Page 62 of A Step You Shouldn't Take

“I’ve booked us a hotel suite,” Kim said. “It’s three miles away.”

“I meant, what happened with the dead dude?”

“Clyde. He lost his life in a robbery in nineteen seventy-two. Two men walked in with guns, and he couldn’t get the money out fast enough so one of them shot him. He thinks they were on drugs.”

“And Emma? Did he see her?”

“Can we talk about this in the hotel? Please? I’m not sure what to make of everything, and I don’t want to have this conversation in a parking lot.”

That didn’t sound like the news I’d been hoping for. “Can you at least tell me if he remembered seeing Emma?”

“No, he didn’t see Emma.”

Shit. Kim had already programmed the satnav, and it didn’t take long to arrive at the Wentworth Inn. I could see right away why Kim chose it—from the outside, it looked like an English manor house, and even in winter, there were flowers everywhere. When we got closer, I realised they were made of plastic.

“Isn’t it pretty?” she exclaimed. “And the best part is that it’s only got two floors.”

“Why does that matter?”

“My vertigo. Anything higher makes my head spin.”

My head was already spinning and my feet were still on the ground. What had Kim found out? I grabbed both of our bags from the trunk and followed her into the hotel, where yet more flowers were accompanied by elevator music and a dozen uniformed staff.

Kim hurried up to the desk, heels clicking on the polished wood floor.

“I made a reservation in the name of Jennings. A suite.”

The receptionist adjusted her glasses and peered at the screen. “Ah, yes, Mrs. Jennings. Congratulations.”

Congratulations on what? Making a hotel booking? Kim looked as confused as I felt.

“I’m sorry?” she said.

“Congratulations on your marriage.”

“Marriage? I’m not married.”

The receptionist peered past her to me, brow furrowed. “But you reserved the honeymoon suite.”

“No, I didn’t. Just a standard suite with two bedrooms on the first floor.”

The woman turned a shade paler. “Excuse me a moment. I need to check into this. Won’t be a minute.”

She fled through a door markedprivate, and Kim turned to me.

“I don’t believe this.”

“The honeymoon suite?” She looked so horrified I had to laugh. “Does that make me Mr. Jennings?”

“Well, I’m certainly not Mrs. Cullen.”

“I don’t know… Kimberly Cullen has a nice ring to it.” I waggled my eyebrows. “How do you feel about a one-night stand?”

I was kidding, but the way she bit her lip right then made my cock twitch, and if she’d said yes, I might actually have considered it.

“Don’t be such a pig.”

The receptionist reappeared, this time with a manager in tow.

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