Chapter 254: Check-In
Giselle pretended not to notice how close Elias had moved.
She looked out the window with an expression of perfect calm, but he could read the strain in her body with embarrassing ease. Her arms were folded tightly across her chest. Her shoulders had drawn in. She had pressed herself so far against the door and the tinted glass that there was nowhere left for her to retreat.
Elias had won.
Which meant there was no reason to stop now.
He shifted closer until half of his body rested against hers. His chest pressed into the arm she had folded over herself, leaving her trapped between him and the car door. The ocean flashed blue through the windows. The driver kept her eyes on the road. Giselle, who could face down Naomi without blinking, stayed entirely still.
Elias settled in.
He could maintain this position until they reached the resort.
Then his body betrayed him.
A shiver passed through him. He inhaled sharply, closed his eyes, and sneezed.
Giselle turned at once.
Elias covered his mouth with his hand, blinking with open confusion. He did not seem to understand why the sneeze had happened. He only looked faintly dazed, as though the cold had arrived without permission.
"Put your jacket back on," Giselle said.
Elias glanced at the thin shirt he had insisted on wearing. The air-conditioning had cooled the car, the tropical heat had faded, and he had spent too long leaning against the window while playing with Giselle. His skin had cooled faster than he noticed.
Before he could argue, Giselle picked up the discarded jacket.
She draped it around his shoulders, then looked at him with the same serious focus she had used while treating the bruises at the corner of his mouth.
"Arms up."
Elias obeyed.
Giselle guided one arm through a sleeve, then the other. Her fingers were careful around his wrists. When the jacket sat properly on his shoulders, she pulled the zipper up to his collar and smoothed the fabric flat.
"Even if you feel hot, you are not taking it off again," she said. "We will be at the hotel soon."
Elias nodded.
He watched her face as she spoke. The faint color from a few minutes ago had vanished. No trace of the embarrassment remained, at least not where anyone could see it. Giselle had returned to the composed, matter-of-fact version of herself, the one who noticed risks and solved them before they became problems.
Elias had not expected his body to be so troublesome. One cool draft after the heat had been enough to make him sneeze. The reaction had been instinctive, and it had given Giselle a perfect excuse to escape from the position he had forced her into.
Lucky her.
He decided to spare her for now.
Elias slid his arms around hers again. The jacket formed a sensible barrier between them. Whatever soft heat he had been able to feel through the thin shirt was gone, and the sight of him pressed against her no longer had the same immediate effect.
Giselle’s response became easier to manage.
She did not have to look away from the window. She did not have to sit with every muscle locked into place. She could simply let him hold her arm as if that was what Besties did on a drive along the coast.
Inside, she released a breath.
He was too innocent to understand what he had been doing earlier. He had trusted her completely and leaned close because the sea was beautiful, because he was warm, because he wanted to share the view. That did not make the contact any easier to endure.
The jacket solved the problem.
Yet, beneath the relief, there was something else.
A small, unwelcome regret.
It passed too quickly for Giselle to examine.
"We’re here," the driver said.
The SUV rolled beneath the covered entrance of the resort and stopped beside a set of polished glass doors. Giselle stepped out first. Elias followed, ducking automatically as he climbed down from the back seat.
Giselle’s hand appeared above the door frame before he could rise.
She held her arm there to protect his head from the low edge of the door. The movement was smooth, practiced, and quietly elegant. Elias paused for half a second before placing his feet on the pavement.
[System Theta: She is very good at this.]
Elias smiled privately.
Little Giselle really was good at taking care of people.
On campus, people called her unreachable. They looked at her silver hair, her pale clothes, her precise manners, and decided she was some impossible fantasy. They had no idea that, once someone reached the high levels of her personal hierarchy, Giselle could be almost painfully attentive.
Elias reached for her hand when she offered it.
She led him toward the hotel.
Her expression barely changed. These gestures came naturally to her. Holding a hand beneath a door frame. Walking on the outside edge of a path. Matching her pace to his. Giselle treated those things like instinct, not intimacy.
Very few people ever received them.
Besties ranked high.
Very high.
A woman in a tailored cream uniform was waiting at the entrance. She had the polished posture of a senior concierge, every detail of her appearance selected to suggest discretion, competence, and the assurance that nothing would be difficult for the guests in front of her.
Giselle had reserved the resort weeks in advance. The rate she paid, combined with the family name attached to the booking, had ensured a different kind of welcome. Staff did not need to be told to notice a guest like that. Luxury hospitality trained people to smell status before they saw it.
The concierge greeted them warmly and led them inside.
Elias’s eyes lit up.
The lobby gleamed with white stone, warm gold fixtures, glass sculpture, and massive arrangements of tropical flowers. Light poured down from a high ceiling. Beyond a wall of windows, the lagoon shimmered in layers of blue. Every surface looked expensive enough to make a thief consider a career change.
Elias let surprise touch his face.
Inside, he was estimating values.
"If I sold all this," he thought, "I could probably clear several million."
[System Theta: Theft is illegal.]
"I am only thinking about it."
[System Theta: That does not reassure me.]
Elias’s imagination had an unfortunate history of becoming action whenever an opportunity appeared. System Theta had learned not to dismiss his jokes too quickly.
Giselle’s silver hair drew attention as soon as they crossed the lobby.
The employees looked once, recognized that she was a guest who expected privacy, and returned to their work. They were professionals. A glance was understandable. Staring was not.
The other guests had no such training.
Three young women lounging near the bar looked over at Giselle. All three were striking, sun-kissed, and dressed for a resort holiday.
They were not trying to hide their interest. The woman on the left murmured something to the others while watching Giselle openly. The brunette beside her gave a low laugh and leaned forward to get a better look. Their attention followed the line of Giselle’s hair, the calm set of her mouth, and the simple way she held Elias’s hand without seeming to realize what that picture looked like from the outside.
Elias noticed every glance.
He did not like any of them.
Giselle was not a display in a hotel lobby. She was his Bestie. His traveling companion. The person who had remembered his meals, fastened his seat belt, and brought him across the ocean because he had once said he wanted to see the sea.
That did not make her available to whoever had decided a smile was enough to earn an introduction.
One of them, blond with bright eyes and an easy confidence, rose from the sofa at once.
She approached with a broad smile.
"Hi."
Giselle did not look at her.
She continued forward with Elias’s hand in hers and walked around the woman as if she were a decorative plant placed in the wrong spot.
The woman’s smile flickered.
Then she turned and stepped in front of them again.
"Hello," she said, more pointedly.
Giselle changed direction.
The woman moved with her.
After the third attempt, Giselle stopped.
She did not address the stranger. Her cool gaze shifted to the concierge instead.
Do something.
The concierge turned to the woman with a courteous expression. "Ma’am, I need to escort these guests to check-in. Please allow them through."
The woman cut her off.
"Am I not a guest too?"
Her smile remained in place, but the English beneath it had sharpened.
The concierge’s voice stayed calm. "Of course you are. We are happy to assist you. But other guests should not be interrupted."
The woman’s expression softened by a fraction.
"I am not interrupting anyone," she said. "I only want her contact information."
Then she held out one arm toward Giselle, open and expectant.
"My name is Melinda. What’s yours?"
Elias stared at the woman.
His mood worsened instantly.
He had finally gotten Giselle alone. There were no Blackwood sisters, no doctors, no Frost relatives, no campus friends, no emergency calls, no loudmouthed heiresses trying to start fights. This was supposed to be their private trip.
Now someone had decided to walk up and interrupt it.
That was bad enough.
But every interruption affected the time he had with Giselle. Less time meant fewer chances to raise her favorability. Fewer chances meant delays. Delays meant retirement moved farther away.
Elias’s eyes widened.
No.
Absolutely not.
He was done being patient.