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I slip out of bed, being quiet so I don’t wakeat the absurdity of h the ruckus across the hall, they’ll sleep througha roo out of our suite

I poundwith irritation The noise barely dips, and I’h for theain I don’t want to be that person--in Vegas co joyful--buthotel security

This time the music dies down and footsteps slap on the tile just in front of the door

Maybe I expect some older, sun-bleached trust fund douche to answer, a bunch offor a weekend of debauchery, or a roo shots out of a stripper’s belly button But I don’t expect it to be hiuy from across the bar

I don’t expect hi so low on his tanned stomach that I can see the soft trail of hair, lower

I don’t expect him to smile when he sees me And I most definitely don’t expect the accent when he says, "I know you"

"You don’t," I say, completely steady, if a little on the breathless side I never stutter in front of friends or faers I’ht now oose bumps, so I have no idea what to make of rows, blush deepening, die, and he opens the door wider, stepping out towardthan he seemed from across the room, and the reality of hie I step back as if I’ve been pushed He’s all easy posture, eye contact, and bea s a perforic like his before He may look like any other human, but he has that elusive quality that would force every pair of eyes to track hie, no netisht or practiced I’m only two feet away from himI don’t stand a chance

"I do know you," he says with a little tilt of his head "We ed names yet" My mind searches to place his accent before I trip into understanding: he’s French The assle is French It’s diluted, though His accent is soft, ether he spreads the each one

I narrowthem up to his face It’s not easy His chest is smooth and tan and he has the most perfect niles I’ve ever seen, sh to ride like a horse I can feel the war nothing but his underwear and see insanely loud," I say, reht me out here in the first place "I think I liked you a lot better across a crowded room than across this hall"

"But face-to-face is the best, no?" His voice causes goose bumps to spread across my arms When I don’t answer, he turns and looks over his shoulder and then back toto blame Finn He’s Canadian, so I’e And Oliver is an Aussie Also horribly uncivilized"

"A Canadian, an Australian, and a French a s to rele when you fall into quicksand, because that’s exactly what this feels like Sinking, being sed up by so of a joke," he agrees, nodding His green eyes twinkle and he’s right: face-to-face is endlessly better than through a wall, or even across a dark, crowded rooerous and so teer before scanning my body Despite what he’s just offered, he steps fully out into the hallway and the door falls closed behind him Now it’s just s and the potential forspontaneous hallway sex

Wait What?

And now I also re tank top with little pigs all over theht in the hallway and feelthe material lower to cover my scar I’m normally fine with my body--I’s I’d change--but my scar is different It’s not entirely about how it looks--though let’s be honest, Harlow still does the full-body sympathy shudder whenever she sees it--but what it represents: the loss of my scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet School, the death of ood naked--and beneath the cotton of hten

He notices and takes another step closer, bringing with him warmth and the scent of soap, and I’ It doesn’t even seeether enough to ignore what this scar says It says trauma, it says pain But his eyes only say yes, and please, and mischief And that he’d like to see more