Page 40 of Stolen Hours

“THIS CAN’T POSSIBLYwork.” Sophie looked at the little motel, a long row of rooms with empty spaces in front. There were no offices or receptionists. Each room simply had a place to receive payment. A scanner for cards was on their door, Sophie noticed, but other rooms had different sorts of payment options, like the hotel knew the room’s next occupant would pay with cash, or coins, or maybe some kind of talisman or amulet.

“Well... you know what, Sophie? I’ve been wanting to take my sexy wife somewhere away from our kid with ears that might as well be radar.” Jesse leaned over and pulled her close to him, his hand firm on the back of her neck. “Somewhere where we can be as loud as we like without waking up the baby. Somewhere without baby monitors or spilled sippy cups. No diapers. No emergency baths or snacks. I want to make a baby with you, Soph, but I also want to appreciate a break where the only baby I’m talking about is you. Come on, baby. Two days of not worrying about it, okay? If the fae don’t do their thing, promise me that we’ll try something else in a few months?”

Sophie bit her lip, kissed him back, and nodded. “I just... I was able to do it before. You deserve this so much, Jess. I feel like I’m letting you down.”

“Babe, I don’t even deserveyou. Technically, I’m the problem. You have a beating heart, functioning ovaries, and pumping blood. I’m... I’m useless.”

“You are perfect! I wouldn’t be here without you,” Sophie whispered, gripping his hand. “I mean... I don’t think I would be. Life was too lonely without you, and I was hiding inside myself. You gave me friendship, and love, and happiness. Brought me out of my shell. I’m a different person because of you.”

“And I’m a different person because of you. Dad said it. We’re the best versions of ourselves together, the best partners and spouses. I have you and J.J., and I’m so happy. You have never, ever let me down.”

“You’ve never let me down.” Sophie wiped her eyes. “I don’t know if the fae hotel needs help from my body or not to do its magic, but we already knew this was the right time to go away—even in the middle of the week.”

“And even though you’re missing your precious book club,”Jesse teased.

“Well, the waterworks, the anxious thoughts, and everything else that comes around the mid-point of my cycle are here, too. Including that weird pain I get.” Sophie rubbed her side.

Jesse arched his eyebrows and finally swiped his card through the slot by the door. “That weird pain, the one I know how to make all better? That weird pain that’s usually accompanied by my Night Queen turning into a wild cat?”

“That’s the one.” Sophie grabbed the slip of paper that slid from the bottom of the reader and gasped.

“What is it?” Jesse looked at the paper with her.

One word was printed on the receipt.

Gratis.

“Okay. Is it creepy that they’re listening?”

“I doubt they’re actually listening. It’s probably something woven into the place. If we didn’t want the building to know, we shouldn’t have been talking in front of it. That does sound a little nuts, doesn’t it?”

Sophie shrugged and grabbed her bag. “I’ll take all the help I can get.”

“I don’t need any help with this particular mission. All I’m here to do is make my wife feel amazing.”

SOPHIE HAD TO ADMITthat the fae folk were living up to their reputation. The hotel room was more like a suite, and definitely bigger on the inside than the outside would have conveyed. A bed big enough for six people dominated the room. There was also a heart-shaped tub and a plethora of wedge-shaped pillows and other bedroom accessories designed to help couples find the perfect angle. “Do you thinkthey clean them each time? Or are they new?”

Jesse laughed and looked at the giant, pink, marshmallowy pillow closest to him. “They have little paper wrappers on them. Whichever ones we pick, we keep. I bet the rest vanish or something.”

“It’s a good thing only supernaturally conversant people can see this place. Everyone else would think they were having a stroke.”

“I bet the hotel plays nice with normal types if necessary. But you are so far from normal.” Jesse dropped his bags and shed his jacket, coming over to massage Sophie’s lower back. “You are the strongest, sexiest, most beautiful woman in the world. And you’re all mine. You’re extraordinary, Sophie. When I make love to you, I don’t worry about anything else besides keeping you with me.”

Sophie moaned in relief as his cooler-than-average fingers kneaded into her aching lower back and slid into the waistband of her jeans, working towards a spot just south of her hipbones. It alternated every month after J.J., even though it had never bothered her before. She wondered—

And she stopped herself. Sex lately had been all about wondering. Which moment was she ovulating, which days were best, was she relaxed enough, eating enough folic acid, well-rested enough—blaming herself for every month that didn’t work, even though she had no idea what made it work the first time. She had been pretty certain that she and Jesse would adopt one day. Sex before J.J. had never had any strings—except the heartstrings that always seemed to bind them closer and closer every time. Loving him more every day, not because he had turned out to be an incredible parent, but because he was her incredible best friend, her lover.

With a moan that was about pleasure, not pain relief, she shook her petite (some unkind people had said skinny) rear into his hips, thrust back as she was bent over the selection of pillows. She grabbed the one Jesse had examined.

“Someone is tempting me,” Jesse groaned when she sauntered away.

Sophie thought about telling him to get ready, or to sit and wait while she made everything perfect.

But the perfection was never about the right placement of candles or pillows.

“Want me to get that special lube? And massage that spot?” Jesse followed her.

She looked over her shoulder. “I want you to take your jeans off and get over here. Now.”