Page 21 of Royally Embraced: RBMC

And there it was. Room. Singular.

They pulled their suitcases out of the back, with her smaller, much less cool pink case and his black one looking almost like they were a real couple. She pulled the handle up on hers, wishing he’d reach for her hand, but remembering he’d said he would need his hand free in case of danger. She whipped her head back and forth, wondering if someone was out there watching them. The hair on the back of her neck stood up.

Tori hurried to catch up with Jeter’s longer stride.

Jeter aimed for a large steel door. She stayed behind him, allowing him to lead the way. He stopped and knocked on the heavy surface. The sound ricocheted around the quiet night. Seconds dragged on as they stood there waiting. She placed her hand on his back, wondering why he didn’t knock again, but held her tongue.

The scrape of metal on metal heralded the opening of the door.

“It’s about time you got your asses here, brother. My ole’ lady was ready to go to bed.”

Jeter was pulled forward and into a hug. She watched as the other man slapped Jeter’s back and stood back. They both held onto one another’s arms, eyeing each other with shit-eating grins on their faces. “Damn, Enzo. You need a haircut. Sophie letting you get soft or what?”

Enzo gave a booming chuckle and punched Jeter in the arm. “You know better than that. Sophie would kick me in the dick before she’d let anything go soft on me. Come in and bring your ole’ lady inside. I ain’t going to get my nuts busted for making your woman stand out in the cold while we yap away.”

Tori moved through the open door at Jeter’s urging, smiling at the two men. They were both about the same size and build. While Jeter had dark hair, Enzo’s was blond. They both had green eyes that lit with fire when they were happy.

“Hey, Jeter. Don’t believe a word this one says. I swear, he gets more full of shit the longer we’re together.”

Tori eyed the woman walking toward them. She was tall, with long, dark hair. Exotic is what she’d call her.

“Sophie, I can’t believe you’re still with this one. How you doing, girl?” Jeter bent, accepting the hug the other woman offered.

“Alright, that’s enough mauling my ole’ lady, asshole. And who is this gorgeous woman?” Enzo asked. He grabbed Sophie, wrapped his arms around her from behind, and eyed Tori over her head.

“This is Tori. Tori, that big oaf, is my good friend Enzo, and the woman he’s mauling is Sophie, his wife.”

She’d been to Chicago and New York clubs many times and knew who, or rather, what Enzo and obviously Jeter belonged to. When he’d said clubhouse and his brothers, it hadn’t registered until she’d spotted the leather cut on Enzo. She’d jumped fromone fire into another. From the Mafia to a motorcycle club. She looked to see if there was a patch proclaiming them to be one percenters but didn’t find one on Enzo’s cut. Of course, that didn’t mean they weren’t criminals. It just meant they didn’t advertise it.

“Nice to meet you both.” She tried to smile and hoped they didn’t recognize the fear in her tone.

“Jeter, is there going to be a problem we need to know about?” Enzo looked at Tori, then back at Jeter.

With a shake of his head, Jeter let out a sigh. “I think we’re good for the night. Tomorrow, I’m going to arrange for us to travel back to California. I need to contact my prez, but I needed to get a good night's sleep and have a fresh look at things in the morning light. Feel me?”

“Yeah, I get that. Follow me. We got a room for the two of you. There’s a bed and a couch with a television, your own bathroom, and a small kitchenette. Nothing fancy like the Ritz or anything, but it’ll do.”

Jeter let out a sigh. “Brother, you have no idea how awesome that sounds. Thank you for giving us a place to crash.”

Tori watched the men do that man's handshake and bro-hug thing again. She and Sophie’s eyes met. The other woman rolled her eyes, mouthingmen. Tori grinned, feeling a connection to the other woman form.

Sophie turned and waved. “Follow me, kids.”

Enzo swatted Sophie’s ass hard enough that she yelped.

In single file, they walked, following the other two until they stopped outside a door. Enzo pressed in a code, allowing the door to swing open.

“You can lock the door from the inside, so the code outside doesn’t work, by sliding the bracket over the top.” He showed them the locking mechanism and walked them through the small space. “If you need anything, give me a call, but try not tocall me too early. I’m going to take my ole’ lady to bed and fuck her brains out, then I’m going to crash. See you tomorrow.”

She stood in the middle of the room with her little case, staring at the door. Enzo and Sophie left minutes ago, but neither she nor Jeter moved.

Finally, Jeter cleared his throat. “You want to take a shower before we hit the bed?”

“Ah, yeah, sure.” Any excuse to escape the room's tension was good for her. She took the case and hurried into the small bathroom. Like Enzo had said, it was small yet functional. And there was only one king-sized bed. They could work with that, though.

She pulled out one of the pajama sets. “I don’t even care that it’s unwashed.” With one hard yank, she removed the tags. They didn’t have any smell, which was a blessing. Before getting undressed, she pulled the rest of the items out, placing them on the counter. The shower was large and inviting. If she’d had more time back at the hotel, she’d have loved to take a bath in the luxurious sunken tub there. Beggars couldn’t be choosers. Walking over to the enclosure, she twisted the handle. The cold water blasted out of the showerhead. She was thrilled she’d thought to warm the water up first before stepping inside.

She shut the door and turned back toward the counter, where her bag sat. After organizing the items they’d bought, she noted the cost of everything. Jeter was a generous man. He was also intelligent and damn good-looking. Tori braced her hands on the counter, taking a deep breath as she stared at herself. She shook her head, trying to rid thoughts of Jeter from her memory. The man spelled trouble with a capital T.

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