“Let’s forget about LA for tonight.” I pull off at Green River and turn into the first decent-looking hotel they have. There’s not much to choose from, but it will have to do because life just needs to stop for a little while. Just be still and let us breathe.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The hotel lobby is large and clean. That’s always a plus. It’s locally owned, not a chain. And that’s not always a plus.

Ashleigh and the baby are standing next to me at the counter. “Single or double?” the clerk asks.

“Single,” I say. I look at Ashleigh from the corner of my eye to see if she’s gonna contradict me, but she doesn’t.

“Do you need a crib?”

Now I do have to look at her. “Do we need a crib?”

“You seem to be the one calling the shots, why stop now?”

I squint at her, trying to decide if this is her way of being mad, but I can’t tell. “No,” I say to the clerk. “We’ve gotten by without one so far, why change what’s working.”

“We’ve gotten by on separate beds too.”

The clerk raises her eyebrows at us. “Do you want two beds? We have a room available.”

“No,” I say before Ashleigh can. “We’re fine with the single.”

Ashleigh wanders off after that and after the clerk hands us the key card, I grab her numerous shopping bags filled with clothing and crap. We meet up again at the elevator, get in, and she presses the button for the fourth floor.

“So…” she starts as we ascend. “One bed. What’s up with that?”

I look right at her. “Exactly what you think is up with that, Ashleigh.”

“You mean you might actually f**k me tonight?” She’s got a devious grin on her face.

“Probably not.”

“What?”

The doors open and I wave her through. “That’s it,” she says as we walk down the hall to our room. “I’m done with you. I’m drawing a line down the middle of the bed and if you so much as put your big toe over on my side, I’ll kiss you on the lips.”

I use the card to open our room, then flick the lights on and wave her in. “If your lips come in contact with mine, I’ll bite. I’m warning you now.”

She puts the baby down and starts taking off her snowsuit. “I might take my chances anyway.”

I set the clothes on the little table. “Let’s go out to eat. Don’t undress her.”

“No, I need to feed her.” She rubs her br**sts and winces a little. “They hurt because I didn’t give her enough time when we were on the road. I need to nurse or they’ll start leaking.”

Holy f**king shit. I just got insta-hard. “Leaking?”

“Mmmm-hmmm,” she says seductively as she squishes them together a little. Little wet spots appear through her t-shirt. “Oops.” She looks up at me, smiling. “I leaked.”

“Leaked?” My eyes are still on her hands as she plays with herself.

“I guess I’ll have to change my shirt.” She whips it over her head and throws it across the room. Her pink bra also has little wet spots on it. “Oh, darn. My bra’s wet too.” She unhooks the clasp between her br**sts and they fall free as she takes it off.

She’s f**king leaking all right. That shit is practically dripping.

She grabs the baby, takes her over to a chair and plops down. Kate is half-asleep but she accepts the nipple and begins to eat. “I’m sorry, Ford. Were you saying something about going out for dinner? I’d love to actually. I’ll be done in a minute.”

“You’re evil.”

She laughs.

“I’m not sure it’s funny. I might have a fetish.”

“Oh, you mean like tying girls up and posing them in front of windows? That kind of fetish? Or spanking them until they cry? You have quite the assortment of fetishes, Ford. I’m not sure leaking br**sts even qualify.”

“You enjoyed all of that. You let me pose you in front of the window and you admitted to enjoying the spankings.”

“I did like it. The exhibitionism more than the swats, just FYI. In fact, I think you should pose me in front of this window right now.” She grins an I win smile. Because right now I realize she did know that no one could see her in the window up at the Vail house. Maybe she didn’t realize it at that moment, but she’s on to me now.

“Maybe I will.”

“Go for it. But I’ll get another question.”

Now it’s my turn to grin. “I paid you forward today. I told you how my dad died. I’ve never told anyone that story.”

Her smile falters at this revelation. “No one?”

I shake my head. “Not even my mother. Not even the lawyers. I’m not allowed to talk to the police. Only Ronin is allowed to talk to the police, this is part of the business we have together. So I never gave a statement.”

“Can’t they make you give a statement?”

“Nope. They could arrest me if they suspected foul play, but they didn’t. It was a tragedy and no one wanted to make it worse. Besides, we were all locals. There was too much pain to worry about me. They know I’m a freak. My weird behavior afterward just confirmed it.”

She’s quiet for a few seconds and then she lifts her eyes and stares at me with a small smile. I can’t believe I didn’t think she was beautiful when I first met her, because right now, I’ve never seen a more stunning girl. Sitting here with her baby like that. I just… fuck. I don’t know. I like it. And it’s not the nursing, although I suspect that’s part of it. She’s got some sort of glow to her.