Bent shut the cabinet. His nose actually looked healed. “You’ll be in the bed,” he said. “I’ll…” he looked quickly out the bathroom door to his room. “I’ll be down the hall.” “Oh,” Sarah said. He was letting her sleep in his bed again!”Hope you don’t mind the dogs. Unfortunately they do take up a lot of space,” he said. She followed his gaze. Sure enough, the four huskies were spread across his enormous bed. “I’ll be very happy with them,” she said. He studied her silently for a moment. “Good,” he finally said. “I’ll wake you in the morning so you’ll have plenty of time to shower before we leave.” His eyes took in her short black skirt and tights. She still wore the outfit he’d picked out for her the night before. “I’ll…uh…I’ll make sure you have something more appropriate to wear on the plane.” So he was still going to play that game where the outfit HE’D selected wasn’t good enough??? Unbelievable. He cleared his throat strangely and, without another word, headed out the door. Sarah felt extremely awkward being alone in his massive room. As she left the bathroom, the motion-activated lights shut off automatically behind her. Tugging off the sweatshirt and her tights, she debated how much clothing to leave on. Feeling shy, she decided to remain fully clothed. His room was cold anyway.She crawled timidly into his giant bed. She had to push one of the dog’s paws — it looked like Grumpy’s — away from the pillow so she could lay down on it. But the huge dog, being more selfish than the others, kept most of the pillow for himself. She settled on sleeping on the farthest corner of the pillow. Another dog was sprawled out in the exact place she normally put her legs. She had to maneuver her left leg over one side of the dog, and swung her right foot on top of the dog’s neck. Luckily, that dog was Happy. He didn’t mind at all. As she lay down, Grumpy nestled closer to her, warming her up instantly with his extremely soft fur. He was actually quite cuddly for being such a moody animal.Sarah shut her eyes and forced herself to relax. A loud crack of thunder suddenly rattled the windows. The rain sounded as if it had turned into hail. Ice beat against the window like a loud, relentless drum. Even the dogs raised their heads in alarm, as if annoyed by the noise.Sarah tried to clamp the pillow down over her ears to drown out the hail. But it was no use. The hail, mixed with the incessant rumbles of thunder, made it impossible to sleep. Not to mention how terrifying it was to hear. An hour passed by. Sarah still hadn’t slept. While she was thinking about what kind of sunscreen she wanted to get in Miami, she heard the sound of the bedroom door opening. She sat up quickly. “Hello?” she called. “It’s just me,” Bent said. His voice sounded tired. He paused, listening to the hail. “Why didn’t you close the shutters?” he asked. He sounded as grumpy as the dog. “Sorry, never mind. You wouldn’t know.” He punched a button on the wall. A large metal shutter slid over the windows. The sounds of the thunder and hail faded instantly. “Wow, you’d never know it was storming out there!” Sarah said, relieved. Bent didn’t respond. She saw he had a pillow and blanket tucked under his arm. He tossed them onto the gold-colored couch and stretched out onto it. He buried his face in the pillow, resting his arms over the side of the couch. His muscular body was way too long. He looked really uncomfortable. At first she wondered why he would flop down on that small couch when he had a number of other rooms and beds to choose from. But then it dawned on her. He was lonely. Sarah felt badly. “I won’t mind if you want to sleep up here instead,” she offered. She patted the mattress. Bent raised his head. He studied her curiously. It seemed exhaustion overpowered him. He jumped up, probably too quickly, and dove onto his bed. There were a few slight growls from the dogs he landed on, but the animals were obviously used to him. As Sarah began to slowly drift off to sleep, she heard Bent push Grumpy farther down on the bed. He then scooted closer to her. Bent probably assumed she was already asleep. He pulled her ever so gently across the mattress so that her back was flush against his chest. Sliding his arms carefully around her waist, he rested his chin on her head. He fell asleep with a deep, satisfied sigh that sent sweet shivers down her neck.