Second Chance SEAL(161)

“Maybe not,” I grumbled.

We were standing in the elevator of his hotel, and I had to admit that I was surprised by how nice it was. Apparently, Dayton had a single decent hotel in the area, though I had always assumed it was full of motels and motor lodges.

I was carrying Mason in his little car seat, while Emory carried my bag plus everything we’d need for Mason. He definitely had the heavier load, but he didn’t seem to mind it at all, whereas I was struggling just to keep Mason aloft.

“Want me to take him?” Emory asked as the doors opened and I stepped out into the hall.

“I’ve got it,” I grumbled at him.

He just grinned at me as he walked past, and we headed down toward the end of the hall.

It was a big double door we stopped outside of. There was no number, just the word “SUITE” engraved on a plaque next to the key card reader. Emory swiped a card through it and opened the door.

I stepped inside and took a sharp breath.

The room was huge. It was like the whole downstairs of my parents’ house, plus another room, probably the bedroom. There was a couch, some chairs, a table, a little kitchen area, a big screen TV, and a little desk. Everything was richly furnished in brown and gold, with a leaf and vine motif running around the top edges of the walls.

“Holy crap,” I said, setting Mason down. “Are you serious?”

“Very serious.” Emory placed the bags down on the couch and shut the door, locking it and sliding the chain down along the catch.

“This is the nicest hotel room I’ve ever seen.”

“Working for Uncle Sam has its perks sometimes.”

“The government is paying for this?”

“Not officially,” he said, grinning. “But yeah, they are, in a way.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It would bore you to tears if I explained.” He walked over to a little bar that was built into the desk. “Drink?”

“Yeah, okay,” I said.

I checked my watch. It was pretty late, definitely well past Mason’s bedtime. I needed to get him down soon or else he was going to be very cranky the next day.

I hated leaving my parents. Emory had wanted to get out of the house immediately, but I’d refused, not until his team member or partner or whatever showed up. We had to wait hours, but finally I saw a black van parked across the street, which Emory assured me was his guy Travis.

I didn’t get to meet Travis, because Emory hustled us out of there instantly. I felt better knowing that someone was watching over my parents, though, and it was definitely worth waiting.

“I have to get him down,” I said to Emory.

“Okay,” he answered. “Bedroom is back there. You can stay in there. Need any help?”

“I’ve got it.” I grabbed the bag and carried Mason back into the bedroom.

And of course, the bedroom was nice as hell. There was a huge bathroom attached to it with a standing shower and a big Jacuzzi tub.

“Thanks, Obama,” I mumbled as I set up Mason’s little travel crib. Once that was done, I gently picked him up from the car seat, careful not to fuss him around too much, and gently placed him inside the crib.

He was sleepy already, which was a blessing. Normally he would be upset about being somewhere new, but he was too tired to fight it.

I watched as the little guy slowly drifted off to sleep before setting up the baby monitor and walking back into the other room.

Emory was sitting on the couch, his legs kicked out on the coffee table, sipping something brown from a tumbler.

“What are you drinking?” I asked.

“Whisky. Grab yourself something.”

I walked over and poured filled it with ice and tonic water. I came back and sat down on the other end of the couch, curling my legs underneath myself.

“Mason asleep?”

“Yeah, fortunately. He went down easy.”

“He seems like a good baby.”

“He can be pretty easy, but he has his moments.”

Emory cocked his head. “Most babies do I’m guessing.”

“Don’t have much experience with infants?”

“If I’m honest, Mason is the first baby I’ve ever held. I’m not exactly around infants in my line of work.”

“Still. Cousins, sister, nobody in your family had a baby?”

“I don’t have much of a family. My team is my family now.”

“Huh. I feel like I’ve always been around babies.”

“Got a big family?”

“Big enough. Some cousins. No siblings though.”

“One more thing we got in common.”

“I don’t know if we really have much in common, Emory.”

“Oh, I disagree with that. We’re both Midwesterners, and we both want each other.”