First Class Justice (First Class Novels) (15 page)

“That sounds nice.”

“Yeah, it was,” she said wistfully. “I remember my friends
would talk about their trips to Disneyland or camping on Mt. Hood and I just
had this one day of summer vacation, but it was okay cuz my mom worked ALL the
time and so it was just as much about spending the day with her as much as
anything else. I had her undivided attention and it was nice.”

“So that’s what started your love of the beach. Your mom.”

“Oh, let’s not go all ‘Dr. LaVaughn’ on me now,” she
chuckled.

“Who?”

“My therapist. You know, finding how all my problems stem
from my childhood,” she laughed.

“Your problems don’t stem from your childhood. They stem
from an asshole that is rotting away in prison.”

Katy sobered at his words.

“Sorry,” he said.

“Hey, you know, that’s just what we have in common.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” she shook her head.

“That is
not
what we have in common, Katy. I don’t
even understand the statement.”

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation and Mark
let in Room Service and signed the receipt, giving the waiter a tip.

“Come eat,” he said. “You get all weird when you’re hungry.”

Katy took the silver cover off the plates and snickered,
shaking her head.

“The more you pay for a meal the less food you actually
get.”

Mark had to agree with her. “It’s about quality not
quantity.”

They sat down at the table and ate in silence, Katy
apparently very hungry, as she devoured her burger in record time.

“I’m gonna pay for this,” she burped.

Mark chuckled, his eyebrows raised.

“Eating at eleven o’clock at night is for the young. And I’m
not young anymore.”

“I’ll find you some antacid,” he grinned.

Katy yawned and Mark threw his napkin on the table.

“Time to go to bed,” he said as he stood and pulled out
Katy’s chair for her.

Her forehead wrinkled and she started to say something but
Mark cut her off.

“I’ll sleep on the couch. You can have the bed.”

“I don’t have any clothes,” she sighed. “I might have
another pair of scrubs in my car. I don’t know.”

Mark walked to the closet and pulled out a t-shirt and
tossed it to her.

“It’s clean,” he grinned.

“Thank you,” she smiled.

Katy walked past him to the bathroom and kissed him on the
cheek.

“I’m glad you’re not sick,” she smiled.

Mark pulled a pillow and blanket out of the closet and threw
them on the couch. It didn’t really matter where he slept because the fact was,
with Katy there, he wasn’t going to sleep anyway.

He closed his laptop and put all the papers and folders back
in his briefcase. No point in trying to work on that either. With Katy there, he
wasn’t going to be able to concentrate either.

He sat on the couch and ran his fingers through his hair.
She had dropped everything, stood up a date, and driven the two hundred or so
miles because she thought he had a cough. He couldn’t help but smile.

If I can just have a sign that maybe she’s interested,
he thought.
Anything!

Katy opened the bathroom door and came and sat on the chair
opposite him. She was dressed in his UConn t-shirt and the sight did things to
his groin.

“I feel guilty,” she said. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“No, it’s fine,” he insisted.

“Well you paid for the room. You should at least have the
bed.”

“Katy, take the bed. I can sleep here as well as anywhere
else.”

“Okay. Goodnight then.”

She stood and padded over to the bed and slid underneath the
blanket. Mark sighed and clicked off the couple of lamps that were on and went
and stood at the window. It was a full moon and it’s reflection on the water
was a magnificent sight. He stood there for a moment and then turned and headed
back to the couch. He tucked the pillow under his head and threw the blanket
over his legs. It was going to be a long night.

*****

Katy didn’t know how long she lay there before she finally
drifted off to sleep. It was difficult to do anything while wearing his shirt.
It smelled like him, and the knowledge that he had worn it aroused her. She
told herself that she was being ridiculous but it didn’t help. Memories of
their day together on the beach and their time together in his hotel room
afterwards had her tossing and turning. And the fact that he was only ten feet
away didn’t help either.

She woke up in the early hours of the morning in a cold
sweat, heart beating rapidly and gasping for air. She’d had the dream again.
She was tied to the bed and Mark was there in the doorway. He looked at her for
such a long time and then his expression changed and she could see the disgust
in his eyes. ‘I could never want you,’ he spat at her. ‘Never!’

Katy jerked up, trying to steady her breathing. As her heart
rate returned to normal she flicked off the blanket and stood in the darkness.
She could hear Mark breathing. They were deep breaths and she was pretty sure
he was asleep. She tiptoed to the window and stood watching the ripples in the
water. The effect was calming and she felt her body begin to relax, releasing
the pain of her dream.

Just a few months ago, she was afraid of sleeping for fear
of Danny invading her dreams. Now she was afraid of Mark invading them; the man
that she loved and she couldn’t even dream about him.

She didn’t know how long she’d been there when something
touched her arm.

“ARGH” she screamed. She jumped and landed on the corner of
the chair, the flesh of her thigh slamming into the wood.

“Aw, dammit!” she yelped, as she grabbed her leg.

Mark was horrified. “Oh shit! I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Well you did! In my dream and now too!”

“What?” Mark asked, totally confused.

“Nothing,” she muttered.

Mark took her arm and led her to the sofa, his blanket
underneath her as she sat rubbing her leg.

“Damn that hurts.”

“I am
so
sorry,” he said, pain in his voice. “I
didn’t…I saw you so…I’m sorry.”

“You’re too damn stealth!”

Mark chuckled and then sobered.

“What do you mean I scared you in your dream?”

“I told you it’s nothing!”

“Tell me about the dream!” His voice was raised and Katy
could tell he wasn’t going to let it go.

“I had a dream and I was there…at
his
house. And I
was tied up and you came for me.” Katy’s eyes filled with tears. The dream was
all too real.

“And?”

“And you saw me and you realized what had happened and you
were disgusted. Disgusted by me. I made you sick. And you turned away and left
me there.” A small sob escaped and she desperately tried to stop it, but Mark
had pulled her to him and was holding her tight.

“Shit, Katy. That couldn’t be further from the truth. You
would…you could never disgust me. I can’t even imagine why you would think
that.” He held her against his chest and stroked her hair. “Never,” he
whispered.

He leaned back, pulling her with him. He tugged at the
blanket and wrapped it around her and cradled her as her tears slowly stopped.

“Never,” he whispered again as he kissed the top of her
head.

*****

Mark woke up with an incredible ache in his neck. He opened
his eyes to light coming in through the window and Katy sleeping on his chest.
He tried to straighten his neck without disturbing her.

What the fuck was her dream about?
he wondered as he
listened to her breathe softly. He kissed her hair and closed his eyes again,
leaning his head back on the sofa. It made no sense to him at all.
Why would
she think that? How could she think that?

He was done screwing around. If she rejected him so be it.
But he was going to tell her how he felt. He wouldn’t wait any longer. Sign or
no sign, this was it.

Katy’s eyes blinked open to see she had fallen asleep on
Mark. She was still curled up on the sofa, her head on his chest, his arm on
her hip. She lifted her head and sneaked a peak to see if he was awake.

“Good morning,” he smiled.

“Hey,” she said as she stretched her legs and sat up. She
looked down at saw a wet spot on Mark’s t-shirt and groaned.

Mark followed her gaze down and laughed when he saw it.

“I like that you drool over me,” he winked.

“This weekend couldn’t get much more humiliating,” she
sighed.

“Let’s try, shall we?”

Katy’s eyes shot up and she gave him the death stare.

“Just kidding,” he laughed. “How’s your leg?”

Katy looked down at her thigh to see a big purple bruise.
She rubbed it and winced just a little.

“No shorts for a while.”

“Just as well it’s winter,” Mark frowned. “I really am
sorry.”

“Eh, I’ll live.”

Mark stood up and stretched. “Why don’t you take the
bathroom first,” he offered.

“Always the gentleman,” she grinned and stood and walked
through the bedroom.

*****

Matt couldn’t wait another second. Janie was in the shower,
and while he really wanted to join her, he needed to call Mark. He answered on
the second ring.

“What the fuck are you trying to do?”

Matt couldn’t tell if his brother was angry or not.

“Well, I wanted to give you an opportunity. Whether you took
it or not was up to you.”

Mark sighed. “So this trip to Seattle was all part of your
master plan?”

Matt chuckled. “Only if it works. Has it?”

“Don’t know.”

“Is she there?”

“Yeah.”

“Well then, there’s still hope,” Matt smiled. “Don’t be an
idiot, Mark.”

“You’ll pay for this, you know?”

“I know.” Matt smiled and threw his phone back on the desk.
“Now, let’s go get wet,” he grinned as he opened the bathroom door.

*****

Katy stood in the bathroom, drying off after her shower. Her
purse, her phone, everything was still in her car. All she had brought into the
hotel was her medical bag.

“Crap,” she muttered. Wrapping the towel around her under
her arms, she opened the door and cautiously took a small step into the
bedroom.
Where is he?

He was standing by the window and turned as he heard the
door. A grin appeared on his face as he gave her the up and down glance over
her long legs and up to the towel wrapped in a turban over her hair.

“Umm,” she began, “my purse and backpack are still in my
car.”

“So?” He was still grinning.

“Could you go get them for me? Please?”

Mark walked over to her and stopped a few inches away.
Katy’s breath hitched as she gazed up at his face. He was gorgeous. He had
thick dark hair and beautiful blue eyes. He had stubble all over his chin and
it gave him a rugged look; a look she liked.

“Where is your stub?”

Katy continued gazing at him, unable to look away.

“Katy?”

“Hmmm?”

“Where is your valet stub?”

“Huh?”

Mark chuckled and grabbed her shoulders.

“Katy!!”

The tone of his voice snapped her out of her daze and she
stepped backwards.

“What?”

“If I’m going to your car, I need your valet stub.”

“Oh. Umm, I guess it’s over there.” She pointed at her black
medical bag.

Mark walked over to the table where the bag sat and
underneath it sat the small yellow stub. He picked it up, grabbed his flip
flops from the closet and walked out of the hotel room.

“Good grief,” Katy muttered to herself. “Yep, just like a
silly sixteen year old.”

She turned and walked back into the bathroom and rummaged
through Mark’s toiletry bag. She found toothpaste and grabbed the unwrapped
toothbrush off the marble counter and brushed her teeth. Then she pulled a comb
from his bag and after towel drying her hair, she combed it through and put it back
into a ponytail.

Let’s hope I have something to wear in the backpack...

*****

Mark stepped off the elevator in the lobby and walked to the
valet station. He explained that his guest had left her bags in her car and he
needed to retrieve them for her. The smirk on the young man’s face told Mark
that he would be sharing the conversation with his co-workers as soon as Mark
stepped back in the elevator. A few minutes later, Katy’s Subaru pulled in
front of the hotel and Mark climbed in the backseat looking for her backpack.
Her purse was on the front passenger seat and her backpack on the floor in the
backseat. He looked for anything else that might be valuable and found a PSU
sweatshirt that he grabbed as well. He thanked the valet and headed back to the
room.

It’s only Saturday
, he thought as he stepped into the
elevator.
I can make this a weekend to remember.

As the doors opened and he stepped out onto the eighth
floor, a plan was formulating in his head.

“I might just have to owe you for this, Matt,” he grinned.

*****

While Mark took his turn in the bathroom, Katy emptied her
backpack on the king-size bed and tried to find something presentable to wear.
She had running shorts but it was too cold for them. She found a pair of yoga
pants and put them aside.
May be my best option,
she thought. There
wasn’t any clean underwear, but there was a stick of deodorant and a sports bra
and Mark had grabbed her sweatshirt. There was a pair of running shoes and
clean socks so that would have to complete her outfit. It suited her fine. All
she had to do was wear it home and who cared what she wore while she was
driving?

With the shower still running, she quickly got dressed and
packed up her clothes from the night before. Katy never went without make-up so
she always kept a small bag of essentials in her purse; moisturizer,
foundation, blush, eyeliner and mascara. She could make that work and with a
quick swipe of her tinted lip balm, she felt presentable again.