Fiancé by Friday (The Weekday Brides #3)(35)
Author: Catherine Bybee

Neil waited for her patient denial to end. “Like I was saying…think of the women in those films and play for the camera.”

“Is there anything you don’t know about me?”

His gaze dropped to her br**sts and back to her face.

Heat rushed through her body.

“Plenty.”

She diverted her gaze and stared out the window. “Well let’s go. Clean sheets and a hot shower await.”

As the last remaining miles passed, Gwen felt more comfortable chewing her gum with it nearly falling out of her mouth.

Neil drove through the town, twice, before settling on a small strip hotel with a vacancy sign.

“The show starts when we pull in the place. You’re my night’s entertainment and anyone watching needs to see it.”

Gwen unhooked her seat belt and scooted closer. She rested her hand on his thigh and curled close. “This good?”

Neil stretched his thick neck. “Fine.”

If she had to act the part, she might as well enjoy it.

A fan blew hot air around the reception desk of the motel lobby. Lobby being a loose term for the small space designed to register overnight guests. Neil rang the bell and kept his face as angled as he could from the camera pointing at him. Even dives like this liked some security. Chances were, the tapes were recorded over in a matter of days to keep from having to store data. Places like this didn’t often feel the need to upgrade their systems so video files could be stored on a computer and nothing would have to be erased. The attitude “It’s worked this well this long, no need to change it” often won at the end of the day.

Neil rang the bell a second time and glanced over his shoulder at Gwen.

She leaned against the car with one leg bent. Her hand waved in the air as she fanned herself and lifted her chin to the sky, pushing her br**sts against the fabric of her shirt.

He had to admit she was sexy as hell.

The sound of the TV in the other room went down and Neil hit the bell a third time.

“Comin’,” someone said.

A middle-aged man lumbered from the back room, his beer gut preceding him by about a foot.

“Sorry ’bout that. Didn’t hear ya over the set.”

Probably an old one with a turn knob and everything.

“No problem.”

“Need a room?” No. He was standing there for his health.

“One night,” Neil told him.

“Got a credit card?” the guy asked as he pulled his register book in front of him.

“Yeah…about that.” Neil moved to the side and glanced over at Gwen.

Beer-Gut followed his gaze.

C’mon, Gwendolyn. Make it good.

Gwen met his eyes and turned toward the car. She stuck her ass in the air and leaned over the hood so her br**sts spilled over the material of her clearly visible bra. After blowing him a kiss, she licked her lips in a slow easy fashion that would do a Vegas hooker proud.

“I need to pay cash,” Neil said, nodding toward the show.

He turned to see the lust-filled eyes of Beer-Gut focus on Gwen.

Neil stepped in front of the view. “Don’t need the charge coming up on the card…for others to see.”

Beer-Gut raised his brow. “I’d leave the one looking and take her,” he said.

“And give up the trailer? I don’t think so.” Neil pulled out a pack of cigarettes and tapped them in his hand.

The hotel owner looked over Neil’s shoulder again and wrote in his book. “Want TV?”

“How about AC and a TV?”

“Fifty bucks.”

Neil looked around. For this dive? He pulled the money from his wallet, added to it. “Don’t need the missus, or her brother knowing I’m here.”

Beer-Gut swiveled the book in front of Neil and he wrote his fake name.

“Room’s around back.”

Neil added another twenty, which disappeared into the guy’s pocket.

Once he finished booking the room, Beer-Gut wished him a fun night and watched him walk out the door.

Neil walked straight toward Gwen and wrapped an arm around her thin waist. He nestled closer to her ear. “He still looking?”

He felt her lift a leg and slide it along his. “Yes,” she said, nibbling his ear.

Heat shot to his dick. He kissed her neck and pulled her off before opening her door. And then, just because he couldn’t stop himself, he pinched the cheek of her ass before shoving her inside.

Gwen squealed and sent him a wicked grin.

Once they made it to the back of the motel, he backed the car into the parking space and jumped out of the car along with Gwen. There was a row of twelve rooms, three of which were lit up. Quiet night.

“I can’t wait for that shower,” Gwen said as they walked to the room.

“Don’t expect much.”

“How bad can it be?”

The air conditioners shoved into the walls of the cheap motel struggled and gasped in an effort to work. It was still ninety degrees even after the sun set.

He swiped the key over the lock and waited for the green light. Something told Neil that the modern key lock was going to be the only luxury this dive would afford.

He opened the door. “Pretty bad.”

The king-size bed sporting a dark green and red comforter filled the center of the room. There was a dresser to the right of the bed, another holding a chunky television, and a chair that looked like a petri dish. Topping it all off was the smell of stale beer and shame, all of which boiled in a temperature ten degrees higher than that of the outdoors.

The shock on Gwen’s face twisted into a fit of laughter.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked.

She pushed around him. “Nothing is keeping me from a shower.” As she moved into the room, her laughter elevated. Her gaze moved up the peeling paper on the walls to the dark splotch on the ceiling. “Good thing it’s not raining.”

Her giggle was starting to infect him. Despite the disparity of the room and the angelic nature of the woman in it, he found a smile on his face. Neil leaned down to the air conditioner and turned it on high. “I’ll get our things.”

Gwen glanced over her shoulder as she looked around the corner in the bathroom.

He swung her bag and his over his shoulder and grasped the case holding his weapons. He took one last look around the outside and didn’t notice anything out of place. A dive in a two-stoplight town. He didn’t think anyone was on their trail, but he wasn’t going to make it easy on them if they were.

Neil tossed their belongings on the bed and kicked the door shut.