Page 10

CHAPTER 10

Kayley

Derek handed us off to Erika before bidding us good-night. The check-in process was quick, easy, and Vic called Leo on the burner and passed it to Erika to complete the payment process.

“Can I have packages mailed here?” Vic asked her.

“Depends on what’s in it,” she said.

He glanced at me. “Just a small piece of jewelry.”

From the way Erika’s face lit up, I knew she immediately misinterpreted what I suspected was Vic requesting a replacement tracker fob for me.

“Oh, no worries at all! I’ll let Security know you might be receiving something and they’ll bring it to the desk so we can notify you.”

“Thanks,” he said.

Once we had our room keycards, she said, “All the restaurants except the cafe are closed now. Unless you have special dietary restrictions? Then I can have someone help you.”

My stomach growled again. “Derek mentioned something about macaroni and cheese? I don’t have any allergies and I’ll eat just about anything.”

“Same,” Vic added.

Erika smiled and pointed to the cafe, where it lay on the opposite end of the lobby, close to Derek’s office. “They serve that in the cafe. It’s open 24/7.”

“Can we go to our room first?” Vic asked. “Then I can come back and get food for us.”

“Absolutely!” She made a motion and Moses appeared from practically out of nowhere. She held a quick, signed conversation with him asking if our room was ready and our things moved, and he confirmed it.

“Moses will show you to your room,” she said, pointing toward what I assumed was a wing of rooms on this floor. “Let us know if you need anything.”

“Thanks,” Vic said.

We followed him and, moments later, we were alone in a luxurious suite with wood-beam ceilings and gleaming hardwood floors. All of our things were already there.

The bedroom area occupied the far side of the space, separated from the living room by the way the bathroom was positioned, and with a set of dividing doors. I walked over to the bedroom side, pulling up short as I took in the four-poster bed, which came equipped with what I assumed were rings for multiple bondage options.

“That’s… helpful,” I said as I reached over and flicked one.

Vic chuckled, wrapping his arms around me from behind. For the first time today, I felt… semi-calm. Relaxed.

I leaned back and closed my eyes as he rested his chin on the top of my head.

Then my stomach growled again.

Dammit.

He laughed. “You explore the suite and get settled while I go get our food. Deal?”

“Deal.”

He left me alone after checking that the doors and windows leading outside were locked. I kicked off my shoes and poked around, pausing a moment to dig my toes into one of the luxurious area rugs in the space.

We had our own hot tub on a small, private patio just outside the door. The well-stocked bathroom was larger than my master bathroom at home and had both a huge soaking tub and a gigantic shower, as well as two vanities. The small kitchenette tucked into one corner of the suite’s roomy space included a fridge, microwave, and a coffee maker—huzzah!—with fixings for hot chocolate, including marshmallows and sprinkles.

Well, that’s unexpected, but cool.

The fridge held bottles of water. I pulled one out, twisted the cap off, and chugged nearly half the bottle. With the stress of the day I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was and I definitely hadn’t drunk enough.

I returned to the bedroom. A large armoire on one wall near the bed held…

Gulp.

Part of me wished I hadn’t opened it, and part of me felt intrigued. For a very long moment, I stared at its contents.

Kinky contents.

I guess pretty much everything anyone would need if they didn’t bring their own implements and other… accessories with them.

I guess this place really is all-inclusive.

Yeah, I knew what all—well, more than three quarters—of the items were, but most of them weren’t things I’d ever seen, much less used or had used on me in real life.

I suppose the discerning kinkster would find it handy, but I still wasn’t exactly sure what or where I was on the vanilla-to-kinky scale, except that I knew calling myself “pure vanilla” wasn’t apropos.

Vanilla with sprinkles?

Maybe mint chocolate chip, or butter pecan?

Sometimes I feel I’m a little nuts, so I guess that one fit pretty well.

I closed the armoire without closely examining the items. That could wait.

On the kitchenette’s table, in a folder, they’d included information about the resort, along with a schedule of classes that, from the titles, I assumed pertained to lifestyle topics. There were even more class offerings on their in-house on-demand TV system.

Many of those titles made perfect sense in light of the presence of some of the available items in the armoire.

Hmm.

I started unpacking and instead of turning on the TV, I opted to connect my tablet to my small Bluetooth speaker and play music.

I didn’t want to watch the news.

I didn’t want to… think.

I didn’t want to contemplate the horrors of the day, or let guilt eat at me for whining that my vacation plans were upended while countless other lives were literally upended.

Or outright ended .

I wanted to unplug from reality and pretend the rest of humanity didn’t exist, because it’d be too easy for me to get stuck navel-gazing about the state of the world instead of staying in the moment and focusing on me and Vic.

Headshrinker, analyze thyself.

By the time Vic returned twenty minutes later, my stomach growled nonstop. The heavily laden tray Vic carried held two huge servings of steaming hot macaroni and cheese, two large salads with grilled chicken, two bottles of ginger ale and two cups each containing two scoops of vanilla ice cream. There were also several packages of assorted chips, cookies, and candy.

“ Wow ,” I said as I sat at the table while he set out the food. “That’s… a lot .”

He smiled. “I know. I overdid it but I figured if we get the munchies we’ll have something to snack on without needing to leave the room.”

We tucked into the food and?—

“Holy shit , this is the best macaroni and cheese I’ve ever had!” I said before shoveling another forkful into my mouth.

“Really?” He took a dubious taste, his eyebrows arching. “Holy shit,” he muttered. “You’re right.”

“Damn, we need to see if Leo can get this guy’s recipe out of him for the—” I cut that comment off. “For their house chef,” I finally settled on.

Vic laughed. “Good job, sweetheart. I know we’re in private, but it’s better to act as if we’re not to avoid slips.”

I managed to polish off half the salad and mac, left the rest to put in the fridge, and grabbed the ice cream.

“Any updates?” I quietly asked. “About… everything?” I assumed he would have glanced at headlines on his phone once outside the room.

He grimly shook his head. “Nothing you need to know right now. Try to pretend the outside world doesn’t exist while we’re here.”

“I tried, but that’s easier said than done.”

“Sorry it’s not the Pacific Ocean view I planned,” he said. “But hey, this way there’s even more privacy.” He grinned. “Plus, if I give you a swat on the ass in public here, no one will even bat an eye over it.”

“Swat my ass, hmm ?” Truth be told, I liked it when he swatted my ass.

His dick was usually balls-deep inside me when he swatted my ass, but potato, ravioli. Amirite?

“Play your cards right,” I said, “and I might let you do more than swat my ass.” I tried to stifle my yawn, but there was no holding it back. “Sorry. Do you mind if we grab a shower and go to bed? I wanted to do more tonight but I don’t have the energy.”

“Of course I don’t mind, sweetheart. It’s been a long day.”

He helped me put the leftovers away and we headed to the bathroom. As we stood under the spray for a few minutes and let the hot water sluice over our bodies, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to draw my focus in tightly so that this was my world, this was everything —the only thing that existed.

Us, and this place.

Because I didn’t know if, at the other end of it, I’d be left with nothing more than memories.

That meant I wanted them to be good ones.