Chapter 25 #2
Slim released her hand and began kissing his way down her back, intending to kiss every soft inch of her. He’d do whatever it took to make her see that they were meant to be.
Erin was completely sex drunk by the time they walked hand in hand back to the hospital later that afternoon. She’d done what she could with the small amount of makeup she carried in her purse to hide the razor burn on her chin and on her neck. The swollen lips, however, were impossible to hide.
“I bet I look like a well-used floozy,” she muttered under her breath as they waited for the elevator.
He tugged her in closer to him with his arm tight around her shoulder. “You look beautiful.”
“Said the man who had sex four times in three hours.”
“Shhh, don’t tell everyone.”
Since there was no one around to hear them, she elbowed his ribs, making him grunt with laughter.
“And PS, that was all because of you. I’ve never done anything like what we just did with anyone else.”
“Neither have I,” she said, looking up at him and noticing his lips were rather swollen, too. “I’ve never once, in my entire life, checked into a hotel without luggage.”
“What do you think of it?”
“I think it’s something everyone should do at least once.”
“Or at least four times.”
Erin was still laughing when the elevator deposited them on her dad’s floor.
Slim gave her a light tap on the ass. “Get yourself together before we have to face your parents.”
She managed to find some composure but was still wearing a happy, dopey grin when they walked into the room where her dad was napping and her mom was knitting. Mary Beth’s eyes lit up with pleasure at the sight of Slim. She put down her knitting needles and got up to hug him.
“What a nice surprise! I didn’t think we’d see you again for a while.”
“I didn’t think so either, but a very accommodating client changed his plans and made it possible for me to stop by on my way to Florida.”
“I’m sure Erin was happy to see you.”
He looked down at her, a stupid grin on his handsome face. “I think she was.”
“Did you get all your errands done, honey?”
Erin began to choke, coughing as Slim patted her back and her mother poured water from the pitcher on her dad’s bedside table.
The racket woke Tom, who also brightened when he saw Slim there. Apparently, Erin wasn’t the only one falling in love with him. “You’re back,” Tom said.
“Just for the night,” Slim said.
“Good to see you.”
“You, too. I hear you’re doing great.”
“That’s right and ready to get out of here.”
“Couple more days, Dad,” Erin said when she’d recovered from the coughing fit.
They stayed until the end of visiting hours, when Tom encouraged them all to go get a good night’s sleep. “I’m fine, and you’ll be no good to me if you get sick from exhaustion,” he said to Mary Beth, who wanted to stay.
He talked her into going home, and Erin and Slim walked her to the car.
“I’m going to stay in town tonight,” Erin said, feeling her face and ears go hot as she basically confessed to her mother that she’d be spending the night with Slim.
“I figured as much. Can I grab you a change of clothes?”
“That’d be great, thanks.”
Mary Beth hugged both of them before getting into the car.
“Okay, that was mortifying,” Erin said after her mother had driven off.
“What was?” Slim put his arm around her as they walked to the hotel.
“Telling my mom that I was staying with you tonight.”
“You’re thirty-eight, Erin.”
“So what? To her, I’m still sixteen and about to sleep with my boyfriend.”
“Did you sleep with your boyfriend at sixteen?”
She elbowed his ribs and realized he gave her cause to do that about once an hour. “You know what I mean. She’s still my mom.”
“I bet she knows we slept together at her house, too.” Since they’d traded off shifts at the hospital, Mary Beth hadn’t been home at the same time they were. “As only one bed was used.”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Every minute. Every single second of it.”
Erin had been referring to her discomfort over her mom knowing they were sleeping together. She suspected he meant something else altogether, and his comment brought back the giddy, breathless feeling she had experienced so often with him.
“I need to buy a toothbrush,” she said when they reached the hotel lobby. They went into the store, where she got a toothbrush, a hairbrush and a couple of bottles of water.
Being in the elevator with him at her side took her right back to the urgency of their earlier encounter, making her tingle with anticipation for an entire night with him.
She was trying not to think about him leaving again in the morning.
That was hours from now, and she’d deal with that when she had to.
As they walked, she was careful to step properly around the art-deco design on the hotel rug that made it difficult to keep to her rituals.
“I was thinking about something on the way here earlier that I wanted to run by you,” he said when they were in their room.
“What’s that?”
“You were saying how your OCD and fear of flying are about feeling anxious when you don’t have control of a situation. What if I taught you how to fly? Then maybe you wouldn’t feel out of control when you’re on a plane.”
Erin removed her coat, hung it over the back of the desk chair and turned to him. “You want to teach me how to fly?”
“If you’d like to learn. I was joking about being an instructor last night, but I really am a qualified flight instructor, and I’d love to teach you, if you think it would help.”
“I’ve never considered that possibility.”
“Well, think about it, and let me know.” He slid his arms around her waist and looked down at her, a sexy grin making his eyes glow with mischief. “I’ve got some more errands to do. You want to help me out with that?”
She smiled up at him. “I’d love to.”