Gilded Cage
“Why Tennessee?”
“There’s where your mom lives, right?”
“She’ll adore you. Wait a minute, you want to meet my mom because of her cooking.”
Lillian grinned. “I’ve never had mac and cheese before.”
Brandon grinned. “Don’t encourage her. My mom loves to cook for an entire neighbourhood. You’d never leave her kitchen.”
“I’m up for the challenge.” Lillian shovelled the last chunk of the burger into her mouth and chewed it with relish. She washed it down with a big gulp of soda. “When do we leave?”
“We should head to Roppongi at about four o’clock.”
Lillian looked at the digital clock on the wall. “It’s only twelve thirty now. We have plenty of time.”
“You can take a nap. You barely slept last night. You look pale, you need to rest.”
“Take a nap? I was thinking of something fun for us to do.”
His dark brows arched. “You don’t say.”
“Are you tired?” she ventured.
“What are you getting at?”
“Wait here. I need to take a shower first.”
“Why would you need to take a shower?”
“Sssh. It’s a surprise.”
Lillian dashed to the bathroom and slammed the door closed. She brushed her teeth, ditched her clothes and hit the shower. When Brandon went out to meet Donahue earlier, she got bored staying in the room and decided to explore the hotel’s lobby. Lillian wanted to buy some candy bars, but ended up studying the sex toys vending machines. She was curious and decided to buy some for fun.
Brandon rapped on the door when she got out of the shower.
“Lillian,” he called, “what are you up to?”
She donned her bathrobe and opened the door.
“Well?” he demanded.
“Look what I’ve got.” Lillian showed him the toys she had bought—a tongue tickler, cock
ring and a pair of Ben Wa balls, all wrapped in bright and garishly offensive-looking packaging. “What do you think?”
“Where did you get these?”
“In the lobby. The vending machines.”
“You shouldn’t leave this room without me.”
“Oops. You didn’t tell me that. I was hungry and I wanted some candy bars. But then I saw these. They look interesting. Can we try them?”
Brandon looked speechless for a moment. “How did you get the cash to buy them from the vending machines?”
“The hotel’s key card. The vending machines take them. I suppose it will be charged to our room’s account?”
Brandon ran his hands through his hair. Apparently, that was his habit when he was at a loss for something to say. “You know how silly this is? We have Stanford and his merry shit-kickers looking for us all over town and you want to have a nooner?”