A/N: Bringing you chapter two of About Last Night. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Naruto and all characters are created by Masashi Kishimoto. Please heed rating.
2.
Some ten minutes later, there was a knock on his door.
Gaara jerked up from the pillows stacked beneath his head, wondering who the hell it was. Abandoning his crossword puzzle on the desk, with the TV on mute, he grabbed his Glock and went to the door.
The hotel staff had come by to pick up his tray earlier, so it couldn't very well be them. As for the guys on his team, they were all busy working till late.
He padded to the door and peered into the peephole.
Holy hell. It was Hyuuga again. Shoving the gun into the back of his sweatpants, he unlocked the door.
"What happened?" Gaara's forehead creased.
"The fog's thickened." Hinata said, a pink hue on her cheeks. "I thought I could walk back. or take a cab back, but the drivers aren't accepting any passengers given the bad weather. And I really can't see the roads at all."
Gaara's brow knitted. "Seriously? How bad can it be?" He walked across the room to the windows and snapped the blinds open. "It's just fog-"
The window looked as if it had been painted over with thick, grey paint. He couldn't see anything - not even the silhouette of a lamp, or the trees that lined the pavement outside.
He cursed under his breath and turned back to Hinata.
"I tried getting a room, but the rooms here are all full. The concierge told me the fog's likely to last for hours." She raised her hands in mock surrender. "You're my last resort, really."
"Don't you have a room here?"
"We - that is , the administrative staff - are staying at Emerald Bay Inn. It's a sister hotel."
"Why the hell didn't you guys stay at the Marriott?"
"To fit the budget." Hinata replied matter-of-factly. "We didn't have enough to let everyone stay here. The security team was the most important, so we had to park you closest to the Prime Minister."
"And how far is the hotel?"
"About a fifteen minute walk, or a five minute drive. I know the way back, and I wanted to walk back, but-"
"Don't." Gaara said curtly. "This part of town might look safe, but it's still not that safe. Too many muggings. The fog's also a great cover for that and other crimes, especially with the way you look." He flicked his glance over her and gestured for her to come in.
She padded in and angled a glance at him. "With the way I look?" Hinata asked as she took her heels off in the hallway.
He'd meant beautiful, fashionably dressed women, but he sure as hell wasn't going to say that.
"Women in general." He amended.
She walked in barefoot and took a seat on a long couch pushed near the windowsill, looking extremely uncomfortable. A hungry growl punctuated the silence.
"Sorry," She glanced at him, cheeks turning red.
"Haven't you had dinner?"
"No." She admitted.
Gaara picked up the room service menu and handed it to her. "You should get something to eat."
She hesitated only for a moment. "Alright. Have you had dinner?"
"Yeah. Don't worry about me."
His phone pinged, and he picked it up. It was a text message from Naruto wishing him a Merry Christmas, along with a picture of the other Personal Protection Officers all decked out in suits, crowded around in a cargo lift.
Thanks for the basket, he texted his colleague.
What basket? Naruto shot back.
His thumbs flew across the screen. Didn't you guys get the ice princess to come by with a basket?
Not us man, Naruto replied with a laughing emoji. On 2nd thought, maybe we should send u something for room service.
Gaara glanced at Hinata from his position on the bed. She was speaking to the hotel staff on the telephone and looking down at the menu, one perfectly manicured finger on the menu.
Discreetly, he nicked the card from the basket, flipped it open, and glanced at it.
Merry Christmas Gaara, it read in cursive handwriting.
Ice princess said the PM asked after me, he typed in his message to Naruto.
Dude, wtf, PM's too busy having online meetings and conference calls to ask after you.
Gaara glanced up from his phone, to Hinata again.
"...that's fine. That would be great." She held the phone away from her ear, covered the mouthpiece and glanced at him. "Want any food?
"No. Thanks."
Also, Asuma gave the ice princess hell for using that fake snow paint thing you recommended, 'cos the cleaning team at the museum had a hard time getting it off. Did she give u shit for that?
He eyed her surreptitiously, suddenly seeing things in a new light.
Ignoring Naruto's text, Gaara pulled up a map on his phone, keyed in the address for the Marriott and Emerald Bay and hit the search button.
He almost snorted at the numbers on his screen.
The little liar. It was a twenty minute walk, or a ten-minute drive to the hotel. She had gone out of the way to deliver this little basket, when the guys on his team hadn't even bothered to send anything.
Which meant she either really liked him, or she had absolutely no idea how to spend her time wisely.
His gaze lingered on her dainty feet, which sported a few red blisters and the marks from where her pumps had pressed into her skin. His gaze went to her face. She looked soft and clean and nice, but there were dark rings around her eyes.
Hinata set the phone back down in the cradle with a soft click.
"Got your food?" He asked casually.
"Yes. They said it would take them half an hour."
"You might as well make yourself comfortable." He pulled up a weather app and studied it. "It says here fog's gonna dissipate only tomorrow morning."
She looked crestfallen. "That's bad."
"I've got an extra bathrobe and an unopened set of toiletries in there if you wanna take a shower." He nodded at the opened door of his bathroom.
Hinata bit her lower lip and rubbed the nape of her neck with one hand. She looked so reluctant, he was starting to get offended.
"I know I don't look like a gentleman." He said shortly. "But I don't bite, and I won't look. So just go on in there."
Hinata stood beneath the spray of the hot shower, wondering if someone up there was playing an extremely cruel joke on her.
Stuck in a hotel room with Gaara on Christmas Eve?
Not good.
Considering how Gaara had reacted to her when she had brought the basket over, it was clear the ungrateful bastard thought only of her as his mortal enemy.
Not that she was into him.
Nope, she told herself as she lathered her long hair with shampoo, then rubbed body gel all over her slick body. She wasn't into him at all.
He might have thickly lashed piercing jade eyes, a chiselled jaw, and an even harder body, but it was clear the man wasn't her type.
Um, who are you kidding?
Okay, so he looked great in a suit. Which man didn't?
Excuse me, the guy vaulted over a fence and tackled a man in under five seconds flat. In a Hugo Boss suit.
Okay, so he was good at his job and he looked good while at it, but so were the rest. Hell, they had to be the crème de la crème of the Protective Services Command to even be on the PM's security detail.
She pinched the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb as water streamed over her.
Who are you kidding?
The truth was, Sabaku Gaara was one of the most attractive men she had ever met. The tall, handsome redhead had caught her attention the moment she had been introduced to him, but it was clear that he really didn't like her from the get-go.
Legacy left behind from the previous team, Yuuhi Kurenai, her boss, had explained succinctly.
Who would have thought that she would be standing wet and naked in his bathroom, with him just a few metres away?
Hinata rinsed out the soap suds from her hair and her body, then took her time drying it with a spare towel. She found the thick bathrobe he mentioned hanging behind the door, and put it on. And god, she didn't even have clean underwear to put on. How was she supposed to face him, underwear-less?
To stall for time, Hinata searched for a hair dryer and found one. She took her time drying it, until the long strands were dry and warm. While she waited, she studied the contents of the sink. For a guy, he was fairly neat. His razor, toothbrush and a glass cup stood at one corner.
When she eventually dragged herself out of the steamy bathroom, she pretended not to notice Gaara's gaze on her.
For a man recovering from dengue, he looked healthy and scrumptious, albeit still a little pale. The gleaming strands of his oxblood hair - trimmed in a fuss free crew cut - fell over his brow. He lay on his back with pillows stacked behind him, looking incredibly comfortable in a white shirt that stretched over some impressive muscles, and worn-looking long grey sweatpants.
"Your food's here." He pointed at a collection of silver, dome-covered dishes with the remote control.
"Great. I ordered an extra bowl of soup." She said as she went over to uncover the dishes, revealing fish and chips, two bowls of soup and chicken nuggets. "Perhaps you'd like to have supper?"
"Thanks." He said, a note of surprise entering his voice.
He got off the bed and rolled the swivel chair over to join her at the study desk.
"Where did you get that gift basket from?" He asked casually.
Hinata cut up her fish daintily, stalling for time. "There was a gift shop in the lobby of the hotel."
"How did you get here?"
She had actually walked, because she couldn't find a cab, but he didn't need to know that. "I took a cab."
"One of those motorcarts?"
"Yes."
His jaw tensed. "Do you know how dangerous those things are? Those drivers could have abducted you and rode off with you to god knows where to-" He broke off when she glanced at him in surprise.
"It was a perfectly legitimate motorcart. And I wasn't abducted."
"At least have someone accompany you the next time you venture out in the evening in a foreign country." He said gruffly, picking up a silver soup spoon.
"I did my homework. I was perfectly safe. I made sure to pass by plenty of public spaces with lots of people who could run to my aid if something happened."
He glanced at her over his soup. "Did you lose your wallet?"
She smiled and shook her head. "I didn't."
"So what's this I hear about Asuma giving you hell for the fake snow spray?"
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