Chapter 4

4

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R oom 108. Room 108. Room 108.

I'd repeated Sloane's room number in my head all day. I hadn't gotten her phone number, so it wasn't like I could just call her to track her down.

The room number was my only hope of tracking her down. Well, that and dinner at the retreat center, but it became all too clear as the day wore on that there was no way I could make it over to the retreat center by six o'clock. Or 6:30. Or even seven. Which meant they'd be finished eating by the time I got there. By then, Sloane could very well have given up on me ever showing up.

"See you tomorrow, man," one of our local volunteers called out as I headed toward the trailer. I'd left my car keys there at lunch.

I briefly worried the whole place might be locked up. If so, I'd have to call my boss to come let me in. But the door opened easily under my touch.

I smiled, remembering my interaction with Sloane just feet from the doorway I was stepping through. Thinking about her messed with my mind, though, because I swore I heard her voice in the seconds before the door completely shut.

No. Couldn't be. I shook my head and started toward the smaller room to grab my belongings. But when I turned to leave, I came to a dead stop in the doorway to the main area.

I wasn't alone. Sloane was standing there, wearing a short-sleeved pink dress blouse and black pants that showed off her curves.

This was a very vivid fantasy. It had to be. Sloane couldn't possibly be standing in this trailer. She was back at the retreat center, enjoying a glass of wine and a juicy chicken breast with mushroom gravy.

"I thought you might be hungry," she said.

That was when I noticed the object covered in foil in her left hand. Had she actually made a plate for me, covered it in foil, and driven it all the way here?

"We heard all the guys were working late, putting tarps on a house," she said. "And you let most of the volunteers go to eat."

That was true. I'd been on a team that was mostly made up of locals. I would have rather worked with Sloane all day, but they had us doing some pretty hardcore stuff. Now, with her standing in front of me, it was all worth it, though.

"You came all the way here to bring me dinner?" I asked.

She shrugged. "My friend let me borrow her car. I couldn't let you just starve. You're doing important work here. You deserve a good meal just as much as the rest of us, if not more."

This beautiful woman wanted me to deflower her. That was my one overriding thought as I stared at her. "Deflower" was the exact word she'd used. I felt like the luckiest man in the world that she'd asked me to take her virginity.

"We can head back to the retreat center," she said. "Or if you want to take this back to your cabin and eat alone, I could just?—"

"No," I interrupted.

Her expression immediately changed. It had gone a little dark there for a second, but now I saw a slight sparkle in her eyes.

I gestured and turned back in the direction from which I'd come. "Come with me."

It was a small room designed for working and eating, although we kept it closed off when we were handing out lunches. It was specifically for those of us in charge of coordinating volunteers.

There were four tables with chairs around them and a bunch of supplies against the wall. Earlier in the day, one of the tables had been piled down with belongings like my keys, but now it was empty. That told me everyone was gone, which meant we were unlikely to be interrupted.

I grabbed a bottle of water from the stack of cases in the corner—it seemed everybody had cases of bottled water to donate—and sat down across from Sloane, who pulled a packet of plasticware and some napkins from her purse.

"I wasn't sure if you'd have this kind of stuff around here," she said.

Her gaze scanned the area, then returned to me. As our eyes met, my heart leaped into double time. What was that all about?

"Thanks for looking out for me," I said.

I had to pull my eyes off her to concentrate on getting the wrapper off the plasticware. I was starving. We'd served boxed lunches to everyone, but with the work we'd been doing today, I'd quickly burned through those calories.

"I should have stolen some silverware," she said.

Those words jerked my head back up. I'd stuck my plastic fork in the chicken and was sawing away at it with the plastic knife. It felt awkward, but I could make it work.

"I guess it would technically be borrowing." She laughed. "I'd take it back. I'd even clean it before I took it back. One of the employees packed all this up for me, though."

"This is perfect," I said. "Thank you so much for grabbing some food for me. I'd hoped to make it over there in time, but we were tarping a house without a roof, and it took longer than I thought."

"The tarps." Sloane nodded. "My friend Cassie went to pick those up."

I paused mid-chew and stared at her for a second. Then I finished chewing, swallowed, and asked, "Your friend went to get the tarps?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I guess she and some guy named Denver were sent to do it. They seem to be a thing now. Don't say anything to Denver, though."

I shook my head and scooped up a big helping of rice. "I guess a lot can change in a day."

As I ate, I ran through what Sloane had told me earlier. She and her friends came to town on a mission. Were all four of them virgins who were on the same mission? It sounded like something straight out of porn.

Only this thing between us was nothing like porn. This was something straight out of one of those cheesy romantic movies on cable at Christmastime. The meet cute, an attraction too powerful to resist… We just needed some ridiculous misunderstanding that would make it look like all hope was lost and we'd be ready for that end-of-movie, closed-mouth kiss.

But it wasn't going to work that way. Not this time. It would be an open-mouth kiss that would lead to so much more.

And there'd be no misunderstanding. I just had to find a way to convince her to stay in town so I could make her my wife.

"It's a big deal, losing your virginity," I said. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

What was I doing? Was I on the verge of talking her out of this? I had to be out of my mind. A priceless gift had been dropped at my feet, and I was turning it away?

But no, she had to be sure. The worst thing would be for her to do this and regret it later.

Sloane looked off to the side thoughtfully. "You know, I thought I was sure until we got here. But the more time I spend around you, the more it seems insane that I would just give up something important to a random guy I met on some mountain."

Fuck. Double fuck. Triple fuck. I didn't have to talk her out of it. It sounded like she'd done that for herself.

"But you're the guy," she said. "You're the man I want to take my virginity. No one else."