Harlequin Desire January 2021--Box Set 1 of 2 by Maisey Yates (free biff chip and kipper ebooks .txt) 📕

The first rocket of the night surged into the sky and exploded; the sound ripped through the night. While everyone welcomed the burst of sound and color with cheers, Nina startled, lost her balance and toppled cleanly into the deep end of pool. It was a relief, frankly. The news ticker in her brain went dark.

CHAPTER SIX

Nina stood shivering in the chilly marble bathroom. From the other side of the door, Julian asked whether she was decent. She tightened the towel around her torso and the one wrapped around her head before answering yes. He handed her a hotel robe and slippers through a crack in the doorway. All she could think was: This man has seen me naked.

This man had also dived into a pool to fish her out, carried her through the party crowd guided by the flash of hundreds of camera phones and whisked her up to their suite via private elevator. All the while, she’d coughed up water on his chest. Once in their room, he’d helped her out of her dress. The zipper gave way easily enough, but the soaked fabric had clung to her like suction wrap. Then he’d assisted her into the shower.

Nina attempted to blow-dry her hair. The noise aggravated her pounding headache and she gave up, letting her hair fall damp down her back. And since she could not think of anything more to do to stall the inevitable, she slipped on the robe and stepped out to face him.

He was waiting just outside the door, his face soft with concern. “Hey. Come lie down.”

“Here?” Nina flatly refused. “That’s fine. I’ll head to my room now.”

She bolted toward the bedroom door, but her tortoise’s pace made it easy for him to block her. All he had to do was step in her path. “I’m going to order tea and soup and whatever else you like. It’ll make things easier if you camp out here.”

That sounded reasonable enough. Not the part about the soup, though. That sounded terrible. Nevertheless, it felt wrong to give in to him. “My things are in my room and…” She winced with pain. Her headache intensified with each word of false protest. Between the drinking and the drowning, she had no energy left to argue.

He linked an arm around her waist and assisted her onto the large, inviting bed. Tonight, it was covered in a hunter-green bedspread embroidered in gold.

“What things do you need?” he asked. “I’ll grab them for you.”

She wanted to ask for her journal. Instead, she asked for her bag of toiletries on the bathroom vanity. Julian left and returned in a flash with her toiletries, her phone that she’d left charging in her room, her monogrammed slippers from J. Crew and her journal. She thanked him enthusiastically, and yet he didn’t look pleased.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

“Don’t tell me you slept on a couch last night.” His voice was flat.

“The couch converts into a bed.” When his eyes widened in disbelief, she added, “Don’t worry. It’s imported from Italy and very comfortable.”

He placed her slippers at the side of the bed. “You said this suite had two bedrooms. That’s not a bedroom. That’s a study.”

“Shows you how much I know.”

He stood over her, a frown tugging at his lips. Nina wasn’t comfortable with him handling her journal, so she pried it out of his hands. “I’ll take this. Thanks.”

“You’re spending the night here,” he said. “It’s my turn on the couch.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Nina checked her phone to better give the impression that she was fine and everything was good. There were a few social media alerts, but she ignored them.

“If it’s so comfortable, what’s the problem?”

“I’m not putting you out of your bedroom. And that’s that.”

“Why not?” He poured her a glass of water then riffled through a leather case on the dresser for a bottle of Tylenol. “You have a stronger claim to it than I do.”

“Yeah, but you’re paying for it,” she said. “You are paying for it, right, JL Knight?”

He handed her the glass and two pills. She lifted her head off the pillow, but that was all she could manage.

“Need an extra pillow, Goldie?” he said with a smirk. But seeing that she was truly struggling, he stepped forward and scooped the back of her head in his palm. “Lean on me,” he said. “Now open wide.” He dropped the pills in her mouth, and Nina wondered why her imagination was running wild with those two simple commands. He held the glass to her lips. “Swallow.”

When he lowered her onto the pillows, there was no question where she was spending the night.

He ordered food: mint tea for her, a veggie burger for him and extra fries for them to share. He hung up and looked at her intently. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said. “This is a lot of fuss. I fell into a pool. That’s all.”

Her words did not seem to reach him. “Don’t get out of bed. I’ll open for room service when they get here.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

“Don’t be difficult.” He left to take a shower, waving goodbye.

As soon as the bathroom door shut behind him, Nina reached for her journal out of habit. A hotel logo pen was tucked in the pages. She chewed on the cap for a minute, then jotted the first thing that came to mind.

Welcome to Rock Bottom! Hope you stay awhile.

It killed her that she’d had to be rescued by JL Knight like some damsel in distress. How did she get to this place? She had not been herself these last few days. It was as if she were on an emotional roller coaster: throwing tantrums, sneaking into hotel rooms, crashing into statues and now this!

She listened to the sounds of the shower. When Julian came out of the bathroom in a clean T-shirt and soft sweatpants, he looked fresh. She likely looked as bad as she felt, because he rushed