I nodded, touched by the kindness of his gesture.
“Thank you!” Isabelle hugged me. “You’re the best momever!” The girls were near exploding as they headed with Simon toward the elevators. I imagined what they were going to tell their friends in L.A. Poor Rose and her judgmental parents. Missing out.
“Thank you,” I said, wrapping my arms around Desmond. I could not recall ever having hugged him before.
“No problem,” he said. And then: “Don’t break him.” He gestured toward Hayes.
“Just his heart.” I smiled.
“Not even that.”
I watched him take a few paces toward the group near the elevators before I called him back. “Des, they’re thirteen.”
“Got it.”
“Treat them as if they were your own daughters.”
“Absolutely,” he said.
It wasn’t until they had parted that Hayes threw me a bemused look. “What precisely do you think is going to happen at theApple Store?” he laughed. “What kind of animals do you think we are?”
“They’re virgins, Hayes. I’ve seen you in action. I know how persuasive you can be.”
“Really?” He took my hand, leading us to the elevators that went up to the rooms. He seemed to not care that we were being watched, recorded. “Well, for one, I’m pretty sure you weren’t thirteen when I met you. Nor a virgin. And still…”
“And still?” An elevator arrived and we waited for the passengers to exit before stepping into the empty lift. The doors closed. Alone.
“… and still I was very respectful. I did not force you to do anything you were not comfortable doing. Not once. And now you’re like: ‘Anal? Sure.’”
I laughed, uneasy.
This was something new. The “when in Miami” that I thought was going to stay in Miami, but apparently not. And evidently something that once required a year of marriage and much coaxing could be negotiated with two glasses of Scotch and an “I promise I’ll be gentle.” Fucking millennials.Fuckingmillennials.
“There are cameras in here,” I whispered.
“The cameras don’t have mics,” he said, completely assured.
I thought about it: Solange Knowles pummeling Jay Z, and that football player knocking out his fiancée, and I realized, indeed he was right. No mics.
“I’m pretty certain I didn’t say ‘Sure.’”
“Actually, I think you said ‘Please.’” He smiled, coy. Dimples. “You like me an awful lot.”
“Don’t push your luck.”
He moved toward me then, reaching to hold my head in his hands. “Please,” he repeated, before kissing me on the mouth. So soft, so tender, I might have forgotten where I was.
“Cameras,” I whispered when we parted.
“I don’t care who sees us,” he said. And then he kissed me again. “We’ve got about two hours. Let’s go do something dirty.”
The doors were opening. There were two security guys I did not recognize on his floor. Different from the ones who’d done the night shift. I’d stopped trying to keep them straight. Staying in a hotel with Hayes and staying in a hotel with August Moon were two completely different things.
“Thank you, Simon Ludlow,” Hayes said, stepping out of the lift. “Your check is in the post.”
I froze, realizing what he’d said. “Did you… Did you arrange with Simon to take the girls?”
He was holding the doors open, waiting. “Maybe.”
