Arriving at the room, Hugh tipped Raul, and then the person who brought their things from the taxi.
“It’s a good thing I carry a lot of cash,” Hugh said after they had left.
It was after midnight. Hugh and Jenny were so tired, they didn’t even bother to explore their room … really, rooms, which, at a glance looked to be a large, luxurious apartment.
While Jenny was in the bathroom getting ready, Hugh entered the master bedroom, turned down the covers on one side of the bed, and did the same thing again on the other side of the bed.
Jenny came out of the bathroom, and Hugh went right in.
By the time he had come out from the bathroom, the room lights were off, with only a couple of night lights providing illumination in the bedroom.
He climbed into bed and got under the covers. He moved over next to Jenny, and held her in his arms.
She held tightly to Hugh, burying her head in his chest, and cried like she hadn’t done since when she had first arrived at Hugh’s parents’ ranch, a cry she had needed at the time for releasing all the stress of the hijackings.
She needed that again.
Eventually, her cries turned to sobs, and then to rhythmic breathing.
They held each other that way until daybreak.
Chapter Seventeen
The morning sun streamed in through the huge glass sliding door that opened out to the balcony, and woke them from their deep sleep.
Hugh’s left arm had fallen asleep and had turned numb hours ago, but he hadn’t wanted to disturb Jenny to retrieve it from under her.
Jenny’s left leg was draped over Hugh’s left leg. Her left arm rested on Hugh’s chest. He could feel her stir, and then shake herself awake.
She looked up at Hugh, her hair all tousled. When she saw him watching her she broke into a huge smile – her broadly smiling mouth with her lidded, only half-opened eyes Hugh found to be irresistibly sensuous. Hugh could feel the warmth of her against his body all the way down to his toes.
“Oh, God, please help me. You are so beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
“Did I say that out loud?” Hugh asked, as he turned crimson.
“Yes, you did.”
Hugh was surprised at the lack of embarrassment, and no awkwardness at all about them being in such an intimate position – on Jenny’s part anyway. On Hugh’s part, he was mortified when he realized he had a bit of the morning wood going on.
“Is that a sword in your pocket? Or are you happy to see me?” Jenny said, doing a fair imitation, but misquoting Mae West.
Hugh groaned.
“Don’t worry, mister. You ain’t getting any of this until you put that wedding band on my finger,” she said, wriggling herself against him for emphasis.
God help me. Hugh was careful to remember not to say it out loud this time.
Jenny jumped out of bed, made a long, leisurely stretch in her pajamas, and walked to the bathroom. Behind the closed door, she yelled out, “Hugh, you’ve got to see this!”
“Give me a minute,” he said.
Finally composed enough to get out of bed, Hugh straightened out his pajamas, and made up the bed. Jenny had come out of the bathroom. She had combed her hair, and put on shorts and a tank top. She looked happy, relaxed and gorgeous, a marked contrast from the nervous wreck she had been yesterday.
“You don’t have to make the bed, silly,” Jenny said. “I’m sure we’ve got a housekeeper.”
“I know. It’s that I can never feel my day is starting properly if I don’t make my bed.”
Jenny grabbed Hugh’s hand and started walking toward the bathroom. “Walk this way,” she said.
“If I could walk that way … ” Hugh started to say under his breath.
Jenny laughed. “I heard that.”
Jenny opened the door to the bathroom, and waved her hand with a broad sweep of her arm, like “voila.”
There before him in the over-size bathroom was large, granite-top double vanity with gold fittings. He saw a large, two-person Jacuzzi-type tub, again with gold fittings, and next to it was a large, glassed, walk-in shower with two nozzles on the wall, and two rain-shower heads in the ceiling.
Jenny looked at Hugh meaningfully. Hugh caught her drift.
The separate toilet room was as big as Hugh’s sleeper cab, and had a toilet and a bidet. These were all things neither of them had noticed last night. They we so tired and dazed, and wanting to be done with that miserable day.
She grabbed his hand again and pulled him out of the bathroom, and headed straight for the front door.
“Wait a minute. I’m not dressed yet.”
“We’re just going to take a tour, from the front entrance first.”
She led Hugh through into the main room. A huge sofa lined one wall, faced with two comfortable-looking plush easy chairs, with a coffee table between the couch and chairs. Prominent on the wall opposite was a sixty-inch, flat-screen television.
In one corner of the large room was a wet bar stocked with mini alcohol drinks. Next was a fully appointed kitchen, and next to it, off of the living room was a dining room, with a table that could easily seat six.
Hugh was glad he had thought to transfer the contents of his cooler last night into the Villa room’s apartment-size refrigerator.
Against another wall of the large living room was an executive desk with an executive reclining swivel chair behind it, and fronted by two additional chairs.
There was a door leading to a guest bathroom discreetly placed in a corner of the living room.
Straight out the
