AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lightning streaked across the sky and the first rumbles of thunder grumbled in the distance.
Shane opened the cracked glass door of the office and ushered Rachel in front of him. The smell of stale cigarettes and burned coffee was overwhelming. A small black-and-white TV sat in the corner with foil wrapped around the antennae and the volume turned all the way down. A man sat in a threadbare recliner and didn’t take his eyes away from the screen as the bell rang above the door.
“Excuse me,” Shane said as the man continued to sit in his chair and stare at the TV. “We’d like a room for the night.”
“It’s thirty-seven fifty for the night. Twenty for an hour. Sign your name in the book, and take a key off the hook. Checkout’s at eleven.”
Sometimes things worked out the way they were supposed to, Shane thought. He wouldn’t even have to bribe the man to keep their names out of the register. Shane left two twenties on the counter and didn’t bother signing the book. He took the key off the hook for the room at the very end on the bottom floor. Room number twenty-three. It was hidden behind two large dumpsters and would give them a little coverage if they had to make a sudden exit.
Shane didn’t bother to thank the guy as they left the musty office. He left the Explorer parked where it was so as not to give their room location away and grabbed a small sack of toiletries and two clean shirts (one in each of their sizes) he’d bought when he’d stopped at the Walmart in Texas to buy clothes for Rachel.
“I don’t suppose you’ve got clean sheets in that little sack, do you?” Rachel asked.
“Nope. Toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, a hairbrush, deodorant and clean shirts. No sheets.”
“Darn. I hate to tell you this, but I don’t think I’m brave enough to stay in Jake’s otel. Maybe we could find a nice cardboard box in an alley somewhere.”
“Think of it as an adventure. If you can survive the night here, then you can survive the mob.” Shane stuck the key in the lock and pushed open the door. The air inside the room was stuffy and stale. He flicked on the light switch and immediately wished he could take back the action.
“I’ve always thought hot pink and turquoise complement each other,” Rachel said.
Shane shut the door behind him and immediately locked the deadbolt and put on the chain. He pulled the curtains closed so no outside glare from the streetlights was let in. “What about the brown-and-orange bedspread. What does that complement?” he asked.
“I’m not sure that bedspread would complement the flames I’d like to burn it with.”
The room was barely large enough to hold the furniture inside. A large king-size bed dominated the room and a small table and chairs sat in the corner. A small door led into a closet-sized bathroom and there were hooks on the wall to hang clothes instead of a closet.
Shane went about turning the fan on and putting the toiletries in the bathroom, noticing that Rachel still stood in front of the door chewing on her bottom lip. She was staring at the king-sized bed like it was leading her down the path to hell, and he had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing when she spotted the circular mirror on the ceiling.
He knew exactly what she was feeling because the bed had given him more than a moment of concern, but as long as he remembered that she was a client and he was being paid to protect her, all thoughts of wanting to make love to her disappeared. Or at least mostly disappeared. He’d have to be dead not to think of it a little.
“Why don’t you go ahead and take the first shower? You look dead on your feet,” he said while he unhooked his ankle holster and put the .22 on the nightstand closest to the door.
“Yeah, okay,” she said, still staring at the bed. “So I guess you’re planning for both of us to sleep there.”
“Unless you want to sleep in the tub. Don’t worry, your virtue will stay intact. I never take advantage of a client.”
“So I guess the kiss you gave me earlier was saying something like, ‘Way to go, pal,’” she said with a raised eyebrow and quirk of lips.
“Just take your shower. We’ve got to be up at dawn and on our way to St. Louis.”
“I take it your friend has agreed to help us?”
“Yes. He’ll have everything we need and give us a place to stay for a couple of days while we’re trying to figure out the mess of how to get you to Chicago in one piece. Don’t use all the hot water,” Shane said and lay back on the bed fully clothed.
* * *
Rachel went into the bathroom and grimaced at the avocado-green fixtures. At least the color probably hid the mold well. A dingy shower curtain hung limply from a tarnished rod and she jerked it open quickly, expecting to see either a knife-wielding maniac or a spider the size of her fist. She blew out a breath of relief when she saw neither.
Rachel took her clothes off in the tub so she wouldn’t have to stand in her bare feet on the grimy tile and folded her ruined clothes over the back of the toilet. She turned the water on and was thankful that at least the hot water worked and came out of the shower nozzle in more than a trickle. If she closed her eyes, she was pretty sure standing in the moldy shower of Jake’s otel was the best experience she’d had in a long time.
Fatigue was starting to take its toll, so she washed her hair and body quickly and then turned the water off. A rod on the wall held two paper-thin towels, so she grabbed one and dried her body quickly and then wrapped the towel around her sopping head. She washed her underwear in the sink and hung it to dry over the rod and slipped on the plain white T-shirt Shane had bought her. It barely covered her backside, but it was the only thing she had to sleep in. Sleeping next to Shane was enough temptation in itself. What she really needed was full body armor and a chastity belt.
Rachel left the light on in the bathroom and made her way to her side of the bed quickly, slipping under the covers before Shane had a chance to glance in her direction. She didn’t know that Shane had noticed everything about her—how the shirt clung to her damp body or how long her legs were.
She fell asleep blissfully unaware that she was torturing her protector.
ChapterSeven
