“All set?”
“You should be good.”
“You rock,” I said. “Thanks a bunch.”
I hung up and walked over to the hotel’s front desk.
“Hey,” I told the lady at the counter. “I lost my key – can you get me a new one?”
I handed her my ID with Marshall Miller’s name on it, and she handed me a new key for room 555. I took the steps – it wasn’t too far – and quickly opened the room. I checked around, and was pleased to find Jonathan had been right – there wasn’t anyone already staying in the room. I didn’t have any luggage to leave around, but hopefully Ashton wasn’t going to notice that. I did mess up the bed and put a couple of the hotel glasses and the ice bucket on the desk to give the place a bit of a lived-in look.
> I slipped out again, then walked down the hall to the elevators, turned, and headed back in the other direction. When I got to the end of the hall, Alex was there. He raised his eyebrows a bit when I asked if Mr. Ashton was still awake.
“I just need to…um…speak to him a minute,” I explained.
Alex gave me what I supposed was a look of both disdain and annoyance before knocking lightly. Brad opened up and smiled as he turned to one side and let me in. As soon as the door closed, he was giving me a coy look and smile which were as sarcastic as looks could be.
I stared intently at him for about seven seconds, took a deep breath, and then rushed forward, grabbed him by the back of the head, and crashed my lips to his. His fingers gripped my biceps as he tilted his head backwards, giving me control as he opened his mouth to me.
With closed eyes, I might have been able to pretend he was Bridgett or some other chick, but the stubble on his upper lip made that impossible. Still, I had work to do, and not all work was the pleasant kind. I performed as I had to and kissed him with as much passion as I could find within myself.
I felt his hands move up my back, grip my shoulders, and then one of them moved back down to my ass. He pulled me against himself, and I could feel without a doubt that it wasn’t a rabbit in his pocket. I pushed back a bit, breaking our kiss and breathing hard.
“Not here,” I whispered. “I can’t do this here. The other guard – the one outside – he saw me. The way he looked at me – I can’t let him think something is going on. I have a military pension and shit…I don’t want to lose that.”
“I understand,” Brad said softly. “Discretion – right?”
“Yeah,” I answered. “It’s important. I can’t let anyone know…my family…”
“I know,” he whispered softly. “Don’t you worry, sweetheart, I understand.”
“What do we do?” I asked.
“We should meet somewhere else.”
“Another hotel?”
“Exactly.”
“But…your fans…”
“I know how to be sneaky,” he said with a smile. He lifted himself up on his toes and brought his lips to mine briefly.
“What about Alex?”
Brad rolled his eyes.
“He knows how to keep his mouth shut.”
“About you, yes,” I agreed. “What about me? Seriously, I can’t just…you know…come out. My family…”
I let my voice trail off, and Ashton pursed his lips as he looked into my eyes.
“I have the room next door,” I said quietly.
“What’s that?”
“My room,” I said as I nodded towards the door at the other end of the suite, “it’s that one right there. We can’t…I don’t want to stay there, but you could get out that way.”