“Anything I can do?” Adam asked.
She had to smile. Adam, the oldest, felt it was his duty to make sure every family member was properly looked after.
“Sure. Give me the nicest room you have in this big dump.” A slight cramp tightened her middle, and Jannie’s hand immediately went to her belly.
“You OK?” Adam’s expression went from puzzlement to concern.
She usually would have snapped at him about men’s inability to understand that pregnancy wasn’t an illness, but the way he looked at her stopped her. She had a closer bond with her serious and introspective older brother, confiding in him things she never felt comfortable sharing with Ian.
“I’m fine.” She gave him her most convincing smile.
But Adam didn’t seem convinced. He opened his mouth to say something.
“Jack’s here,” Ian said, and Jannie relaxed, relieved to escape Adam’s scrutiny and questions.
The LarsAir limo pulled up to the curb, and Jack, the chauffeur, politely greeted them, then hurried to take both Rollaboards and wheel them to the open trunk.
“We’ll be gone for the whole week.” Ian picked up his flight bag. “Stay in the penthouse.”
“Are you sure?”
Ian nodded, extracting his key card from his pocket and holding it out.
Jannie took it with a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” She very much preferred Ian’s germs over those from around the world. The sanitizing wipes could stay in her carry-on, one less thing for her to do.
Ian bent to kiss her cheek. “I do my best to keep it clean. If it’s not up to your standards, have housekeeping sanitize it for you.”
Jannie nodded, her stomach churning with the need to escape Adam’s assessing gaze.
“Safe flight, guys.” She gave Adam a quick hug.
“It will be. I’m the one flying left seat.” Ian’s grin was supremely cocky, but then, the man had gone from attorney to airline captain in three months; she couldn’t blame him for the flex. He’d successfully switched careers and changed the trajectory of his life, and he was seeing someone, too.
Must be nice.
She watched the long black limo drive away, her stomach growling in protest of her skipping lunch. Jannie passed her carry-on to the bellhop and headed to the lobby lounge, eager to rest her aching feet and order what she knew was an excellent lobster roll.
Her gaze lingered longingly over the cocktails on patrons’ tables as she sat at an empty one facing the open lobby. God, how she needed a drink.
Call girls.Screw Blake. Or rather, let the call girls do it. They were welcome to him.
This time, she was done. Done, done.
Although she’d often caved, this time was different. She was beyond hurt; that feeling churning in her gut was outrage. So much for following her mother’s advice to keep the lines of communication open. All Blake understood from that was that her legs had been open, and look where that had gotten her.
She was finished trying to please her parents by fighting to fix an irreparably broken marriage. She was more than capable of raising her twins alone, despite her parents’ belief that a child needed both a mother and a father.
They would be upset about her decision, she knew. And her grandmother … Jannie inwardly groaned. Her grandmother, who believed marriage was sacred and forever, was going to be extremely disappointed.
Jannie let her gaze roam around the busy lobby lounge, seeking a much-needed distraction from her thoughts. People-watching was a blast in Vegas. She especially liked checking out women’s handbags,which were her weakness, and Sin City was full of opportunities to spot the most coveted ones. Her best friend, Sarah, had made her promise to take stealth pics of what she called purse porn.
As if sensing Jannie was thinking of her, Sarah’s text tone chimed from the purse insert inside Jannie’s vintage Balenciaga motorcycle bag.
Sarah: Hey, babe. All good?
Jannie hesitated. Sarah was like a sister to her. They had become friends in high school when Jannie defended Sarah from a group of mean girls who constantly picked on her. They bonded over many shared interests, and the best part was that Sarah had zero interest in Jannie’s brothers. They went their separate ways for college but always stayed in touch. One of the best days of Jannie’s life was when Sarah called to tell her she had secured a marketing job in Orlando.
If she told her what had gone down with Blake, she’d be immediately getting a FaceTime call, and Jannie wasn’t up for that.
