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After a long, exhausting flight from LaGuardia to L.A., all I wanted to do was hit the shower and the bed in my hotel room and sleep til I got my wake-up call. I unlocked room 1247 of the Starlight Luxury Suites. Despite the cheesy name, the room was actually big and cozy with a king sized bed I always brought with a maroon velvet bedspread with me, after hearing scary rumors about the scarcity of clean blankets in hotel beds. I dreaded giving my sales presentation to a roomful of button-downs at the corporate headquarters. Every week I'd promise myself I'd give notice after I paid my next credit card balance, but then it was another bill or a broken arm from a skiing trip. Six months later, I was still wrapped in a corporate culture I despised.
I didn't feel like unpacking. It was already ten thirty, my flight had been two hours late. I plopped onto the bed, exhausted and fell asleep in my business suit. I awakened to the sound of the doorknob being turned oh god I thought the maids clean this late at night. I had forgotten to put the "Do Not Disturb" sign up. I jumped out of bed and yanked the door open.
A gorgeous but somewhat bemused man stood in the hallway, holding a large duffel bag."I'm sorry. Is Is this room 1247? Hmmm, they must have made a mistake at the desk." The man said, in an indetermined accent that couldn't decide if it was British or California surfer dude. I was instantly attracted to him.
"Wait, my key says 1247, too. Let me call the desk and see what's going on." I was so tired it took me a minute for it to the sink in that the man standing next to me in this hotel room emitted more testosterone than my employer's entire board of directors combined.
With black hair a little past his ears, brown eyes, and lips that were a bit too prominent for his rugged looks. His face showed a bit of wear and tear. Nothing major, but just enough to be intriguing, show that he had lived a life. He was dressed causally, in jeans and a windbreaker with some sort of logo for a soccer team. When the desk clerk answered I wanted to say never mind, but decorum won out. I had to go through the motions.
The desk clerk was nice about the whole thing, but I couldn't wait to get off the phone and talk to the beautiful stranger who stood before me "He says that it was a mix-up with booking and they copied the wrong keys. The hotels full up so they cant offer us another room til tomorrow they offer a voucher for the Ramada Inn down the streetโฆor they could send up another bed and we could share a room for the night." I said
"That would be fine. I'd just as soon we could share for the night. " he answered.
I didnโt wanna say it but I forced myself to ask housekeeping to send up another bed.
"Is that all right?"
"That's no problem. I'll set up shop in the next room. There's enough space. My name's Michael, by the way."
"Hi. I'm Jenny." I said, and we shook hands.
I went into the bathroom and took a quick shower. Oh please, God, I thought, don't let any rooms open up unexpectedly. I usually slept in the nude but that was out of the question with this stranger in the room. I threw on a plain white T-shirt that I used for workouts.