Page 36 of Backup Plan

“Come in,” she yells, and she’s wrapped in the hotel robe when I open the door.

“Good morning,” I say. “I need to go. I didn’t realize it was so late.” I walk over to her and wrap my arms around her, and that’s when I notice a little bruise on her neck. I finger it gently. “Is this from me?”

“Is what from you?” She walks over to the mirror, and her eyes widen. “Oh my God! Liam!”

I can’t help a laugh. I barely bit her there. Apparently she bruises easily. Duly noted.

She mock smacks me in the chest. “Don’t laugh! What am I going to do?”

“You’re going to say you accidentally poked yourself in the neck and nobody’s going to think twice about it. And then tonight, I’m going to give you one on the other side to match.”

Her eyes widen, and she purses her lips as her eyes meet mine in the mirror. Rather than tell me to go to hell, she simply says, “Deal.”

God, I love her.

I mean…not literally. I hardly know her.

But I love…this. Whatever we call this. Sex. No strings. Addiction.

“I’ll see you at brunch,” I say instead of any of the nonsense in my head.

“Save me a seat if you get there first.” She tugs on the belt holding the robe together, and her gorgeous body is in full view.

I groan. I know we don’t have time for this, but we can be late…

Before I can even move toward her to take her right here in the bathroom, she ties the belt back up. “Just giving you something to think about until tonight.” She wiggles her brows up and down, and I shake my head as I look up at the ceiling and try to focus on something other than her luscious tits underneath that bathrobe.

I force myself to walk out of the bathroom without another word, and I’m definitely not thinking straight since my mind is on Penny’s tits. So I open the door and walk out into the hallway only to crash directly into Madden and Kennedy, who both look fresh and ready for brunch.

“Oh, hey, good morning,” I say. I try to think fast, but I’m just a little hungover this morning, either from Penny or from last night’s drinking, and I’m not quite firing on all cylinders yet. Do I just fall into step with them? Do I admit this isn’t my room?

Both of them look at me funny, and Kennedy says, “Weren’t you wearing that last night?”

She looks beyond me into the room I just exited, and I turn around, too, just as the door closes but not before we both catch a glimpse of Penny walking out of the bathroom in her bathrobe and into her room to get her clothes.

Kennedy’s eyes widen. “Wait a minute. Was that Penny?”

I glance back at the door and then at Kennedy, my eyes wide.

“Uh, yeah. She, um…” Come on, Bradley. Think! Quick! “I, uh…her earrings. She dropped an earring last night on her way back here and texted me asking if I’d seen it. I found it on my way back here this morning.”

“You didn’t spend the night in your room?” Kennedy asks.

I shake my head.

“So Everleigh is paying for your hotel room, and you didn’t even use it?” Madden asks, shaking his head and apparently believing my ridiculous lie.

“I’m about to go use it now to change my clothes ahead of brunch.”

“You’re going to be late,” Madden admonishes.

I shrug. “Ev won’t care. I’ll be up soon.”

“Wash your hair, you slob. You look like you were on the bottom all night,” Madden teases.

“I wasn’t,” I mutter, and I shoot him a smirk. “In fact, I was behind.”

“That’s my man,” Madden says, raising his hand for a high-five. Kennedy just rolls her eyes at our antics, and they move along on their way to brunch.