kissed her again, but he backed out of the car. “Stay here. I want to keep you under wraps. I’ll come get you after I check us in.” He closed the door and strode to the lobby of what had to be a one-star hotel. If that. The man definitely planned to keep a low profile. He came back a few minutes later, started the car and drove around to the back row of outside-facing rooms. He parked in front of the room, but a driveway close by led to the street. Had he done that in case they needed to make a quick getaway?
“Um...you know,” she said, keeping her tone neutral as he grabbed his bag and one of hers from the trunk, “I usually stay at the Venetian when I’m here.”
“Yeah? Nice place.” He pointed to the room in front of them. “This is us. Room 113.”
“Have you been there? To the Venetian?” she asked.
“Yep. A couple of times.” He unlocked the door as she gimped her way up the sidewalk.
Of course there was no way he’d allow them to stay at any of the posh hotels in town. She’d be recognized instantly. Realistically, she’d probably be recognized anywhere they went, but she understood his attempt to keep a low profile. Still, it was fun to bust him. “I can pay, you know. I didn’t plan on you footing the bill just because it was your idea to get me out of town.” Thinking about being out of town made her remember something that hadn’t crossed her mind until this second. She stopped. “Oh, my God.”
Troy turned and scanned the parking lot. “What?”
“What about your job? You can’t just leave Ari for two weeks without any notice. He’ll fire you.”
“I already quit.”
Julie’s mouth dropped open and she all but felt the blood drain from her head. “You what? You can’t quit. When did you quit? I won’t let you quit. That’s your job. What were you thinking?”
He moved right in front of her. So close she smelled the last traces of his spicy aftershave. “I was thinking that someone’s trying to kill you...” He ran his hand through her hair, cupped her head. His heat, his strength sent an instant mass of tingles down her back. “...and I’m not going to give them another chance.” He gazed down at her as she licked her lips in anticipation of his kiss. Instead, he jerked his head toward the room. “Chop chop. You’re wasting time.”
She didn’t move a muscle except to narrow her eyes. “Did you just tell me to ‘chop chop’?”
He grinned and she hated that he was having so much fun, except he was so absolutely gorgeous it was worth it.
A car zoomed into the lot and Troy moved in front of her, all traces of humor gone. The new arrival parked right next to them and a couple staggered out.
“C’mon, Irma Jean, get in the room,” Troy said to her.
Irma Jean?
The couple barely glanced at them until Julie lost her balance on a crack in the sidewalk because her crutch landed funny. Troy dropped a bag and caught her, righted her.
The woman waiting for her drunk boyfriend to open the next door got a closer look at Julie. She didn’t have on any of the disguises they’d discussed before the trip started. Not even a baseball cap. “Hey, you know who you look like?”
Troy opened his mouth, but Julie beat him to it. “Yeah. I get that all the time. Reneé Zellweger.” Her old—now new—hair color was just enough to throw people off and if these two had been at the pool or in a casino, they may not have seen the news all day.
“Who?” the woman said, crinkling up her nose. “No, I was thinking of...what’s her name?” She smacked her boyfriend in the back just as he finally got his key card to work. He opened the door and looked at her. “You know...the one in that race car movie,” she said. “She had that TV show for years. You hated that show, remember?”
“You can’t please all the people all the time,” Julie stoically informed Troy under her breath.
Troy was tired of playing games. “Irma Jean, get in the room. I’m not going to tell you again.”
So, he wanted to role play, did he? She was a professional. May as well try out that southern accent she’d been working on. “Okay, Billy Joe Bob, I’m goin’. Quit being such a pain in the ass. G’night,