She frowned, then shoved her hairbrush into her weekender bag and zipped it closed. “I suppose that is kind of a tough one. And I guess we have to decide soon, since it’s already ten and we have to check out at eleven.”
“And we haven’t eaten yet,” he pointed out. As good as all that sex was, it had taken something out of him. He needed some fortification before they went to see the head of the Santiago clan. No way was he making that call on an empty stomach.
In the end, they decided to take their luggage to the car, just in case, then eat and see how things felt. The hotel had its own restaurant, so it was easiest to eat there and keep an eye on the clock.
“We won’t need it,” Caitlin said abruptly when they were some fifteen minutes into their meal, mug of tea halfway to her mouth.
“Huh?”
She shot him an apologetic smile. “Sorry. A twinge. My gut telling me that we aren’t going to need the room. So I guess we’d better finish up here so we can check out.”
Was this what it would always be like — getting little promptings from Caitlin’s sixth sense or whatever it was? In a way, he supposed that was a good thing. Less chance of making a really heinous mistake. On the other hand, it would feel strange to have your life guided by some force you had no control over. No, that wasn’t right. Not really. It wasn’t as if her every waking moment was dictated by what her seer abilities might be sensing. They only seemed to show up for the important stuff.
And he probably shouldn’t delve too deeply into why he’d just assumed that her life and his would be entwined from here on out. They’d slept together, and it was amazing…way more amazing than the time his high school girlfriend had lost her virginity to him, since Amanda had seemed to view the whole procedure as an ordeal to get over with, her hands squeezed into fists and her face tight with pain as he cautiously entered her. With Caitlin it had been so different, he almost found it hard to believe that she really had been a virgin. Well, except how tight she’d been. That had made her virginity fairly obvious.
Anyway, it was sort of a big step to go from spending one night together to thinking it was only the first of many more nights. He hoped it would be, though. Of course he wanted this whole terrible mess with Danica and Roslyn wrapped up, but at the same time, he prayed there would be some way for this to end in a way where he could still be with Caitlin. The few days they’d been together told him he enjoyed being around her as a person, and last night had only shown him that they were just as compatible physically. He’d never had these thoughts about another girl. But Caitlin was different. Caitlin was special.
“Okay, if you say so,” he told her, since she was watching him, again with that one arched eyebrow, the one he thought was so adorable. “I’ll check out as soon as we’re done here. And then….”
“And then the Santiagos,” she finished for him. She didn’t look terribly overjoyed at the prospect, and he couldn’t blame her.
It might not be exactly the same as walking into the lion’s den, but it was definitely beginning to feel that way.
* * *
Caitlin wasn’t sure what she’d expected of California, but Pasadena, or at least this part of it, didn’t seem to quite fit. Yes, there were palm trees, but the beach was miles and miles away. And it wasn’t sunny at all, but gray and damp-feeling, as if the clouds above wanted to start misting but didn’t quite have the energy. Luckily, she’d packed a few tops with longer sleeves, just because she’d read that temperatures in Tucson could go up and down at this time of year, and she didn’t really want to get caught off-guard and end up freezing her ass off. Even so, she felt chilled through, in a way that couldn’t entirely be blamed on the weather.
The houses were beautiful, though, older, in a bewildering variety of styles — Spanish hacienda, Tudor cottage, colonial, all on large properties with lots of trees. This was obviously a neighborhood of people with money. Lots of money. It made sense, she supposed. The head of a clan always lived in a luxurious house, from the big Victorian up on Paradise Lane that had once been Great-Aunt Ruby’s to the sprawling adobe building where Maya de la Paz lived. Something about this area felt more intimidating, though. Maybe it was all the Mercedes and BMWs she saw on the streets…and was that a Ferrari cruising past, sleek and low and somehow menacing?
Caitlin didn’t know for sure. All she did know was that she felt woefully out of place.
Beside her, Alex looked relaxed and confident enough. Thank the Goddess for that. And thank Blessed Brigid as well that he’d been calm, easygoing this morning, not trying to put too much weight on what had passed between them the night before. Well, and this morning. Twice.