Page 12 of One Weekend in Boston

And where the hell did that thought come from?

Beautiful babies. Really? I wasn't the kind of woman who thought about kids. Let alone babies. Pretty sure my mother knocked all sense of that from my head at a very young age.

"My father didn't believe in love." There I went, blurting shit out again. My mouth had a mind of its own today. "After my mother left him, when I was young, he swore off love. I should've listened to him. The first time I went and fell for a man, look what happened."

Jack scoffed. "Not all men are assholes like Davis. I'm not saying he's the exception to the rule. I know plenty of men who took love for granted and either cheated on their wives or were cheated on themselves, but there are a few good men in the world."

"Are you one of them?"

Jack didn't answer at first. He appeared to be thinking his answer over. "A good man? Yeah, I consider myself one. My parents are still together after forty years and they have what I would consider a once-in-a-lifetime love, but does that mean I believe everyone gets that kind of life? Hell no. They had to workfor it, and still, there were hard days. I think it takes two very special kinds of people to have that."

For the briefest of seconds, I wondered if he thought he was that kind of person. He never said he was, but that didn't mean he didn't think it. There was a chance he just didn't want to say it to me. Which was fine. I wasn't delusional enough to think that’s where this was going.

Jack's phone beeping stopped the conversation. He took it out of his pocket and only gave it a cursory glance before shoving it back.

"That was my brother. He got us a new hotel. Give me a minute to pack and then we can get out of here."

I sat on the bed and waited. The room still smelled like sex, of happier times. When I let myself have one night of not caring. No worries. Was that really just the night before? It felt like I aged ten years in less than twenty-four hours. What I wouldn't do to go back to that night.

"I'm ready," Jack announced a few minutes later.

I wish I could say the same. I plastered a fake smile on my face and followed him out the door. Here went nothing.

SIX

Jack

Matthew went all out. No surprise there. Nor was it surprising to find him waiting for us in the lobby of our new hotel.

"You didn't have to come personally and deliver things. I know you're busy."

"And miss the opportunity to see my baby brother? No chance." Matthew laughed, then turned to Shannon. "I see my brother is lacking manners again. I'm Matthew, and you are?"

"Shannon."

I didn't like how quiet she was. That wasn't the woman I originally met last night. That woman had been so full of life.

"Leave her alone," I growled at Matthew. The last thing I needed was for Shannon to be uncomfortable. Especially after what she’d shared. I had a feeling she was one foot out the door already. One wrong move and she would be trying to sneak out of my bed a second time in a matter of a few hours.

I grabbed the envelope from my brother and reached inside, then stopped short. "Uh, Matthew? How the hell did you manage to get documents like this so fast?" I looked around the lobbyto make sure no one was paying us any attention. This wasn't a matter of my brother booking us a hotel room under one of the many names he used for work. These were real documents with my face but a different name. There was no way he should've been able to get them so quickly.

"In my line of work, it doesn't hurt to have a few extra sets of documents lying around. I figured having one for you might come in handy one day as well. Turns out I was right."

"I'm not sure if I should thank you or be concerned that's how you think."

I knew what Matthew did for a living. I knew who he worked for. I heard the rumors from friends within our circle. Yet I was still surprised.

"Thank me now. Worry about it later. There's a reservation here under that name. Only one room." Matthew shrugged. "Not really sorry about that. I figured if the situation was dire enough that you needed these, then being separated wasn't an option."

I looked at Shannon before I answered. "One room is fine."

Shannon didn't disagree. And I didn’t expect her to. After this morning, I had a strong feeling she didn't want to be alone. Even with fake documents, it would take time to stop looking over her shoulder constantly, if ever.

"So you going to tell me what's going on?"

Subtlety wasn't Matthew's strong suit. Actually, he sucked at it. Our friends used to call him a straight shooter because he asked the hard questions no one else wanted to. This was one time I wish he didn't have that quality.

"Let me get checked in, then Shannon can tell you what's going on if she wants to."

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