7
“I don’t know what it is about this place, but it definitely gives me the creeps.”
Erin frowned. “Why? What’s wrong?”
“Come over here for just a second. Don’t tell me this place doesn’t freak you out.”
Erin, who’d been shoving her suitcase under the bed and discovering to her dismay it didn’t fit, rose and walked over to her friend’s room. They’d opted for connecting rooms, figuring they could throw a party at night, or have a girl’s night with drinks from the mini-bar and some cheesy Bollywood movie on TV.
Sophie stood gazing out the window at something on the ground floor. They were ten stories up, and down below hotel guests were prancing about the pool, jumping from the diving board and generally splashing about and having a ball.
“What?” she said, not detecting anything even remotely revolting.
“There!” intoned Sophie, pointing a finger resolutely across the courtyard to the opposing section of the hotel.
Erin followed her outstretched finger and now saw what she meant. On the tenth floor opposite from them, two young men with binoculars stood checking them out and waving excitedly in their direction.
Rather than wave back, Sophie flipped them the finger. “How dare they!”
“They’re just trying to be friendly,” suggested Erin.
“Friendly? They’re a bunch of peeping Toms! How are we ever going to feel safe here knowing there’s a bunch of guys checking out our every move? I was just about to change into my bikini when a flash of light made me look up and there they were.”
“Yeah, better change in the bathroom would be my suggestion.”
She walked back to her room, intent on giving the trunk another shove. She had this thing about suitcases when on holiday. They had to be where she didn’t see them, or else they kept reminding her of home.
Only when nothing told her she was on vacation and not a permanent resident at the hotel, could she really let her hair down and have fun.
She grinned at she thought of Sophie’s perverts. It was just like her friend to discover peeping Toms lurking all over the place. First that guy in the airport who practically jumped her, and now this? Sophie was simply a walking and talking guy magnet. She? Not so much. And neither did she want to be. She’d promised Sophie not to give the soulmate thing another thought and just enjoy their time here, and that’s exactly what she intended to do.
She stepped into the tiny bathroom and checked her look in the mirror. She looked pale, she thought. Probably from the flight. She hadn’t slept well, the noise and the uncomfortable position preventing her from finding sleep. That and Sophie’s snoring, which had amused her at first, but then had added to her discomfort.
She had dark rings under her eyes, which troubled her a little. Five years of college had drained her. Too much work and too little sleep. She looked thin, too. She lifted her dress to check her lithe frame. Flat belly… She raised her shirt even more, until her pink bra came into view. Small breasts, the bane of her existence. Compared to Sophie’s D cup, she almost looked like a boy. When still in her teens, her mother had assured her her boobs would grow, but they never had. They’d been stuck at the same size since she was sixteen.
She shook her head. How she would ever find a guy looking like this? Even Bart had confessed he’d have preferred her boobs to at least fill his hands. But then Bart had been a grade-A asshole.
She dropped her dress, and decided not to devote another thought to Bart or guys in general. At least she was healthy, she thought lamely. It was a phrase her grandmother often used. Whatever else irked the old lady, as long as she had her health, all was fine. Perhaps she was right.
She grinned at herself, displaying an even row of pearly whites. She was healthy, though bone-tired.
“Checking out that gorgeous bod, huh?” Sophie’s voice came from behind her. “Can’t blame you.