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"Maybe it's the lighting, but it looks better," Sady said, removing the small painting from Bea's game box. "It's almost pretty. What do you think?" She passed it to Amanda and Matt.
Bea grabbed it. "I like it! I make pictures like that."
"I think that pretty much sums up our feelings on the matter," Matt laughed, when Amanda elbowed him in the side and chuckled.
"Can we play the game?" Bea asked. Matt and Amanda became busy, so Sady played with Bea. Bea carefully put the painting in the bottom of her empty game box.
"You two try to figure out what we should do next," Sady told them. "We promised the kids we'd spend the night, so we are NOT leaving! You geniuses decide on a plan of action that will keep us safe. If you can't come up with anything, I'm taking the kids to another room, and you can share this one!"
Amanda snorted and Matt's face turned red. "I am NOT paying the mini-bar tab for this room, Amanda! I'm also not spending any one-on-one time with you either, so take off that dead fox before it deprives your brain of any more oxygen. This is serious!"
"How are any of us going to be safe if the thieves know we have the painting?" Argus asked.
"Kid, get over here and trade places with Amanda," Matt told him. "You're already leaps and bounds ahead of her."
"Humph! That makes two of us, Stubbles," Amanda pointed out.
"Aunt Sady, you were supposed to win, not me!" Bea confessed. "I cheated for you."
Sady stood. "That does it!" she announced. "I'm calling Harry and CJ. When they get here, I'm moving to another room with the kids and one of the Knights... just in case. That leaves three of you here to fend off and capture two women or one and a half men, should they decide to retrieve the painting in the middle of the night."
Amanda laughed. "Make it one man total, half of each. One is injured, and the other..." Sady's loud coughing drowned out Amanda's remark. She shrugged. “I’m just stating a fact.”
"Don't," Sady advised. "Now you and Matt play with Bea while I call the Knights."
Sady called Harry, not CJ. Harry was the nice guy, the softie, the pushover. Not that he couldn't get dirty and lethal if necessary, but since retiring from the CIA his kinder side softened his personality. CJ retained most of her rough and raw edges. So Sady called Harry, who immediately agreed to help. She gave Harry their room number before disconnecting and arranging for another room in the hotel.
After her calls, watched the game Bea played with Matt and Amanda. Bea whispered to Sady, "I'm not letting Uncle Matt win this time because Aunt Amanda promised me a bag of candy if I let her win." Sady patted Bea’s head, then she squeezed Amanda's shoulder- hard.
"You won't believe what a bag of candy costs these days, Amanda," she said in a warning voice.
Amanda smirked. "I was gonna give it to them and turn them loose with Stubbles. He looks like he can use the excitement." Matt yawned, bored with the game. Sady pulled him from the chair and sent him to find a sports channel on the TV while she took his spot. Argus stuck with Matt like a magnet and soon they were yelling, as usual, when watching sports.
Sady looked over her shoulder and scoffed, "Golf? Seriously, Matt?"
"It was that or bowling," he said. "The next time make sure we get a room with the full sports package."
Pounding on the door let them know the Knights arrived. CJ stomped through the door and snapped, "Who am I babysitting tonight?"
Sady waved her hand and pointed to the Davis kids. "These two actually sleep."
CJ smiled at Harry. "Have fun playing games with your co-workers and capturing criminals, because I'll be sleeping." She shook her head at Sady’s bewilderment. "Don't doubt I can sleep while doing guard duty," she advised. Sady flicked her eyes at Harry, who nodded.
"Well, the painting stays in this room," Sady said flatly. "I don't want the kids in danger over some blobs of paint. If it wasn't for Uncle John, I'd have let them keep the thing."
"I'm glad you're so concerned about our safety," Matt replied.
Sady grinned. "Hmm- ugly painting or hot guy? You know what's more important, Matt Meadows. So if you have to give up the painting, then do it."
CJ snorted. "You couldn't decide this before you called? If you tell me which room they're in, I'll go hand deliver it, then Harry and I will go home for a good night’s rest so we can do our job for the mayor without dozing off!"
All eyes turned to Harry at CJ’s abnormally grouchy air. "We were supposed to have a late dinner with the mayor," Harry explained, trying to hide his smile.
"We were supposed to eat semi-cooked bovine flesh and drink good wine, not have cheap room service pizza and an overpriced mini-bar!" CJ snapped. She looked down when Bea tugged on her arm.
"You can play my game with me," she offered. CJ looked ready to explode. Then her face cleared, and she ruffled Bea's curly red hair, rolling her eyes at Harry. "How can I say no?" She shot daggers at everyone else. "No comments about that remark, now or ever, understand?" Everyone nodded, and Bea took CJ’s hand as they prepared to move to another room.
Amanda put her hands on her hips. "You expect me to stay here with these two?" She pointed at Matt and Harry. "Now, I don't mind having Handsome here, but Stubbles? Can't you find some place to stash him? Like the laundry chute?"
Argus wasn't happy either. "I don't want to go with the ladies," he complained.
"Watch what you call me," CJ warned. Argus apologized, but he didn't know why. CJ asked, "Do you like sports?" Argus nodded and she said, "Then you'll want to come with us. I called ahead to make sure our room has the premium sports package. I'm sure Meadows doesn't mind the extra cost, seeing how he disrupted my whole evening." She snorted at the television Matt watched. "Golf! You might as well watch bowling! Come on, kid, we've got basketball, MMA... uh, I mean wrestling, and other stuff."
CJ and Sady moved the bags from that room to the next in a single trip. Sady left one bag in the hall while she unlocked the door and checked the room. When she stepped into the hall to retrieve it she glanced down the hall to see a man entering a room. "Uncle John?" The man hesitated, but didn't turn around. Sady heard his door shut and the lock turn so she took the bag into the room and dropped it on the bed.
"What's wrong?" CJ asked.
Sady wore a perplexed face. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear Uncle John entered a room down the hall."
"Did you say anything to him?"
"Kind of. It was more of a question than a greeting. He didn't stop or look, but I'm sure he paused before he went into the room." Sady looked confused. "Has anyone heard from him?" she asked CJ.
"Let me check with Harry." CJ got on her phone while Sady settled the kids in front of the TV with a nature show, so he and Bea were content for the time being. CJ disconnected. "Harry hasn't heard anything from John, or his office." She looked over at the kids and whispered to Sady, "I think one of us should go knock on that door. Something isn’t right. I can feel it."
"I don't want anyone in that room knowing it was us," Sady protested. "Can't we send one of the guys?" CJ scowled, but she agreed. Fifteen minutes later, Sady peeked out her door as Matt passed and knocked at the room Sady saw the man enter.
"What's happening?" CJ hissed when she heard Sady mumbling bad things under her breath.
She turned to CJ, breathing fire. "I'll kill that tramp with my bare hands..." She continued in that line while CJ poked her head into the hall.
CJ popped back in with a laugh. "You want me to go rescue Meadows from the woman who has him shoved against the wall, testing his lung capacity?"
"Don't bother," Sady said with burning eyes. "I'll kill them both. Traitor and the tramp! How's that for a headline?" She pushed up her sleeves, prepared to march down the hall and break up the necking session between Matt and the woman who opened the door. Before Sady intervened the sultry bombshell ran a long-nailed forefinger under Matt’s chin, stopping at the edge.
Matt stood in astonishment, knowing Sady witnessed the whole event. The bikini beauty had ambushed him. He'd come prepared to face John, or at least another man, but the woman opened the door and shoved him into the wall before he knew what was happening. By then it was too late. "Next time do not bring your little friend," the woman told Matt in a seductive voice. "Three is a crowd, no?" Her accent was as seductive as the woman herself. She ducked into her room as quickly as she came out.
Matt rolled his eyes sideways, then closed them. There was no way Sady and CJ missed that. They both stood in the doorway of their room, with heads poked into the hall. And he had to pass that room to reach the elevator. He looked again, but the heads had disappeared. Maybe if he was quick, he could make it...
He found himself ambushed again, only this time it wasn't a seductive foreigner with a sexy accent. It was a beautiful brunette with a smoking temper and a punishing kiss that pushed him into the hallway and against the wall. The biggest difference was he didn't try to squirm out of this kiss. CJ's laughing, "Get a room or I'll have to give him CPR," brought him back to reality.
"Next time leave your little friend behind. Two's enough," Sady whispered into his ear. Then she gave him a shove toward the elevator and snickered. Amanda and Harry would have a good time getting an explanation out of him. He staggered onto the elevator and disappeared.
"I hope he can find his way back," CJ chuckled.
"It's a good thing I recognized the kissing beauty as the art thief," Sady told CJ, "or he would have a hard time finding anything!"
***
"What happened to you?" Amanda asked when Matt finally stumbled back to the room. She laughed to Harry, "Maybe we should get him a rape whistle."
Matt glared and wheezed, "Not funny!"
"I take it John Morrow isn't responsible for the two colors of lipstick on your face, the messy hair, and the untucked shirt," Harry added, enjoying the joke at Matt's expense.
"Two colors of lipstick? Ooh- you are so dead," Amanda scolded.
Matt gave her a dirty look. "This isn't my fault! There's a pack of wild women on that floor, and they don't hesitate to attack. I was the innocent prey in the forced kissing episodes!"
"Yeah, you go with that if you want," Harry teased. "I'll remain thankful that you went and not me, because if CJ ever saw me with lipstick..."
Matt looked offended. "She DID see me like this! And do you know what she did? She laughed!"
"And I suppose Sady saw it?" Amanda asked sarcastically. "Did she think it was funny too?"
"She's partly responsible... no, she's mostly responsible! At least the first one didn't try to undress me!"
"The first one?" Amanda's brows went up. "Sady saw that? And you're still alive, and walking, and have all of your parts?" She turned to Harry. "I need a drink!"
"Of course you do," Matt complained. "I knew you'd get around to the mini-bar sooner or later. Grab me a couple, will you?"
"Let me finish this one," Amanda said. "Then we should see if we need to slip our girl out of the country before they find the other woman with her throat slit."
Harry shook his head. "How did Sady mistake a wild woman for Morrow?"
"I don't know, and I don't care," Matt said emphatically. "All I know is I am NOT going back to that room, or even that floor if I can help it! I thought this was a family friendly place!"
***
The kids slept well but Sady worried about the painting and Uncle John all night. CJ kept alert even as she dozed. Amanda snored through the night. Harry nodded off as he read a book. Matt had recurring nightmares of predatory women attacking him while Sady watched. By morning, everyone was rattled except the kids and Amanda.
"I am not waiting around for your thieves to make an attempt. We're leaving and taking the ugly painting to lock in our safe," CJ announced as she dragged Harry out of the room. "Don't call us unless Meadows gets attacked again. I want pictures." She chuckled as she slammed the door behind her.
The kids looked at the remaining adults and moved closer to Amanda, sensing the undercurrents of tension. All they wanted was breakfast and a few more hours at the fountain. Amanda seemed their best chance for that. They each grabbed one of her hands and she grinned at Matt and Sady. "Guess you'll know where to find us," she said as they left the room.
Matt looked nervously at Sady's back as she stared out the window. He finally broke the silence. "Uhm, Sady... about last night? That wasn't my fault, honestly. I knocked on the door, it opened, she rushed out, and nearly pushed me through the wall. Then she wouldn't let go of me." He hoped she'd turn so he could gauge her expression, but she didn't. Instead, she put both hands to her face. Oh hell! Now she was crying!
"I'm sorry, Sady! It didn't mean anything." Matt grabbed her and spun her around.
She sniffled and dabbed at one eye. "Was she a good kisser?"
"What kind of question is that?" His voice grew louder with each syllable.
"I'm just asking. If that was me, wouldn't you want to know if the other guy was a good kisser?" She gazed at him with big doe eyes and he began sweating.
"Yes? I mean no! I don't know. You have me so confused, I don't know what I mean," he grumbled. "Except I'd toss Harry on this roasting spit if I could do it all over!" Sady instantly smiled and hugged him. He grabbed her shoulders and gave her a guarded look. "Why do I get the feeling I'm being taken advantage of?"
"Because you are. I'm not putting all those years of beauty pageant skills to good use and I'm losing my touch. Am I getting dull, Matt?" she asked with a dramatic sigh. "Is that why you're out kissing strange women behind my back?" She squealed with laughter when he hiked her over his shoulder.
"If I'm going to be taken advantage of, I'll show you my preference," he said, dropping her on a bed. He grabbed her before she could scoot off the side of the bed and pulled her back. "Not so fast, Miss Dull," he scolded as he rolled over on top of her. He held her arms above her head. Sady's brown eyes sparkled with mischief.
"You wouldn't want me to lose those valuable skills, would you?" she teased.
"I think it's time you learned some new ones."
"Matt?"
"Hmm?" He was busy nuzzling her neck.
"How would you rate that kiss on a scale of one to ten?" she continued, giggling when he tickled her.
"Ten," he whispered in her ear.
Her mouth dropped and her eyes got big. Then her brows lowered, and she tried to squirm out from under him, but he wouldn't let go. "You just learned a new skill, and you've been taken advantage of," he breathed into her neck. "I was rating your kiss, Sandy-Sue. Those are the only ones that matter to me." He pulled back with a smile, but his blue eyes were serious. "I hope you know that by now."
She tugged her hands free and put one on each side of his face. "I knew it last night... well, it took me a minute to get over wanting to tear out her hair and gouge out her eyes. Then I realized you'd never deliberately kiss another woman in front of me... at least not until I bought your new TV." She snickered as he shook his head. Then she grew serious. "The man I love wouldn't kiss another woman for pleasure in front of me or behind my back. I already know about you, Matt Meadows."
"I only kiss one woman for pleasure, Sassafras." He squinted at the clock. "I bet Amanda's just digging into the breakfast buffet, which gives us enough time for our own buffet."
"Matt, what if they come back to the room?" she asked in shock.
"I swapped her key card and latched the deadbolt."
"I think you'd better call CJ," she whispered. "You're about to get attacked again."
***
When they finally made it down to the pool area, Amanda raised her brows. “Uh, huh. I'd tell you to get a room, except I know you already have one.”
Sady blushed and said, "I'm getting a cup of coffee. I'll be back."
"Mind your own business," Matt told Amanda when she grinned as he took a seat near her. The kids played with a ball in the shallow pool.
Matt and Amanda both looked up when Sady raced back. Matt admired Sady's beauty, and Amanda wondered why she didn't have coffee. Sady waved at them. "Hurry. They just checked out! I saw them through the glass."
"Who checked out?" Amanda asked.
"Uncle John and the art thief!" Sady hissed.
"Maybe you'd better get that cup of coffee," Amanda suggested. "Stubbles, this is your fault. She's delusional until she has at least one cup of caffeine."
"I'm not kidding," Sady insisted, pulling Matt to his feet. She gave him a shove toward the wall of windows facing the front of the hotel. "Hurry. You might be able to see them as they drive away."
Matt raced to the front of the hotel, but he didn't make it far. Sally halted his progress by stepping in front of him. He shuddered as he grabbed her to keep them both from going down in a heap. By then it was too late to see the dark gray sedan pulling away from the hotel entrance.
Sady struggled to keep from laughing out loud at the scene. Amanda didn't bother. "He just can't keep his hands to himself, can he?" Amanda asked Sady. They watched as Sally took exception to Matt's efforts to keep them from crashing. With her hands on her ample hips, Sally chewed him out. Then she poked him in the chest. He yelped in pain and rubbed the spot, but Sally wasn't done. She grabbed the front of his T-shirt and pulled him so they were face-to-face.
"Do you think we should go rescue him?" Sady asked.
"I don't think we can," Amanda replied. "Also, I'm enjoying the entertainment. I hate to break it up."
"I'm afraid she's going to break him," Sady said. Sally punched Matt on the shoulder and he massaged it. "This isn't good," Sady continued. She waved Bea from the pool and sent her in Matt's direction.
Bea watched in fascination as Sally gave Matt a tongue lashing for being rude, thoughtless, and a big ape. Finally, Bea pulled Matt's hand. "I gotta pee," she yelled. Sally unexpectedly looked down at Bea and howled.
"I should have known you'd need to be rescued by a female," she grinned. "No hard feelings, hey?" She slapped him on the back before she walked away. Matt stood with his mouth open while Bea danced around him.
"I'd better go rescue Bea," Sady said, "before Matt gets into more trouble." She pushed Matt in the direction of Amanda, then took Bea to the restroom.