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“Yet?” She’d never parroted so many times in her life but everything he said, she said. Before he could talk, she said, “You’re not about to get to know me in a motel room somewhere tonight, mister.” He was smiling. “What?”
“I hired the room because I need a really good sleep tonight for the ride tomorrow. I can get a separate room for you if you like, but I can assure you, all I intend to do after dinner is close my eyes and dream about tomorrow.” As soon as he said that he realized that was a bit of a lie. He knew tonight when he closed his eyes, he would be dreaming about Eden. He was looking forward to taking her for a ride tomorrow and hoped like hell she wasn’t going to pull out tonight.
She eyeballed him for so long he didn't know whether to speak or not. Finally, she said, “OK.”
“OK?”
“Yeah, I’m OK with that,” she said.
“So…”
“So, I’ll get my own room for the night, and we can both have a good sleep before tomorrow,” she said.
He smiled and she bit her bottom lip. His eyes drifted down to her plump pink lips when she did that, and by the time he looked back up at her face, her cheeks were the same color.So fucking sexy.“Chinese?”
“Sounds good. I’m paying.”
“Nah, it’s all good. First treat’s on me,” he said. He was hoping there would be more treats…but not the kind you could buy.
When he got to the Motor Inn where he’d booked for the night there were no spare rooms.
“Sorry, man. This time of the year, you were lucky to get the one you got.” It was Jazz Fest. End of April and Cruz had wondered how he’d been able to score a room. He’d been relieved when he had, because he couldn’t imagine a three-hour ride to Lake Charles after another night with the Jokers.
“Would you like to try your luck somewhere else?” he asked Eden. “Like, maybe the Four Seasons?” When she didn’t bat an eye, he added, “You’ll probably get change out of 2k that’ll get you a nice meal with a biker.”
He watched the corners of her mouth curve up to a grin, but he never expected her to say, “Can I sleep with your gun?”
“You can sleep with anything you like, Edie,” he said.
“You called me Edie,” she said.
“Is that OK?’
“I guess,” she said. “It’s just that most people call me Eden.”
“OK, sorry about that. Like I told you earlier…I’m a kinda laid-back guy and tend to treat everyone like they’re old friends…you know…nicknames and all.”
“No, no…yeah, I like that. Edie’s fine.”
“Cool. So, I give you the gun, we both stay here?”
“I guess.” She felt her heart flutter. This was way out of her comfort zone, but hell…did she ever feel so alive.
“That’ll be two for one night, James,” Cruz said as he looked at the name on the desk clerk’s shirt.
“Certainly, sir,” James said. “Ma’am.” He handed Eden the key card, as Cruz was pulling his phone out of his pocket.
“Any good Chinese around here?” Cruz asked the man.
James slid a card across the counter and tapped it. “Two minutes from the French Market. It’s my favorite,” he said.
Cruz’s stomach was already rumbling. He and Eden took their packs to the room. It was clean and spacious. Nothing like the Four Seasons, but with Eden there for the night, it looked a hell of a lot better than Cruz had been anticipating when he’d booked it.
She slid the card key in the door and as he followed her into the room, he kicked the door closed behind him and set his backpack down on the couch. He pulled out the gun and held it out to her. The look on her face caused him to burst out in laughter. “It’s not loaded, but you wanted to sleep with it,” he said.
She shook her head and looked around the room. There were two double beds. She was happy and unhappy about that at the same time. “Which one do you want?” she asked Cruz.
“You choose,” he said, so she walked over to the one closest to the bathroom and set her backpack down on it. Before she could turn around, he’d placed his backpack on it too.
