The sheets smelled like lemon and vanilla. Mariana pressed her nose further into the pillow and felt sleep blurring the edges of her mind. It took a few minutes for her to sit up in a panic, The room was most definitely not her hotel room. The dark silk sheets were tangled around her legs and she nearly tripped as she tried to move out of the bed.

She could see the nest of tangled blankets and pillows she'd made at the center of the bed. One shoe was tossed casually at the edge of the bed. The other was nowhere in sight. Her dress was still on with a pair of very loose sweatpants underneath. Neither her phone nor her purse were anywhere she could see.

"Alright, Mari, deep breath," she instructed herself. "Just get out and run." She grabbed her one shoe and tried to touch her foot under the bed to find the second. Even if she couldn't run in them, they'd make good weapons. After almost smacking her head on the nightstand, she finally noticed the glass of water and Tylenol sitting on it. There was no way she was foolish enough to drink tainted water.

The carpet softened her footfalls until she was a foot from the door. It was all dark wooden floors beyond the reach of the plush green carpet. Mariana took a steadying breath and slowly shifted her weight onto her front foot resting on the floor. It was solid, not a single creak to be heard. Her confidence grew and she was at the door in no time.

It looked just as well maintained as the rest of the room. Maybe that's why her confidence was so high. She pushed it open silently and stepped out with her head up high. What looked like the front door was across the spacious living room from her. It would only take a quick sprint. Someone cleared their throat to her right and she dropped to the floor clutching her chest.

"You didn't sneak out when you were younger, did you?" Dakota asked. He looked at her over the top of his magazine. The bright color of the cover was a harsh contrast to his very monochrome décor.

Mariana knelt on the floor with her hands on her knees. "I can feel you judging me in your slacks from here." The smell of hot food tickled her nose. She stood, shoe dangling uselessly from her forefinger. One plate of food was half eaten in front of Dakota with a second covered plate across from him. As she moved closer, he lifted the covering and nudged it towards her.

"I was wondering if the food would lure you out of bed. I guess I should have left you a note on the door as well," he teased.

"You try waking up in a stranger's bed wearing what I assume is their pants," Mariana grumbled and stabbed her fork into a waffle. The crispy ridges crunched under her teeth and the syrup flooded across her tongue.

"Well I wasn't going to just let you sleep in that, it looks uncomfortable. I wasn't sure how to get you to change without doing it myself though," Dakota explained. "It was hard enough getting you settled in the guest room."

The food disappeared bit by bit but she passed the coffee back to him. "Do you know how long coffee stays in your system? It'll ruin your sleep," she told him. "Not to mention how much it dehydrates you."

Dakota rolled his eyes and made a point of slowly drinking her rejected cup while maintaining eye contact. The last drop hung from his lower lip for a second before his tongue darted out to catch it. "I'll have an extra glass of water. In the meantime, what can I get you to drink?"

"Um," Mariana blinked slowly as if coming out of a daze. "Tea? Black is fine, that's probably all you have." She spotted her phone across the room and shuffled across the wood floors to retrieve it. There were a few missed texts from Sawyer. They started with thanking her, then asking if she'd made it back, but it was the final few that apologized for not telling her about his fiancé that made her shoulders droop. If they went any further down they'd dislocate.

"Everything alright? Do you need to leave? Shoot, did I make you late for something?" Dakota asked questions in rapid fire. He had the fresh mug of steeping tea cupped between his hands. The steam curled through the air and the sunbeams that were streaming in through the sheer curtains.

"No, just my... friend. He was making sure I was alright," Mariana muttered. She was surprised to find metal tea infuser bobbing in the hot water. She'd been expecting a tea bag scrounged from the back of a drawer. Loose tea was the last thing she'd imagined he would have.

He settled himself on the couch and gestured to the space next to him. "Is this the same friend who didn't tell you he was engaged?"

Mariana's mouth parted slightly in confusion. "Um, yes. I'm guessing I was talkative last night."

The look he gave her made her cheeks burn. "You were incredibly eager to share every instance in which he had led you along so you would help him with something. I would have tried to stop you but it looked like you were having an epiphany and I would have hated to interrupt."

Flashes from the night came back, bringing with it a subtle throb in her temples. She remembered standing from the stool the most clearly. The memory was closely followed by a view of Dakota from where she was sprawled on the floor as he frantically tried to help her stand. After that it was a discombobulated mess of him asking her where her hotel was and if she needed to go to the hospital instead.

Mariana shut her eyes and rested her face over the steaming mug. "I am so sorry. You have to let me repay you," she whispered.

"Would you be opposed to taking me out to lunch and we can call it even?" he asked. There was a tiny tremble in his voice.

"Just lunch, right?" confirmed. Her mind pulled up every meal she'd had with Sawyer that was just the two of them. It had always started as him thanking her for something, but it always ended with her insisting on treating him. Looking back, she couldn't believe how stupid she had been.

The amount of begging she'd had to do to convince her boss to give him a discount was making her sick. Weeks of overtime and promised work on difficult projects, all because she thought some guy would make heart eyes at her. Was this the point where she had her big realization that all men were garbage and she got a kick ass new job and a crazy dog? That's how romance movies went, wasn't it?

Dakota held a hand out for her to shake. "Just lunch. Fair payback since I made you breakfast."

"You drive a hard bargain, Dakota," she said, shaking his hand firmly. "Do you mind if we make a stop so I can change? I feel like I'm about to do the most undignified walk of shame and I don't even have anything to be ashamed about." Mariana scowled as she looked down at her wrinkled black dress and the borrowed sweatpants.

"I don't know, I'd be pretty ashamed if I got so drunk I couldn't remember what number came after one," Dakota teased.