“Take a look,” he said.
I looked down into the parking lot of the hotel and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Cars maneuvering to and from the hotel’s entrance. Cars pulling out of parking spaces and trying to get out onto the road. People running around with suitcases behind them trying to make their flights on time.
“I don’t get it,” I said.
“See that SUV down there?” he asked. “The deep red one with the silver accents?”
I looked straight down and saw the one he was talking about. It glistened in the sun and looked to be brand new.
“I do. What about it?” I asked.
“I bought it,” he said.
I looked over at him with a quizzical look before I cocked an eyebrow at him.
“Are you still trying to impress me? Because you must understand that you’ve done that by now,” I said.
“No,” he said, chuckling. “I bought it for you.”
“What?” I asked flatly.
“Well, once my plans are over, it’ll be yours,” he said. “Right now, it’s technically ours.”
“What the hell are you going on about?” I asked.
“After you fell asleep last night, I had an idea. A crazy idea, but one I thought would be fun. But I knew it would require us having a vehicle. The problem was, all the rental cars in the town have been booked up because of the conference. They didn’t have anything I could use.”
“So you bought one,” I said.
“It was the only logical choice, yes.”
“Okay. So. You've bought an SUV that you’re apparently gifting to me after something. What’s this something?”
“A road trip.”
I threw my head back and laughed before I figured out he was serious.
“You’re serious,” I said.
“Completely. I’ve cleared both of our schedules for the next week.”
“Wait, you can’t just do that. You can’t just clear my schedule,” I said.
“I didn’t technically clear your schedule. I set your transfer in motion. It’ll take some time to get you moved, and your official start date on the paperwork is a week from tomorrow.”
“Oh,” I said. “Well—that’s a little better, I think. But I still don’t understand why we’re going on another road trip? Haven’t we had enough terrible luck with those already?”
“Well, this time—it’s planned. One week, you and I, from here to Minnesota to L.A. I’ve got us booked in a nice hotel halfway between here and your parents. We’ll spend some time packing things up in a moving van that’ll be waiting for us. Then, we’ll spend two nights on the road from Minnesota to L.A. It’ll give us time to get you moved, it’ll give us time together, it’ll give us time to unpack you, and then it’ll give you a vehicle for driving around the city.”
By the time he was done talking I could feel my jaw scraping against the hotel floor. How in the world had he put this together in this short amount of time? The smile on his face was a triumphant one. He had succeeded in surprising me and he was loving every second of it.
“We’ll be staying in proper hotel rooms with comfortable beds and room service to bring us anything we could want to eat. We won’t be searching for bed bugs or cockroaches or wondering if the power’s going to go out.”
“Sounds like a fairy tale,” I said, grinning.
“With the road trips we’ve endured, it is. There’s just one catch.”
“What?” I asked.
“I stayed up all night piecing this together and I’m exhausted. You’ll have to drive the first leg of the trip from here to Minnesota.”
“You mean you’re actually going to let me take the wheel?” I asked. “Mr. Control Freak with a penchant for needing attention?”
“I’ve got it all mapped out so you won’t get lost. It’s all pre-programmed into the GPS that’s in the SUV.”
“Oh, a fancy SUV just for me?” I asked as I threaded my arms around him.
“Just for you,” he said, grinning.
“Can we go see Elvis?” I asked.
“Elvis is dead.”
“How dare you speak such blasphemy,” I said.
Colin chuckled as his bright smile encompassed his face. I was brimming with excitement. An entire road trip with Colin that was properly planned out that had nothing to do with business. I jumped up and wrapped my legs around him, hugging him close as we tumbled to the bed. I locked my lips with his as I giggled into his skin, the excitement pouring from my body like an overflowing cup of water.
This road trip was going to be so much fun.
The hotel we stayed in once we hit Iowa was wondering. We christened the very comfortable bed with our scents and ordered room service that we ate butt naked in bed. I curled into his body and fell asleep without fear of anyone catching us, and when the morning sun rose we took our time getting out of bed. Colin wasn’t rushing us to get somewhere and I wasn’t waking up before the crack of dawn. I was able to enjoy his body and the pleasures he could afford me in the early morning hours before the two of us fell back into a naptime slumber.
It was everything I could’ve hoped for and more.
I called my parents as he headed for Minnesota and told them everything that had happened. The entire time I was talking with them Colin was shooting me looks, and I figured it was because he was nervous. This was going to be a lot for my parents to absorb, especially since I was about to come home and move out within the span of forty eight hours.
But then, that cheeky fucking grin appeared on his face again and I sighed into the
