“Did you expect me to be here?”
“No.”
“Then it’s a surprise.”
When he dipped to join their mouths, she didn’t hesitate to sink into the kiss.
“We’re going back to the hotel,” Knox said from over by Roxie.
Ariella sought an answer in Cam.“Why the hotel?What’s wrong with your place?”
Cam’s was safe.Had been safe.And she liked being there.Hotels were great, but she’d had her life’s fill of hopping from one to another.
“Interest is ramping up,” Knox said, his cellphone resting under his hand on his thigh.
Roxie opened her palm.“Can I…?”
Knox handed his phone over like it was something he did every day.They were family, without a doubt.
“Hotel is safer than Cam’s,” Knox said.“We have a suite.It’s private.Without the noise.”
“The noise?”
“When a press pack builds,” Cam said, slipping an arm around her.“They bring noise with them, mess, bad manners, and about every other antisocial behavior you can imagine.It’s not pretty.”
“We’re not going to the hotel,” Roxie declared.
Good.A relief.Though that press pack…
Another frown struck Knox.“The Grand is expecting us.”
“They won’t bar us for letting them down, I promise.I know a guy.”
The joke fell flat with Knox.“The house is harder to secure.If anyone pushes to breach—”
“We’re going to Lilya’s.”
“Lilya’s?”Knox asked.“Think LA is a good idea?”
“They’re hungrier there,” Cam said.“Mom’s still at the Grand with Mimi.”
Ravishing Roxie was just a little proud of herself.“No, she isn’t.”
“No?”Cam said.“Did you send them back to LA already?I don’t want to go all the way out there.We hole up in LA, we might not get out for months.”
That didn’t sound good.
“Months?”
“We’re not going to Lilya’s in LA,” Roxie said.“We’re going to Lilya’s here.She brought Zay-Jay to hang with her uncle Frank.”Roxie filled her in.“Lilya was raised here by her uncle Frank.Granted, he’s not what most people would call paternal, but no one can resist little Zay-Jay’s charm.You should see his baby smolder.Makes his namesake proud.If I hadn’t seen Kintyre practically doing the deed, I might be suspicious.”
“And if he wasn’t the most stand-up guy on the planet,” Knox said.
Zay-Jay?A baby?She didn’t have a lot of experience with them.They didn’t scare her and did have a way of putting life’s worries in perspective.
Cam relaxed.“Mom and Mimi are at Frank’s?”
“We can all stay there.He has the space.And Zay-Jay does his best work with an audience, just like my man.”Roxie pondered.“Do you think it’s an exposure thing?The longer you spend around babies, the more you want one of your own?Like peer pressure or a FOMO sort of thing?”
