Building on Love

by Kat Bellemore

  “Sawadii ka,” the woman at the desk said as they approached, and she placed her hands together in the traditional wai gesture, her head bowing slightly.

  “Sawadii ka.” Chloe returned the wai and smiled. Gosh, she loved Thailand. She didn’t think she would ever be able to leave, not when she’d be giving up so much. Her teenage self would have killed her for thinking such thoughts, but a lot can happen in fifteen years.

  “We have three rooms reserved,” Chloe told the woman. Her nametag read Sarina. “One is under Chloe Rodgers, the other two are reserved under either Kara or Rick Jones.”

  The woman’s fingers typed quickly over her keyboard. “Yes, I see you are both staying for a week,” she said in English. “We’re happy to have you.” She nodded toward Davis, who was still taking in his surroundings. Coming from a small-town hardware store, it must be shocking that anything could simultaneously be this big and this empty. “I’ll just need to see Mr. Rick Jones’s ID, please.”

  Chloe gave a little laugh. “Oh, no, that’s not Rick. That’s his son, Davis.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Davis, they need to see your ID.”

  “No,” Sarina said. “I need to see the ID for Mr. Rick Jones. His name is on the reservation.”

  “But…Rick isn’t with us. He’s coming in a few days. Maybe you can call and talk to him, verify his information and all that?”

  Sarina still wore a pleasant smile, but it seemed a little strained now—like she didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but she was going to have to be. “I’m sorry, but I have to have Mr. Rick Jones present. I need to see his ID. I also have a Mrs. Kara Jones. Are you Mrs. Kara Jones?”

  Chloe rubbed her eyebrow. If she said she was Kara to help get Davis into his room, she couldn’t also be Chloe Rodgers to get into her own. She released a long sigh.

  “No, I’m not.”

  Sarina nodded once, her fingers again flying over the keys. “You are Mrs. Chloe Rodgers, no?”

  Chloe nodded once, and her breath caught as Davis approached from behind. He was pulling out his wallet.

  “She needs to see my ID?” Davis seemed to sense Chloe’s hesitation, pausing as he removed his driver’s license. “Everything okay here?”

  Chloe began to nod, but it morphed into a shake of her head. “Not exactly.” She turned back to Sarina. “What type of bed is in my room?”

  The Thai woman glanced at her screen. “One king bed.”

  “Do you have anything that has two queens?”

  Sarina’s fingers once again raced over the keyboard as Davis eyed Chloe.

  “Why would you need two beds?” he asked, his gaze piercing.

  Chloe didn’t want to be the one to tell Davis the awkward circumstances, but it would be better coming from her than Sarina. “There’s an issue that’s come up, and I’m trying to take care of it, but we might need to do some rearranging of rooms.” Her words came out slowly as she tried to think of the best way to tell Davis they’d be sharing a room. “And so, until your family gets here in a few days—”

  “Sorry, ma’am, we have no queen beds left,” Sarina interrupted. “Only king. Very busy this time of year, with Songkran and everything.”

  Davis tilted his head to one side, like he was trying to piece everything together. It didn’t seem to be working, and he only appeared more confused. Great, they hadn’t even made it to the bad news and she’d already broken him.

  “We’ll come back to this Songkran thing everyone keeps talking about,” he finally said, straightening. His lips tilted up. “What is the issue with your bed? Do you need to use our other room until my family gets here? I’m sure they won’t mind.”

  Chloe dropped her gaze. She obviously wasn’t very good at this, and she couldn’t handle looking at Davis while telling him the truth. Not when he was smiling at her like that, wanting to help in any way he could.

  “The issue is that…they won’t let you check into your room. They need your mom or dad here with their picture ID, because they’re the ones who made the reservation. I thought they might have a bigger room—something with multiple beds—but we apparently chose the worst time to travel, if you’re wanting to switch out a bus ticket or hotel room, that is. It’s a great time for everything else.” Her words tumbled out fast, and when she’d finished, she leaned against the counter, her gaze remaining glued to the floor.

  “They won’t let me check in,” Davis said slowly, as if he needed to make sure he had all the facts straight. “And so you and I need to share a room. And a bed. Until my parents get here.”

  Chloe nodded, afraid to raise her head and see his reaction. This was not how she had imagined this vacation going.

  Which made it all the more shocking when Davis burst into laughter. Like, full-on laughing.

  She couldn’t help but look to be sure it was real and not some hallucination.

  “Sorry,” Davis said, wiping moisture from his eyes. “It’s just that if I didn’t know any better, I’d think my parents had orchestrated this. And frankly, I don’t know better. I mean, it’s all too perfect, isn’t it? Their bus tickets were for a different day than ours, and now we have to share a room. I mean, it’s ludicrous that they thought this would actually work. Cute, but ludicrous.”

  Chloe stared. “You’re saying you think your parents planned for all this to happen…for their son, who they hadn’t seen in two years, to be stranded with a random woman he’d just met, and you think the craziest part of it all is that they thought you’d actually fall for me?” She spun back toward Sarina, who had been busy tidying up a stack of papers for the past few minutes, pretending she wasn’t listening in, but had obviously been soaking up every word. “Do you have my key ready?” Chloe asked.

  Sarina started and scrambled to gather up everything she needed. “Yes, yes, of course. Here are two keys; you just slide them into the door with the arrow side facing up. I’ve also written down the Wi-Fi password for your convenience.” She handed Chloe a small packet that held the keys along with a piece of paper. “I’ve included a coupon to use in one of our restaurants.” Her gaze flitted to Davis and then back to Chloe. “Is there anything else I can assist you with today?”

  “No, this is great. Thank you.” And then Chloe spun away from Davis, grabbing her suitcase as she went.

  “Oh, come on. I didn’t mean it like that,” Davis called from behind her. She could hear his rapid footsteps as he hurried to catch up. And to think that she’d thought she could be attracted to someone like Davis. It hadn’t been a long thought—more like a brief flickering—but it had been more than enough to know that Chloe wasn’t meant to be alone with men. Not if her dating sensors were so completely damaged. Even Travis seemed like a good option at the moment.

  She released a laugh that was void of any humor. “You didn’t mean it like what?”

  Chloe didn’t know why she was getting so worked up about this. It was better than the alternative—Davis thinking his parents had set him up and then diving in headfirst. That could only end badly. She should be grateful he found the idea so repulsive.

  But it was difficult to share a hotel room with someone you knew laughed at the idea of actually being attracted to you. And right now, all Chloe wanted was to be alone.

  Chloe quickened her pace and slid one of the keys out of its packet, jamming it into the slot in the door before she’d even come to a full stop. But, of course, she did it the wrong way and had to turn the key around and try again. By that time, Davis had caught up to her, panting, his duffel bag dropping to the floor beside him.

  “I don’t understand why you’re upset with me,” he said between breaths. “You should be annoyed at my parents for trying to set us up. On my family vacation. When I was supposed to be spending time with them. I flew all the way out here for them, not you, no offense. Maybe they didn’t think a few days would make a difference, but it does to me.”

  Okay, so Chloe had pegged Davis wrong. He wasn’t a beat-around-the-bush kind of guy.
He was a blunt, straight-to-the-point kind of guy. And as much as she wanted to be offended, she could see his point. Whether or not his parents had done it on purpose wasn’t the issue. It was that he thought they had chosen trying to set him up with a woman over spending time with him.

  Chloe rested her forehead on the door. “All right,” she finally said, straightening. “We make the best of this.”

  After a brief hesitation, Davis followed her into the room. Chloe tossed her suitcase on the closest side of the bed, then threw a glance in his direction. Unlike her, Davis was gently placing his duffel bag on the floor on the opposite side of the bed. She felt a tinge of guilt, as he’d be closer to the window, which meant the light in the morning would wake him up first.

  Davis glanced up and met her gaze. “You really thought I had laughed because I couldn’t imagine being attracted to you?” And that was all he said about it. Chloe watched him as he walked to the closet, seemingly searching for something but not finding it. “I’m going to go down and see if they can bring up some extra blankets and pillows.”

  Chloe looked at the pile of pillows on the bed. “You don’t think we have enough?”

  “Figured I could use them to make the floor a little softer.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut, knowing she had to do better than this. If nothing else, for Kara and Rick and the boys. She opened her eyes. “It’s a king-size bed; there’s plenty of space for both of us.”

  Davis was already at the door, one hand on the handle. He glanced back, and Chloe forced herself to meet his gaze. She swore she saw pain there.

  “The thought of my parents setting us up was ridiculous,” he said slowly, “because you are so out of my league that I couldn’t help but laugh. A beautiful, successful, smart woman like you isn’t interested in broken men like me.”

  And then he left.

  Chloe wasn’t sure if he was still determined to find more pillows or blankets, but she wished he’d come back. Because even though she didn’t think of herself as repulsive, she also wasn’t the woman that Davis had just described.

  She hurried after him, but when she stepped into the hallway, he’d already disappeared. After thirty minutes of debate and a complaining stomach, she decided she’d go down and get something to eat. Maybe she’d see him on the way and he’d consider joining her.

  Chloe had never felt the need to prove to someone that she wasn’t as capable as she presented herself, but she felt an overpowering desire to do just that with Davis. Prove that she wasn’t on any plane loftier than the one Davis occupied.

  And prove to him that them being set up by his parents wasn’t as ridiculous as he’d made it out to be.

  15

  Davis didn’t know where he was going or why he was wandering around a giant hotel by himself. There was a beautiful woman in his room. Any other guy would smack him upside the head and tell him to move aside because he was wasting an opportunity.

  And yet, he wanted nothing more than to put space between him and Chloe right now. Davis couldn’t believe that she’d actually assumed that he thought he was too good for her. No one at home would have made that mistake. Because everyone else saw him for who he was. The loner. The guy who took everything too seriously.

  Had the folks back home ever thought that maybe their jokes weren’t funny? And maybe that was why he didn’t laugh? Had they ever considered that loud music and the constant tourist chatter was painful for him, attacking every nerve in his body? And that the reggae that pumped from Adeline’s shop each morning as she made chocolates, with its sharp percussion beats, was the worst of all?

  No, because no one ever listened long enough to know.

  Davis had thought it would be nice when his family left, leaving him to run the store. Thought he’d finally have some quiet.

  He hadn’t counted on the loneliness that would come with it.

  Davis shoved his hands into his pockets and made his way outside into a garden that stretched behind the resort. A long pool sat to one side of it, and a wide river bordered the other two.

  Maybe he should go for a swim. He hadn’t brought a swimsuit, but there was probably a shop somewhere inside the resort where he could buy one.

  That was the one thing he’d always appreciated about growing up in a coastal town—when all else failed, go for a swim.

  Davis wandered back inside and found the small tourist shop. They didn’t have much variety. Good thing he liked elephants, because every swimsuit was covered in them. He bought one that had a bit of an artsy feel to it, a cream elephant against a green background. Davis thought he’d go back to the room to change, but when he got there, he realized he didn’t have a key—he’d left without thinking. And Chloe wasn’t answering.

  Swimsuit in hand, he wandered back downstairs to see if the front desk had an extra key they could loan him but paused when passing one of the restaurants. Chloe sat at a table on the far side of the dining room. She was alone and staring out the window that overlooked the garden and river.

  Davis walked over to her, not knowing what he was going to say, embarrassed by what had already been said, but also knowing that the more time passed before they spoke again, the more awkward it would become.

  “Hi.” He sat down across from Chloe, and she jumped, startled by his sudden presence.

  “Oh my gosh, you can’t do that to people,” she said, half-laughing and placing a hand over her heart.

  Davis gave her a slight smile, not quite ready for a full one. “Sorry. I thought saying hi was enough to announce my presence.”

  Pink tinged Chloe’s cheeks. “I guess I didn’t hear you. Lost in my thoughts.”

  Davis wondered if he’d been in any of them. “Mind if I join you?” Even as he asked it, he noticed her empty plate. “It looks like you’re done. I can find a different table.”

  “No, no, I could stay a while,” she said, her words escaping quickly. They stopped just as fast, her cheeks now a deeper shade of pink. “What I mean is, it’s a lovely view, and it would be nice to share it with someone. Besides, you must be starving.”

  “I could eat,” Davis said with a small shrug, wanting to appear cool and indifferent—that was what the attractive guys all did, right? His stomach grumbled at that moment, betraying him.

  Chloe laughed. “I think you better.” She raised a hand, and a waiter came over with a menu.

  Davis was surprised by how many dishes they offered, and how many American items were on the menu. He tried to order a burger with fries, but Chloe stopped him with a shake of her head before he could finish.

  “You did not come all the way to Thailand to eat a cheeseburger.”

  “But it’s a different kind,” he said. “Look, it says it has Thai chili sauce on it.”

  Chloe’s lips twitched up at the edges. “I’m sure it does. But you need to eat as much Thai food as you possibly can while here, or you’ll regret it the moment you get back home. Your mom told me there isn’t Thai food within a three-hour drive where you’re from.”

  Davis leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “You don’t think you’re being a tad dramatic about this?”

  The waiter had already started scribbling on his little notepad but now paused and glanced between Davis and Chloe, like he was unsure if he should be crossing out what he’d already written or continue with Davis’s order.

  “I’m not being dramatic. That’s how amazing Thai food is, and I need to save you from your American self.”

  Chloe was giving him her most serious expression. And it was adorable.

  Davis released a long sigh. He didn’t like new things, but he had to admit that the Thai food he’d eaten back at the village had been delicious. They’d been limited on what they had, mostly just meat, vegetables, and rice. But the satay he’d tried from that street vendor had been as close to heaven as he thought he’d ever get. If the food at the restaurant could come even close to that, it would be worth trying.

  “All r
ight,” he said. “Thai food it is. But if I don’t like it, I reserve the right to go back to my burgers and fries.”

  Chloe stuck her hand out across the table, like she wanted to shake on it. Davis hesitated just briefly before taking her hand. It was small compared to his, but it fit perfectly. And he didn’t want to let go. Which he didn’t, and he held her hand a moment too long. As soon as he realized it, he quickly released her hand, and his arm shot back toward him across the table. Unfortunately, his elbow knocked over his water cup in the process, drenching his pants and everything around him.

  The waiter didn’t say a thing but merely disappeared and then reappeared a moment later, towel in hand.

  “I’m sorry,” Davis said, but the waiter said it was no problem and led them to another, much drier, table and made another attempt at getting Davis’s order. But because he was no longer getting a burger and fries, Davis no longer knew what to ask for. He stared at the menu so long that Chloe ended up rattling off something to the waiter. The waiter seemed grateful that she had taken charge and hurried off before Davis could intervene.

  Davis stared. “You just ordered for me.”

  Chloe’s lips quirked up. “Yes, I did.”

  Normally Davis was so particular about everything he said and did and ate that no one would ever dare do something like that. But Chloe didn’t know that about him, and he realized this was a chance to start over. Yes, she already had some less-than-desirable first impressions of him. But she didn’t know everything about him. She didn’t know the depth to which his obsessive qualities ran.

  The real question was, could he keep that side of him at bay long enough for her to get to know the real him?