emma Hart

I clench my jaw, turning to face Bing. “Fine, but you’re sleeping on the floor.”

“We’ll see.” He smirks.

I hold my hand out to the guy behind the desk. He looks down at it then up at me questioningly.

“Key,” I demand. “I want to go to my room.”

“Oh, of course.” He grabs it from the back rack and gives it to me. I take it from his grip, spinning with the elegance of a ballerina. Bing is glaring at the guy.

“If you’d rather stay here in reception, Samuel, its fine with me,” I throw out as I stroll past him.

“Stay out here when I finally have you in a bedroom all to myself? Not a chance,” he responds.

“I see you’re still dreaming.” I step into the elevator.

“Oh, didn’t you know?” He steps in after me and raises his eyebrows. “I can see the future.” He winks and it does funny things to my stomach. God dammit, it is way too cold for those butterflies to be fluttering about and flirting with my insides.

“Then your eyesight needs checking.” I slide the key into the door. “Because your perception is as screwed as a prostitute at a stag night.”

“So is your sleeping alone plan.” He smirks and takes my suitcase from me, wheeling it into the room. “Double bed. Enough room for both of us.”

I suck my bottom lip into my mouth and glare at him and the bed. “Fantastic. Not only am I stranded with Mr. Slaggy Pants, I now have to share a bed with him. Can it get any worse than this?” I shrug, kicking the door shut behind me.

“Oh, come on, Jen.” Bing looks up. “Is it really gonna be that bad to share a bed with this?” He gestures to his body. I’m not surprised I have to force my eyes to stay on his. He’s not exactly hard on the ol’ peekers.

“Maybe not, but it isn’t exactly gonna be all that great either.”

I shrug my coat off and sling it over a chair, looking around for the TV remote. The bed springs creak as Bing drops himself back onto it, and the room fills with the sound of the television. I spin, and he’s holding the remote up.

“How did you find that? All I can find is these stupid little pots of sugar and milk.” I frown at them.

“I’m a male, gorgeous. If it’s woman, TV, or sport related, I’m on it faster than you can scream my name.” He grins. “You, however, are female, which means you naturally gravitate towards the kettle. Be a love and pop it on for me.”

I turn and launch the pot of milk at his head. “Pop that on, prick.”

He laughs. I grab some pyjamas from my suitcase and lock myself in the bathroom to change and take a few deep breaths.

He’s so f**king infuriating. His smart arse comments, his winks, his little smirks… Just him.

“Argh,” I growl under my breath and quickly change. I leave the door open on my way back into the hotel room and try not to stop as I notice Bing. He’s lying back on the bed, his arms crossed behind his head showing ripped biceps. His top has ridden up his stomach slightly showing the darkened indent of a ‘v’ disappearing under his jeans.

He clears his throat, pleasure shining in his brown eyes. “Checking me out, Jen?”

“Not in a million years.”

His lips slowly curl up on one side. “Sure.”

“I wasn’t.” I clench my teeth together, and eye the bed warily. The prospect of sleeping next to him all night is as annoying as it is appealing.

“Do you want me to bite you?” He grins wolfishly at me.

“You what?” I half shriek, secretly thinking how hot that could be…

“I said, do you want me to bite you?”

I clear my throat, perching on the bed. “Like I want a hole in the head, a stake to the heart, a bit of lego under my foot…”

“Then don’t worry. You can move up.” He pats the bed. “I’m not going to seduce you.”

“Why do I not believe you?”

“Because you’re too intent on the thought of me seducing you?”

“Never gonna happen.”

“Then move up.”

“I don’t particularly want to be next to you right now.” Liar, liar, thongs on fire!

“Jen…”

I roll my eyes. “Sam…”

He pats the bed more insistently, and I shake my head firmly.

“Not gonna hap-” I scream the last of the word out as he reaches over the bed, grabs my waist, and pulls me over. My arms wrap around his neck on reflex, and my head hits the back of the pillow.

It occurs to me that Bing is leaning right over me, his hands settled on my waist, and his face inches from mine. My knee brushes his thigh as I move it, and I feel his fingers dig into my skin a little. I unlink my fingers behind his neck and let my hands drop a little, my heart pounding. The last time we were this close…

“I told you I wouldn’t bite,” he whispers, and I feel the breath he lets out with each word flutter across my lips.

“Get off me, you bloody great buffoon,” I mutter, shoving at his shoulders.

He rolls to the side, his fingers brushing across my stomach. My muscles clench, and I yank the covers from under me. I slip under them, huffing, and roll over, putting my back to Bing.

“Sleeping already?” he asks.

“It’s either that or I hit you.” Or rip off your clothes. I’m guessing both wouldn’t be acceptable, so this is an all or nothing kind of situation.

“Depends where you’re going to hit me.”

I flick my leg backwards, the heel of my foot making contact with his shin sharply.

“Ow! You bitch,” he hisses, and I feel the bed move as he rubs his leg.

I smile smugly to myself, snuggling down into the quilt. “Not the place you were expecting, huh?”

“That wasn’t a hit. That was a kick.”

“What’s your point?”

“Donkeys kick.”

I shrug. “So I’m a donkey, you’re an ass. We’re even. Now shut up, I’m trying to sleep.”

The tele goes off, and the mattress dips as he lies down. He moves a little closer to me, and I feel him move my hair from my ear.

“And one of these days, Jennifer, I’m gonna ride that donkey right out of you.”

“You absolute-”

“Goodnight, gorgeous,” he whispers, shifting to the other side of the bed.

My lips twitch. Butthead.

~

I honestly thought that if I didn’t get out of that bed, that room or that hotel this morning as soon as humanly possible I was gonna go bat shit crazy and jump on that annoyingly arrogant git.