They both climbed into their makeshift beds, and he reached over to unplug the Christmas lights wrapped around the fake plant, leaving them with only the ambient glow from the lobby outside.
Her voice cut through the dark. “Asa?”
He closed his eyes. Eventually, he’d get used to hearing her say his name. But not yet. “Yeah?”
“Thank you for tonight,” she said in a rush, like she had to get the words out before she swallowed them back up. “Not just, you know, but . . . I really enjoyed playing the random number generator game with you.”
“Me, too.” He hesitated, wanting to address the elephant in the room, which she apparently wouldn’t even refer to directly. It would kill him if she regretted it.
But she swooped in before he could figure out what to say. “Do you think we could keep it all between us? Like What happens at Cold World stays at Cold World?”
He hadn’t exactly planned on kissing and telling. Although he probably would’ve run it by Kiki at some point—not all the details, but enough to try to find out what she might’ve heard from Lauren. But he also knew that what Lauren was really asking was whether they could leave this whole night behind in its bubble, and move forward like it had never happened.
“If that’s what you want,” he said.
“Thank you,” she said around a yawn. “God, I’m going to be wrecked tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Me, too.”
Eventually, he heard her breathing even out, and he knew she must’ve fallen asleep. It was a while before he joined her.
* * *
? ? ?
Wrecked was the understatement of the year. He’d convinced Lauren that he should stay and explain everything to the security guard, and later to Dolores, after Lauren had the chance to slip out the front door. It would be foolish—and practically impossible—to try to pretend like there hadn’t been anyone there that night. But there was no need for both of them to get in trouble, and the explanation was a lot cleaner if Asa just talked about his plan to hook up the faux snow machine and how it had gone awry.
They had a narrow window to pull it off. The security guard would need to open the building and disable the alarm, doing a quick walkthrough before locking it back up and leaving it for when Dolores arrived soon after. Asa and Lauren hid behind the front counter, waiting for the series of beeps that indicated the alarm had been turned off before she’d dart outside.
“You should just take the day off,” he said. At least his shift didn’t start until two, so he was planning on going home first and taking a big nap. Lauren only had enough time to go home to shower and change, and then was planning on turning right back around and coming into work.
“You heard Dolores at that meeting. No last-minute vacation requests until after the holidays.”
He frowned. “You can still call out sick. You need sleep.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said, then raised her eyebrows at him when the chirp of the alarm sounded from the office area where they’d spent the night. “That’s my cue. I’ll see you later?”
She said it like a question, but of course they would see each other. At work, if nowhere else. He thought again of how much he wanted to see her somewhere else, how decadent it would feel just to sit across from her in a coffee shop.
She started to rise, but he pulled her back down, pressing a quick, hard kiss to her mouth. She blinked at him, a little dazed, and he hoped the expression on his face was the wolfish grin he was going for.
“What happens at Cold World, right?”
She gave him a shaky smile. “Right.”
He stood, his hands in his pockets, to watch her as she sprinted through the doors and out to the parking lot, her red skirt swinging. There was probably no need for her to worry about getting out of there that fast—the security guard was still somewhere back in the offices. Asa’s lips twitched as Lauren started her ignition and peeled out like she was driving the getaway car in a bank heist. He would definitely tease her about that later.
If he was allowed to. He didn’t quite know the rules.
“Sir?” The security guard’s voice came from behind him, firm and authoritative but a little confused. Asa supposed it was one benefit to his distinctive blue hair—the chances were good that the security guard would at least vaguely recognize him as an employee. “You’re not supposed to be in here.”
Asa turned around, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “I can explain,” he said.