She couldn’t expect it of him, even though she knew there wasn’t anyone else in her life.
Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten since the hospital cafeteria hard-boiled eggs and orange juice. She twisted her head far enough to read the clock. It was closing in on six thirty. They’d slept for three hours.
Room service was a phone call away.
Trina slowly disengaged her leg from Wade’s to keep from waking him. Just when she thought she’d managed the hardest part, Wade wrapped the arm she was using for a pillow around her.
“Hmmm,” he hummed.
“You’re pretending to be asleep.”
He shifted to his side, kept his eyes closed as he wrapped a leg over her hips. “I’m still dreaming.”
She gave up trying to sneak away.
“Is it a good dream?”
His free hand traced the side of her waist as he spoke. “Action packed with a happy ending.”
Trina relaxed her head and stared.
His eyes fluttered open and focused on her. “Hello,” he whispered.
“Hi.” She smiled.
“I have so many things I wanna say to you right now, but they all sound like lines in my head.”
“Are they good lines?”
“Cheesy, giddy lines of Holy cow, that was beyond the stars and back.”
Her chest rumbled next to his.
“I told you they were cheesy.”
She rested her hand on his bare chest and played with the smooth, sculptured skin she found. “We were pretty spectacular.”
He kissed the top of her head. “More than spectacular. Monumental. Epic. I think I wrote three new songs while you orgasmed.”
“Three?”
“At least.”
She liked the sound of that. She trailed her hand down his chest.
His eyes widened when he realized where she was going.
“Maybe we can write another three before we get out of bed.”
He stopped her hand.
“Darlin’, I’m out of condoms. Something I will fix within the hour.”
Trina couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
“I just came off my tour and I’m not a saint. But as soon as I’m home, I’ll have my doctor check everything out, and you can have your way with me anytime you please, latex or not.”
Her smile widened. “That sounds awful exclusive, Mr. Thomas.”
He traced her jaw, his smile grew more serious. “The desire to even think about another woman hasn’t entered my head since we met.”
“It hasn’t been that long.”
“Doesn’t matter. I know what I want.”
“That’s sweet.”
“I’m serious.”
She lifted her head to stare into his eyes to see if he was. What she saw chilled her. “If what you want changes, you have to tell me. I’ll understand—”
He placed a finger over her lips. “I don’t want to give you that option, but I know it’s too soon. So I’ll make that deal. If something changes, I’ll be honest, but I want the same from you.”
He leaned up on his elbow and dropped his hand to her shoulder.
“I can do that.”
Wade sealed their deal with a kiss that didn’t go beyond a handshake with their lips. When he let her go, she turned to climb out of bed and paused. “What just happened here?” she asked more to herself than to him.
“You just told me you’re going to be my girlfriend.”
She glanced over her shoulder, her long hair falling over her bare breast.
“That’s bound to tick off your mother.”
Wade winced. “Do not bring my mother into this conversation, with you sittin’ there naked and tempting.”
Trina giggled when Wade leaned forward and took the back of her head in his hand and kissed her again. When she opened her lips to accept more, he moaned and broke it off. With a slight shove, he pushed her from the bed and patted her naked butt when she stood.
“You order food. I’m going to find a drugstore.”
Trina smiled all the way to the shower.
Wade had ducked out to follow up on the search for a value pack supply of condoms while Trina rinsed off.
Wearing a bathrobe and toweling her hair dry, Trina stepped out of the oversize bathroom in search of a room service menu. The second she walked into the living room, her stomach caught up in her throat and her heart jolted with fear.
Sitting at the dining room table was a long, lean woman dressed entirely in black. Her boot-clad feet were kicked up on an adjacent chair, and her right hand was playing with some kind of chain.
Trina backed up into the wall and caught her breath.
“Hello, Katrina.”
“Who are you?” Trina took another step back, intending to run for the phone and call for help.
“What does your boyfriend not understand about white on rice? He speaks English, doesn’t he?” The question unnerved her, especially since the woman spoke to Trina in Russian.
“Who are you?” Trina asked again, switching languages. She felt for the door behind her.
“I’m Sasha.” She dropped her feet to the floor but didn’t stand.
The name rang a bell in Trina’s head, but she couldn’t place her.
“Have we met?”
She shook her head. “No. But I know you. We have a mutual acquaintance.”
Trina waited.
“Reed.”
She felt her heartbeat start to slow. “You work with Reed?”
Sasha shook her head and stood. Even from across the room, the woman intimidated. A single ponytail held her hair back, the spandex pants and heeled black boots looked like something Catwoman would wear. The only thing this woman was missing was a mask.
“How did you get in here?” Trina wasn’t ready to let her guard down completely with only the mention of Reed’s name.
“Your boyfriend has one job . . .” Sasha looked her up and down. “Maybe two.” The sly smile told Trina that Sasha guessed what she and Wade had been doing that afternoon. “I’m not here to hurt you, but the next guy will be.”
Trina started breathing fast again. “What do you know?”
Sasha pulled a key out of her back pocket and tossed it in the air.
Trina dropped the towel she’d been holding to catch the key with both hands. “Interstate Bank on the corner of Penrose and Brooke outside of Houston, by the oil company’s main headquarters. It’s a safe deposit box in your name. I removed the contents from Fedor’s safe three months ago. Information I’m sure you don’t want to become public.” She held up her hand. “Before you ask, no. I had nothing to do with the cleaners. People I would have hired wouldn’t have trashed the place.”
“Do you know who did?”
“I can guess. You can, too, if you looked hard enough.”
Trina held her robe tighter. “You need to talk to the police.”
“The police just get in the way and jump to the wrong conclusions.”
A watch on Sasha’s wrist made a noise. She glanced at it briefly and turned toward the door.
“Wait.” Trina took a step forward.
Sasha stopped.
“Why are you helping me?”
She didn’t answer. She shook her head and opened the door of the suite.
To Trina’s surprise, Wade was standing there with a bag in one hand, the key to the room in another.
His eyes widened in shock.
Sasha walked right up to him and placed one manicured finger on his chest. “White on rice, Cowboy. Don’t fuck up again!” Then she was gone.
“Who was that?” Wade asked as they watched her disappear down the hall.
Trina pulled Wade inside, locked the door, and followed up with the inside latch.
“I hope you bought a big box,” she told him as she reached for her purse to grab her cell phone. “Because that woman reminded me how easy it is to break into a hotel room.”
Wade’s face turned to stone. “Did she threaten you?”
“No. I need to call Reed.”
“I’ll go after her,” Wade said.
Trina grabbed his arm, stopping him. “She’s not the problem.”
Reed picked up on the second ring. “Hello?”
Trina stared at the key in her hand. “Who is Sasha?”
By the time room service arrived, so had Reed and Lori from the hospital.
Rick was stationed outside Avery’s room, and Jeb had taken up residence in the spare room in the suite.
“I told you about Sasha last year, that’s probably why she sounded familiar,” Reed said.
He’d asked her about the encounter over the phone but didn’t explain anything until they arrived at the hotel.
“She worked for Alice . . . at least that’s what she told me.”
“Alice is dead.”
“Some people are on payroll beyond the grave.”
Trina held on to a cup of tea while Wade stroked her back.
“Do you know what she did for Alice?” Trina asked.
Reed glanced at Wade, then back to her.
“She was keeping an eye on you.”
Trina’s chest tingled. “Why?”
“I don’t have the details. My guess is Ruslan.”
“Ruslan hasn’t been sighted in over a year,” Trina reminded him.
“That doesn’t mean he isn’t out there,” Lori said.
Wade spoke up. “Can y’all back up here a little bit? Alice is . . . ?”
“My late mother-in-law,” Trina told him.
“Ruslan is the nasty father-in-law.”
“The first person everyone in this room thought of when the police asked if anyone had threatened you,” Lori said to Trina.