She lay down on her side, stretching out as much as possible, and settled her head on his thigh. Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply. "That feels good."
Keeping a careful eye on the road, he pulled her blouse from underneath her belt and reached beneath it to massage her back. She sighed. "You're going to spoil me."
"That would be my pleasure." Her skin was as smooth as satin. And warm. His hand stroked up and down her spine, gently kneading away the tiredness and tension. Eventually he caressed his way around her ribs to her front. Beneath her raised arm he found the soft fullness of her breast.
"Cage…"
"It's all right," he said soothingly.
It felt so right, Jenny silently fell into agreement and relaxed again.
"Where's your bra?"
"I had to hide it under the cushion of the sofa when you answered the door." He chuckled and she smiled against the fabric of his pants leg. "I didn't have a chance to retrieve it before we left."
"I'm glad," he whispered meaningfully, and the ministrations of his hand echoed his words.
"So am I."
He continued to caress her. His intention wasn't to arouse but to soothe. His heart swelled with love to know she had come so far in trusting him, enough to permit this kind of familiarity. In a few short minutes he knew from her even breathing that she was asleep.
Temptation got the best of him and he let his fingers sweep across her nipple. His touch was airy light, but it was enough to bring an instantaneous response, even in sleep. She stirred, shifting her weight and rubbing her head against his lap, until she once again settled and became still.
Cage ground his teeth in an agony of pleasure. "Jenny," he whispered for his ears alone, "there's one thing you don't have to worry about. As long as your head is lying in my lap, I won't be accidentally falling asleep."
The car sped through the gray predawn.
* * *
"Where are we?" Jenny sat up and blinked her eyes against the sunlight. She rolled her head around her shoulders once and stretched her neck.
"Home. Well, almost. I thought you might be hungry. I'm starving."
Through the bug-splattered windshield she saw that they were at the same motel on the outskirts of La Bota where Cage had brought her before. He was parked in front of the coffee shop.
"I can't go in there looking like this!" she cried.
"Nonsense. You look terrific."
He swung out of the car door and, after stopping to arch his back and stretch, came around to Jenny's side. She was making futile efforts to smooth the wrinkles out of her clothes and straighten her hair.
"I look terrible," she said as he helped her out, a hand under her elbow. She swayed against him and clutched at his arm. "Oh, my foot's gone to sleep. You may have to hold me up."
"I won't mind," he growled in her ear. "You might as well know that I took liberties while you were asleep."
"That sounds like something you'd do." She tried to look angry, but the sparkle in her eyes gave her away.
"Hey, what's this?" Something had caught his eye in the morning sunlight. He reached behind her seat and came up with the unopened bottle of champagne. "Well, what do you know? We forgot to make a toast with the champagne."
Jenny made a tsking sound and grabbed the bottle. "We'll save it for after breakfast."
"Uh-oh. I've created a monster. You're going to be an expensive woman to keep. I should have started you out on beer."
Slaphappy and tired, they staggered up the steps toward the door of the coffee shop. Cage reached for the door just as another couple pushed through it on their way out.
Bob and Sarah Hendren.
It had been a tradition of theirs to go out to breakfast alone every Saturday morning. Since their boys had been