“I can’t wait at all. I need it now,” Trey insisted.

“Thirty minutes.”

“Give me a fuckin’ pill, Sed.”

“Maybe we should give him one now,” Jessica said.

“Thank you!” Trey said.

“Fifteen minutes.”

“You’re so goddamned stubborn,” she said, scowling at Sed.

Stubborn? He’d compromised. Why did that make him stubborn?

She rubbed Trey’s back. “He’ll give you a pill in fifteen minutes,” she said. “That’s not very long. You can make it. You’re a tough guy.”

Trey snorted. “Tough guy? What tipped you off? Was it the whining or the crying?”

“It was the wailing.”

He grinned, and then shifted to his back, his hands over his eyes. Into fetal position again. Onto his stomach. Back to fetal position. Pale and sweating. Panting. Clutching his abdomen. Absolutely miserable.

Sed checked the clock. Only five minutes had passed. He fished an oval-shaped, pink pill out of the envelope and handed it to Jessica. “Here. Go ahead and give it to him.”

“He’s got ten more minutes.” She handed the pill back to Sed.

“Yeah, ten more minutes,” Trey gasped. “I can make it.”

“Since when did I become the softest one in the room?” Sed asked.

“Since you told Jessica you love her so much you can’t breathe sometimes.” Trey chuckled halfheartedly.

Sed frowned. “You heard that, huh?”

Jessica hit Trey with a pillow. “Just how long have you been awake?”

He grinned sheepishly. “I haven’t slept in over two days.”

“You ass.” Sed shook his head in disbelief. Trey had heard a hell of a lot more than a love confession then.

“Is my ten minutes over yet?”

“You still have an hour and ten minutes,” Sed told him, tucking the pill back into the envelope.

“Don’t joke around like that, man.”

“Who’s joking?”

Chapter 34

“Do you feel like going out for dinner tonight?” Sed asked Trey.

“Why don’t you take Jessica out? You have to be sick of looking at me.”

To be honest, Sed would like to spend some time alone with Jessica, but Trey had only been drug free for forty-eight hours. Sed wasn’t sure they should leave him by himself just yet.

“We could order a pizza,” Jessica said from the table where she’d settled down with the laptop to edit the research journal article Myrna had emailed her.

“We’re going back tomorrow, right?” Trey asked.

“Are you ready to go back?” Sed asked.

“Hell yeah. I miss Bri… my guitar. I’ll be fine here by myself. You guys get out of here. Seriously. Bring me a doggie bag or something. I’ll watch a movie. Take a nap.”

“Check your email,” Sed added.

Trey glanced at Jessica who’d been hogging the laptop for two days. He grinned impishly. “Okay, you’re on to me. I need to check on my internet love interests.”

“All twenty of them,” Sed teased.

“Give or take.”

“You sure you’re okay with this?” Sed gave him one last time to change his mind before he swept Jessica off her feet.

“Do I need to kick you out of the room and lock the door?”

Sed leaned over and messed up his hair. “I’m glad you’re back to yourself.”

It surprised Sed to see tears in Trey’s emerald green eyes. “Thank you, Sed. You saved me. I won’t ever forget that.”

Sed punched him in the shoulder before they both turned into blubbering messes.

Trey hit him back. “Get out of here, asshole.”

Sed chuckled. “I could be a real asshole and make you wait in the bathroom while I take out my sexual frustration on my woman for a couple of hours.”

“Don’t talk to me about sexual frustration,” Trey said. “If I had any energy I’d go hunt some tail of my own. Maybe tomorrow.”

And only then would Sed believe that Trey was actually back to normal.

Sed moved to stand behind Jessica’s chair and rested his hands on her shoulders.

She looked up at him. “I’ve got to get this done for Myrna.”

“It will still be there tomorrow.”

“I don’t have anything to wear.”

His eyes skimmed over her sexy bare feet, baggy pink sweats, gray T-shirt, and haphazard ponytail. “You look beautiful.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “If you think I look beautiful, then you must be sexually frustrated. It’s causing hallucinations.”

“You’re always beautiful.” He leaned over to kiss her temple, his hands moving from her shoulders to wrap around her waist. “Are you ready to go then?”

She covered his hands with hers and smiled. “That depends. Where are we going?”

“I don’t care. Anywhere. Nothing fancy. Just… out.” He kissed her temple again. “Get your shoes.”

“Do flip-flops count as shoes?”

“They do to me.” He released her and went to the dresser to retrieve his ball cap. He put it on backwards and added his sunglasses. He did not want anyone to recognize him tonight. He just wanted to be a regular Joe out with his girl. He slipped his wallet into his back pocket and fastened the chain to the belt loop of his jeans.

He turned to find Trey and Jessica grappling over the laptop. “I have to save this file,” she insisted.

“It’s my turn.”

She poked Trey in the ribs and he twisted sideways, but didn’t release the edge of the screen. “You’re going to break it,” she said. “I’m almost finished. Calm down.”

Trey released the laptop and sighed with over-exaggerated exasperation. Sed caught the mischievous gleam in his eye and knew he was just messing with her. Sed smiled to himself. Yeah, Trey was back. Maybe Brian would forgive him now.

While she saved her file, Jessica hummed the Final Jeopardy jingle under her breath. She was as ornery as Trey was. God, he loved her. She still hadn’t said anything about his love confession. He’d expected her to dump him, which might have been easier to deal with than her not saying a goddamned word about it for three days.

Her smiling face appeared in his unfocused line of sight. “Let’s go eat and have some fun.” She planted a playful kiss on his chin.

“What kind of fun?”

“I’m sure we’ll think of something.”

He took her hand and headed for the door. The faster he got some food in her, the faster they could move on to the fun. “Later, Trey.”

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“Well, that leaves open a world of possibilities,” Jessica quipped.

“You know it,” Trey said.

Sed tugged Jessica from the hotel room and closed the door behind them. He drew her into his arms and stared down at her in the glaring yellow of the streetlight in the parking lot. “Alone at last.” He lowered his head and kissed her deeply. He expected her to protest, but her arms stole around his back and she pressed her tight little body against the length of him. All senses set to go, his hands shifted to the curve of her ass and pressed her closer.

She gasped and tore her mouth from his. “Food first, fun later.”

Luckily, there was a chain restaurant across the street.

Jessica picked at her salad, watching Sed through her lashes. When should she tell him she loved him?

Now?

Her heart fluttered.

No, not now. Maybe later.

“What’s wrong? You’re really quiet.” Sed tossed an empty rib bone on his plate.

“Nothing,” she lied. “Are we going straight back to the motel room after we eat?”

“Trey’s expecting some dinner. But knowing him, he’s ordered himself some takeout and has seduced the delivery driver by now.”

Jessica wiped her damp hands on her pants. “Maybe we should tour the city.”

Sed paused with a rib halfway to his mouth. “I figured you’d never want to do that again after what happened the last time.”

She scowled. Why’d he have to bring Vegas up now? “Yeah, well, it wasn’t the end of the world. Not an experience I’d like to repeat, however.”

“It wasn’t good for you?”

She looked up at him, catching his knowing grin. “Oh don’t get me wrong, the sex was fabulous, but the video quality was shoddy.”