“Cara,” a man called, and every nerve ending went hyper-alert at the same time that I breathed a sigh of relief. Monroe was here.
“Hey,” I murmured, my voice sounding flat even to my own ears. I was juggling both my bag and Alec’s, and I was starting to get a headache. Now I also needed to find Alec to hand his bag over. I grimaced at the thought. He had run away from me, and I was going to have to chase him.
“What’s got you down, beautiful?” Monroe asked, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and bringing me in for a hug.
I clung to him, burying my face in the crook of his neck and breathing him in. He was dressed casually in jeans and a tee, but he looked fine, and he smelled even better. He eased the bags off my shoulders and asked, “Is this all yours, Cara?”
I shook my head. I didn’t want to let him go, but he slid his hands down my arms and squeezed my hands. “No, the black bag is Alec Huxley’s.”
“Why are you carrying it?” Monroe asked. His kissable lips turned down in a frown, and his gaze bounced around as if looking for him. I looked past Monroe at the people gathered under the portico. There were photographers and a film crew with a reporter recording a segment on the team’s arrival, no doubt.
“He left without it. I’ll give it to him.”
“Yeah, nah, I don’t think so. Who does this pretentious asshole think he is, leaving his luggage to you?” Monroe muttered.
“It’s literally my job to make the team comfortable. If that means carrying his bag, then that’s what I’ll do.” I shrugged.
Monroe huffed out a laugh that held no humour. “Over my dead body, beautiful. They’re big enough to carry their own damn bags.” He interlaced our fingers and tugged me gently away from the bus. “Come on, let’s get checked in, and then we’ll find this bloke.” He muttered something else under his breath that sounded a lot like “So I can give him a piece of my mind,” but I didn’t push. I didn’t want to make a scene and give Alec something else to be upset about.
Five minutes later Monroe took our room keys in hand, and I had left a message for Alec to let him know I had his bag.
When the lift arrived, Monroe swiped our keys, and the floors lit up. The carriage moved fast, and within moments, Monroe had a hand bracketed across the open doorway so the lift doors wouldn’t close, and he motioned for me to step out. He walked me to my door like a proper gentleman and unlocked it for me, but then he hovered there as if he was wanting to ask me something.
I leaned back against the wall and smiled up at him. I didn’t want him to leave either. He stepped closer, his body only ahair’s breadth away from mine. “Would you like to come out on a date with me? Tonight? Dinner perhaps?” he asked.
“Yes,” I breathed. But then the guilt hit. I couldn’t date Monroe. His daughter was my best friend. I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I can’t. Zali,” I offered as a one-word explanation.
“Cara,” another man called from down the corridor. His voice sent ripples of desire through me, the deep smoky sound making my breath hitch. “You’ve got my bag.”
Monroe stepped away from me, facing Alec head-on as he held out the black backpack. Alec was half a head taller than Monroe, wider too, but Monroe wasn’t backing down. “It’s not her job to carry your shit, mate.”
Alec looked equal amounts horrified and pissed. “Relax, dude. I just forgot it.”
“Don’t let it happen ag—”
“Okay, then.” I rested a hand on Monroe’s forearm and squeezed, hoping that he understood my silent request for him to be quiet.
Monroe slid his hand over mine and squeezed. He focussed his attention back on me, ignoring Alec. “Let me speak with Zali. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable by hiding things, but she also doesn’t need to know everything.”
I nodded. “No, I know that. I just don’t want to go behind her back.”
“I’ll protect your friendship with her, Cara. I promise.”
Heat flushed my cheeks, and I flicked my gaze to Alec, who was watching us with those piercing blue eyes. I couldn’t help the shy smile as I turned back to Monroe. “Okay, then.”
“See you at seven.”
seven
Hux
Iwatched as the team filed out of the bus into the swarm of reporters talking at the cameras and photographers snapping away. They couldn’t see me through the column I’d parked my ass behind, but I could see everything. I watched as Minns stepped off the bus and scowled at the crowd gathered on the street only a few yards away from where the bus was stationed. Then I watched as Cara stepped off the bus. She was weighed down carrying—oh fuck, my bag.
I groaned, my exhale harsh as my epic screwup slapped me in the face. I’d stepped onto that bus and looked down the aisle at the faces glaring at me. The only ones who’d been welcoming were Gauthier and Hewitt, but I wasn’t going to ask them or anyone else to take pity on me. So I’d sat in the front row. I hadn’t expected to be joined by the beautiful woman who’d been holding up the Welcome to Australia, Seals sign.
Now she was carrying my bag.
My reaction to her was visceral, like my very cells were cheering me on, telling me to get closer to her. When she’d sat down, we’d been pressed together, and I’d never been moregrateful for my bulk in my life. I was close enough to her to smell her sweet perfume and, for the first time since my life had turned into a complete and utter clusterfuck, the throb at the base of my skull lessened and the noise quietened. I was on edge, my senses hyper alert, but it was as if in her presence, I could breathe for the first time. Her perfume filled my head with hope. It was heady and I wanted more of it—and of her.
