Just Add Spice

Jenna resisted the urge to grind her teeth. “If I must.”

He cocked his head at her.

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll tell you all about Linney.”

“Goody. Now, say something remarkable to the manager so he knows we loved the pizza.”

“Your near orgasm pretty much spoke volumes.” But she shared a private moment alone with the manager and their server, anyway. Tipped the latter generously.

Back at the Fairmont, Jenna changed into a short black nightie and robe and then piled all of her hair on top of her head and secured it, though several curly strands hung loose about her face and shoulders. She went through her ritual body lotion routine in the gorgeous marbled bathroom before strolling into Tad’s suit through the opened adjoining doors.

They frequently reserved suites next to each other when traveling because they worked late into the evening on ideas, Jenna’s website and project plans, and started again early in the morning.

She settled on the sofa. Before her sat a coffee table and Tad had laid out the pizza on actual china. He brought her a martini.

“You called room service for the dishes and full bottles of alcohol,” she said.

“You know how I enjoy being civilized. Silverware, linen napkins and all. And I had a feeling there wasn’t enough vodka in both our mini bars to get us through the night.”

She gave a half-snort that was very unladylike. “You’re probably right.”

“So Miss Lonely Hearts,” he said as he pulled up a plump armchair on the opposite side of the table. She never gave him hell for this particular pet name, primarily because he didn’t use it in public and because it was a true sentiment she could hardly dispute.

Jenna sipped the dirty martini, with extra olives—and a healthy dose of vodka, which burned its way down her throat and warmed her belly.

“You know I grew up in an RV,” she told Tad. “When I was really little, it wasn’t a big deal. I mean, what did I know about living in a house or having a bedroom or lots of stuff? You don’t miss what you’ve never had or don’t know anything about.”

“I simply cannot fathom how your parents thought raising a family in an RV was a good idea.”

Tad came from a wealthy line of Montgomerys, his parents owning three homes. And a yacht.

She said, “It was kind of fun in the beginning. As though we were perpetually on vacation. Always camping. We’d fish and hike and barbecue. We had a Jeep that we’d take on day trips. I’ve seen the vast majority of this country, and it is damn beautiful, so it’s not all one big regret.”

“But you were never settled anywhere for long.”

“No. Two weeks here, a month there. Linney and I were homeschooled for the most part. We had our lesson plans and tons of homework. That’

s what occupied a lot of our time when our parents took off to parts unknown, without us.”

Tad gasped and pressed a hand to his chest. He wore elegant silk pajamas in midnight blue. “Leaving you alone?”

Jenna nodded. “Yes. Who was going to report them to child services, right? No one knew our business. No family, no friends. Just people we met along the way.”

“I’m appalled,” he said, offended for her. As a best friend would be.

She smiled at him. “We got used to it. And I think we were pretty safe inside the RV. Plus, we’d get to eat as much ice cream as we wanted and make forts out of our sheets and pillows. Sometimes, we’d sit in the front seats and gaze out at the stars. It didn’t totally suck.”

He scoffed.

Jenna continued. “Anyway, Linney and I had nowhere to go and no way of getting there if we did at that point, so our parents didn’t fear we’d run off. And, truthfully, it never occurred to us to wander on our own. I guess we were lucky in that respect.”

“Anything could have happened to you.”

“Thankfully, it didn’t.”

Appreciating Tad’s mixology skills, she took a deeper sip of her martini. He dove back into the pizza as she said, “I had no idea what other kids’ lives were like until I turned seven. We’d rolled into Savannah and my parents had been instantly enamored. They told Linney and I we’d be staying a while, and they actually enrolled us in school. That was a challenge at first—all that structure. But the homework was much lighter than what we were used to, so we excelled in our classes.”

Tad sipped, then asked, “Were you excited to be in school with other kids?”