The hotel was one of those small ones found just off the interstate. It was about twenty rooms, all on one story with the main office attached. Across the parking lot was a Denny's restaurant with the large, bright Open Twenty-Four Hours sign over the door.
Angel hurried into the office, keeping her head ducked for a fine misty rain had started to fall. She stepped through the door, shaking off her hair before stepping over to the old desk that held a small bell. Tapping it gently, she cringed at its loud peal and then stepped back to wait.
She didn't wait long. An older woman, in her mid to late sixties, stepped through a door in the back of the office. She smiled when she saw Angel standing by the desk.
"Loud thing, isn't it?"
"Uh, what?" Angel asked, then looked down at the bell. "Oh yes, louder than I thought it would be."
"My Harold, he's a little deaf so when he's watching the desk, if it ain't loud, he ain't gonna hear it. Specially not over those damn sitcoms the man loves so much." She made her way to the desk, pulling out a form and a pen from under it. "One night?"
"Oh yeah, we'll be out of here in the morning, but we should have a package coming, overnighted from a friend."
"We?" the lady asked, staring out the rain fogged window.
"M...my husband and me," Angel said quickly. "He has a migraine so I came in to get the key." She finished signing all the papers, filling them out as Mrs. Lena Hunter.
"Oh, that's too bad." She turned and looked at the board where the keys were being held, her hand hovering over one for just a moment before dropping to another. Smiling, she held out the key which, instead of being on a plain key ring with the name and address of the motel, was on a heart shaped key ring. "This might help with his migraine, sweetie. It's our honeymoon suite, number twenty, around back. My name is Mabel and if you need anything, you just give us a call down here." She winked at Angel.
Angel took the key with a grin, liking the older lady. "Thanks, Mabel."
"No problem, sweetie. Been married a long time and I've never seen nothing that a man can't be cured of by a romp in bed with his ladylove. Now, the Denny's there is open twenty-four hours. I can recommend their food, my son is their head cook. Taught him everything he knows myself in my own kitchen." She almost thrust out her chest as she spoke, proud as a peacock over its brood.
"We'll be sure to give it a try before we leave. Thanks again, Mabel," Angel waved once she was outside the door, hurrying over to where Hunter waited in the SUV.
She got in and directed him around the building to the far room.
It was off on its own, separated from the room next door by a broom closet. Angel turned the key in the lock, pushing open the door and turning on the light.
Her jaw hung open in shock, her eyes wide and disbelieving as she gazed around the room. She stood in the doorway, blocking Hunter and leaving him out in the rain while she tried to take it all in.
"Uh, Angel," Hunter said from behind her, forcing her to step into the room and then leaving him to blink in surprise from the doorway. "What the fuck?"
Red satin lined the walls with tiny cutouts of white lace in the shape of hearts had been placed. A huge canopied bed, draped in white lace and red satin sat in the middle of the floor. The comforter was satin, black and wet looking and Angel just knew the sheets would be satin also. There was plush red shag carpeting on the floor, black velvet art on the walls and over in the corner sat a huge Jacuzzi tub.
"Wanna bet it's heart shaped?" Hunter whispered as he stepped into the room.
"Do I look like a sucker to you?" she snorted. "Holy shit, I thought places like this didn't exist but in the nightmares of some ad executives."
"It's missing the clear martini glass tub and the disco ball," he said, shutting the door behind him. He headed across the way, stepping into the bathroom and letting out a laugh. "There's a bidet in here."
"You're kidding me," she said, hurrying across the thick shag and standing next to him.
White ceramic tile interspersed with gray and black in a very pleasing and appealing pattern was on the floor and the walls. A huge shower stall in gray ceramic tile held two angled showerheads. There was a long counter with two gray sinks set into it and a whole host of shampoos and body wash sample bottles. On the floor in front of the shower was a quirky little yellow rubber duck bath mat that made Angel smile.
Off in the far corner was the toilet, setting next to it, the bidet.
"This is too much," Angel said, trying not to laugh.
"I think it's swanky," Hunter said from beside her.
She made the mistake of looking up at him and burst into a peal of laughter. His husky chuckle rang with hers until she leaned against him weakly.
"I needed that," she said, wiping tears from her eyes.
"Yeah, me too," he said, his arms coming around her. He dropped his head down, letting it rest against hers for just a moment.
Then it was almost as if he realized what he was doing. "Uh," he said, dropping his arms and backing away. "You must be hungry. How about I go and rustle up some burgers and fries from the Denny's and then I'll be right back."
"You might want me to do that," she said, putting her hand on his arm. "Blood," she said, running her finger over his cheek. "You might cause some of the diners to loose their appetites."
"Oh, yeah." He walked over to the mirror. "No wonder those kids were staring at me back at the party store. I look like a refugee from Dawn of the Dead."
"Why don't you get showered up and when I get back with dinner I'll put another bandage on your head and we can check your ribs too." She held her hand out.
"Ain't it just like a woman, always wanting to get into a man's wallet?" He laughed as she scowled at him.
"You don't have a wallet, just a couple of stolen money clips," she retorted, taking the money he handed her and the room key and heading for the door.
She was about out of it when she heard his voice calling to her. "Angel, be careful."
For some reason those three words made her feel all warm and gooey inside.
* * * *
She was back quickly, a bag full of steaming food and a cup holder with a couple of huge cups of coffee in it in her hands. She juggled them and got the door to the room opened, smirking a little as she caught sight of the little cutout hearts. She sat the food and the coffee down, put the key next to it and shrugged out of the coat, hanging it over a chair to dry.
"Hunter?" she called, going to the bathroom door, which was now closed. She knocked on the door but got no answer. Knocking again, louder this time, brought the same response and she began to get worried. Had he gotten dizzy and fallen? Had Sebastian found them again? Was the gunshot wound more serious than she thought and he was lying unconscious on the other side of the door?
With those thoughts in mind, she opened the door.
A very naked and very wet Hunter greeted her eyes. He stood in the shower, the water pouring down over him, and his back to the door. The clear glass shower door was barely steamed, showing every inch of his muscular back and ass, his strong thighs and long legs. He was braced against the wall, as if enjoying every ounce of hot water that streamed over his head.
She stared, she was a woman after all, and what woman could resist a man like this, even scarred and bruised up from his recent fights, he was still more spectacular than any man she'd ever met before. As she watched, he turned, his eyes meeting hers as if he'd known she was standing there all along.
Something hot and intense passed between them, as startled green eyes gazed into stormy gray, something erotic and sensual with enough heat to start the shag rug aflame. Angel gasped, her hand rising halfway to her mouth before she turned, closing the door behind her. She slid down the wood panel, her hands shaking, and her face bright red.
The man was every woman's wet dream come to life. Every inch, and there were a lot of them, was hard and chiseled. Even with his shaggy hair hanging in wet strands around his face, he was more man than any she'd met before. An image came to mind of them together, as they had been this afternoon, entangled limbs, grasping hands, hot, sweaty flesh meeting and parting, meeting and parting...
Whoa, Angelina, doll, get a hold of yourself. He's just a man. You've been around tons of men. He's no different. But he was. He was the only man of all that she'd known that knew what it felt like to be inside of her body.
That thought propelled her to her feet and she stumbled for a moment, before starting to pace. She flapped the front of the loose shirt at her face, trying to cool herself off. When she heard the sound of the shower turning off, she hurried to the table, laying out the food she'd gotten along with napkins and trying to calm herself down.
