Dopplebanger (Meet-Cute #5)

Chapter 12

TWELVE

Okay, so I wasn’t totally okay. My tongue still felt fuzzy, and judging from my past experiences with the evil death-nut, I wouldn’t be completely back to normal until tomorrow, possibly even tomorrow night. But the medication was starting to kick in and the tightness in my lungs lessened, allowing for deep, full-breaths. Noisy deep, full-breaths, but a win all the same—especially since every time one rattled out, Evan frowned and asked yet again if I was sure he shouldn’t take me to the hospital.

The allergy attack would wear off. The disappointment over tonight not ending the way I wanted it to would be harder to shake.

Maybe if we get there soon enough, I can still follow through with my plan. It was high time I had sex with my smoking hot boyfriend. Conflicted thoughts and emotions over that decision no longer plagued me. Anticipation danced across my nerve endings instead.

Or maybe that was itchiness from the peanuts hitting my bloodstream. Hey, why not both? Now, if only the lights would stop blurring together and my eyelids would stop being so damn heavy, that’d be great.

We’d check into the hotel, and I could dig out some of the lingerie I’d brought, and we’d cap off the perfect day with taking that next step.

What if he finds my sexy-times moves boring? That’d make tomorrow so freaking awkward.

Shit, do I even have moves? And did I really just refer to it as sexy-times?

My lungs felt tight again, but this time because my insecurities rose up to bind them. I lifted my hand to swat them away.

“What are you doing?” Evan asked, panic tingeing his voice. “Is there a bug? Or are you hallucinating? Or is that a sign you can’t breathe?”

“No.”

“No to which question?”

Vaguely I noticed the car was turning, and man did it make the world spin. I reached for the oh-shit handle over the door, but there wasn’t one, so my arm just flopped back down on my lap. “Just no.”

He sighed, nice and loud, and I knew what was coming next, so I cut it off at the… bud? Wait, that was nipping. Anyway… “I’m sure I don’t need to go to the ER. Like sure times infinity.” I stretched across the console and kissed his cheek. Then I dragged my nose down his stubbled skin and sniffed his neck. “You smell amazing. Did I tell you that before? That I like the new cologne you’re wearing? Or did I just think it?”

The car lurched to a stop, and I clamped on to his arm as the world spun again. Whoa.

Evan’s hand came to rest on the side of my face and I automatically leaned in to the warmth of his palm. “You smell amazing, too, but those pills are obviously kicking in. Good thing we’re at the hotel. I’ll come around and help you out of the car, okay?”

“I can walk,” I said, but when I opened the door and stood, I had to grip the door to steady myself. I shuffled a few steps, about as gracefully as a zombie from The Walking Dead, and then braced a hand on the car.

Evan frowned, concern etched on his features, and I thought it might be funny to add a zombie moan just to mess with him. But I wanted to spend the night lying in bed next to him, not in an ER while nurses and doctors poked and prodded me before declaring me fine. Yeah, fine until I get the bill in the mail and have a heart attack.

“Do you need anything in your suitcase right now?” he asked.

I thought of the silky black chemise I’d packed, the tiny one I’d decided to slip into tonight to buoy my confidence. “I do. But I can get it.”

Hopefully checking in and walking to our room will help wake me up.

“Yeah right. There’s no way you can carry—or even drag—anything in your current state.”

I just need to find a vending machine and choose the soda with the most caffeine. I can totally save this night. I refuse to be boring and fall asleep.

Evan declined my offer for me to carry one of the bags, wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and guided me into the lobby. It was late enough that the lights were dimmed, and only one female clerk manned the desk.

“Womaned the desk, more like. Why do we say ‘manned?’ It’s obviously an old, sexist term, and don’t even try to tell me that it means ‘all mankind’ so it’s encompassing enough.”

“What?” Evan asked, leading me to believe I’d said that out loud. Keeping my eyelids propped open became even harder, and I think I lost a minute or two because suddenly we were at the desk and Evan and the clerk were clearly in the middle of a conversation.

“…she okay?

I was leaning a considerable part of my weight on Evan, eyelids drooping as I barely resisted the urge to drop to the tile floor and take a nap on the cold, hard ground, so I could only imagine how rough I looked.

“Give me one second, sir. I’m going to have my manager come up and help me get you checked in.” Her eyes moved to mine, a protective gleam in them, and I realized she’d gotten the totally wrong idea.

While I appreciated that she had my back, I didn’t want one more person worrying over me, and I especially didn’t want security to come over and escort away my… escort. I probably shouldn’t use the word escort or there’ll be a whole different kind of misunderstanding.

Were date-for-hire males called escorts? Or did that only apply to females?

Focus, Gwen. Focus. “I’m fine. I just had an allergy attack, so I took two Benadryl…” I lifted my fingers, confirmed that I was holding up two and then turned them to her. Not really sure why I felt the need to do that, and the harder I tried to show how fine I was, the harder it became. “He’s my boyfriend, so it’s not like he’s drugged me and dragged me here to take advantage of me. And look at him…” I poked his cheek, taking in his handsome face with a longing sigh. “Really it’s me taking advantage of the chance to be with a guy this ridiculously hot.”

Evan grabbed my hand and folded it into his. “I, uh, think that’s enough helping, babe.”

The exasperation in his voice sent a twinge through me—hello, I was just trying to help! But then he smiled down at me, dropped a quick kiss on my forehead, and tucked me closer, soothing my momentary hurt feelings.

“She’ll be fine as soon as she gets some sleep,” he said. “I’m going to watch her closely, and if she doesn’t improve, I’m taking her to a hospital, I swear.”

“It’s true. He’s been a pain in the ass about trying to get me to a hospital for the entire drive here. However long it was.”

Evidently she believed us or decided it was above her pay grade, because she began typing away on her computer, inputting the information Evan gave her. My attention drifted, my thoughts going hazy, and my damn eyelids tried to close again.

Okay, they succeeded.

The jostling of Evan reaching for the hotel keycards jerked me back to semi-consciousness.

“You’re all set, Ethan,” the desk clerk said, her voice way too perky. “The elevator is right around the corner, and breakfast is from six to ten-thirty.”

“Evan,” I automatically corrected, even though where to get breakfast tomorrow was obviously the most important part of her spiel.

“Enjoy your stay.”

I patted Evan’s firm chest. “Oh, I plan to.”