Free Ready To Go by Stephanie Mann

suggested. Why was she talking about him naked? That was going to make him think being naked, and her being naked, and that wasn’t good. But she kept her expression exactly the same and pretended that wasn’t awkward. She certainly wasn’t thinking about him naked.
    “I already do.” He gave her a flirtatious grin, and laughed when she just shook her head at him. “Okay, how about if the hotel we stay at happens to have a pool, we use it a little bit in the morning?”
    “Not fair,” Nicole replied. “You’re driving, you’re paying, you’ll purposely pick somewhere with a pool.”
    “Fine,” he said. “You’re right, I probably would. We spend so much time just driving, though; don’t you want to take some time to see the country? I’ve never been out here before, have you?”
    She laughed and replied with heavy sarcasm, “Yeah, I’ve always wanted to see the sights of, where are we? Iowa?”
    “Somewhere like that, yeah,” Daniel said. “Maybe Minnesota? Come on. Let’s stop for the night now and find something to do in this town.”
    “You know, I could drive instead of you,” she said. “I do have a license, just not a car.”
    “Wait, how old are you?” he asked. “I’m not kidnapping a minor, am I?” He figured not, but he also figured he should make sure.
    She laughed, so hard that she lost her breath in her laughter. When she could speak again, she replied, “I’m twenty-two! I can drink, I can drive, not both at the same time, but still.” She knew she looked young, but being called a minor was just ridiculous. No one ever mistook her for under eighteen.
    “You kind of act young,” he said. “I mean, no offense, you’re not childish or anything, it’s just…I don’t know what I mean.”
    “I get it,” she said. “I live with my parents and go to community college. Or I used to anyway.”
    “Used to?” he asked.
    “Well, now I’m here,” she said. “Can we just find a hotel?”
    She was avoiding the subject of herself again, Daniel realized. He kept his eyes on the road, looking for a sign somewhere that advertised a hotel. At least this way, he got his wish of stopping early. He was slowly getting to know Nicole a little better, even if she didn’t directly reveal anything about herself, and spending some time with her out of the car, being able to look at her instead of the road ahead, would help him learn more.
    Once they got to a hotel and got their separate rooms, Nicole headed off to her room while Daniel stayed in the lobby. He browsed the shelves of brochures for local attractions and grabbed a couple that caught his eye. Then, instead of going into his own room, he followed Nicole to hers.
    She opened the door after the first knock. She didn’t say anything when she saw him, just gave a small smile and pulled the door open wider so he could enter. He tossed the brochures on the bed and sat down beside them. “See anything that looks good?”
    “This one, maybe,” she said, pulling one shiny piece of paper out from under another. It advertised a walking tour of the haunted places in the city. “Looks like tours meet in half an hour. If we can get there in time, that is.”
    “You like haunted things?” Daniel asked.
    She shrugged. “I like the paranormal, yeah. It’s interesting.” She neglected to mention that of course she believed in ghosts and an afterlife, and she’d believed her dreams were prophetic until she was a teenager. That was maybe just a little too embarrassing to share.
    “Let’s try to get there,” he said, standing from the bed.
    Nicole stood as well, grabbed a sweater from her suitcase, and headed to the door.
    “Damn, I forgot to get a jacket,” Daniel realized.
    “I have an extra hoodie if you want to borrow it,” Nicole offered. She went back to her suitcase to dig it out.
    “No, don’t bother,” he said, stopping the girl in her tracks. “I don’t get cold easily. I’ll deal with it tonight and get a jacket