He heard Ben whisper hoarsely "Don't you have a robe or something? You can't parade around in front of Pauli like that."
Lane laughed. "The hell I can't, he paraded around in less." She said as she walked past Pauli into the room with the bigger bed, pulled the covers back and climbed into the bed.
"We can trade rooms back in the morning so I can shower and get dressed." As he turned around, he heard her say, "Turn off the lights, and close the door on your way out, will you Dr. Bellini?"
Chapter 11
All's well that ends well
Lane woke the next morning to sounds of someone quietly rummaging through luggage. There was no light coming through the curtains as she turned to see Ben bent over his suitcase no doubt grabbing workout clothes.
She threw a pillow at his backside and whispered, "What are you doing? It's o-dark-thirty." She ducked and laughed as the pillow came back at her. She had thrown another pillow before she heard a voice booming not so happily from the other room.
"What's going on? Lane are you okay?"
Uh-oh, the boxer clad behind that she'd been having a pillow fight with was Pauli. She turned on the bedside lamp and looked up to find Ben standing in the doorway looking very unhappily at his brother who held a pillow in his hand.
He pointed to Pauli. "You, get the sweats and get out." He pointed to Lane as he approached the bed. "And, you, stop flirting with my brother."
She smiled. "In my defense, counselor all I saw was a tall dark handsome muscular man wearing nothing but boxers bending over your suitcase. Naturally, I thought it was you."
He was at the bed in a flash. "And if I'd been two minutes later, would you have invited him into bed with you?" He said as he sat on the edge of the bed and turned off the bedside lamp.
"You know better than that, counselor." She laughed.
Pauli grabbed the sweats and turned to leave "I'm going to need someone's room key to get into the gym and back into the rooms. Lane leaned around Ben who was holding her in his arms. "Use mine; it's on the dresser in there."
As Pauli walked toward the room where he'd spent the night he heard his brother call out to him, "Close the door on your way out, will you Dr. Bellini?"
Pauli closed the door. Definitely, he needed to get his brother to give him lessons. He heard the family talk about Ben's friend Lane Parker. As he recalled, his grandparents had met her when they were in Kansas City during the Christmas holidays a few months earlier. He remembered Nonno saying something about a "bella donna dai capelli rossi", a beautiful red haired woman. Guess he knew now what or whom his grandfather was talking about and Pauli had to agree, she was certainly a beautiful red haired woman. Ben had introduced her as his friend but it sure didn't look to him like they were just friends. Friends with benefits maybe. Yep, lessons, he needed lessons.
Ben kissed Lane and nudged her over so he could join her in the bed. He lay next to her holding her in his arms kissing her, being kissed, when a ringing coming from the other room disrupted them. Lane groaned, "That's my phone. I need to get it." She reluctantly pulled away and got up. She looked at the clock next to the bed; it was 7:45. She hoped Pauli wasn't naked in the next room as she opened the door. She grabbed her phone from the bedside table it wasn't a number she recognized. "Hello?"
"Lane, it's Maggie. I hope I didn't wake you. I'm in Chicago and have some time between planes. I just wanted to check on Jeff. Any update?" Lane looked at Ben and mouthed Maggie.
Ben rolled onto his back and plumped the pillows behind him as he watched Lane. She had answered the phone and was walking back toward him as she talked. She was gorgeous even with no make-up and with bed hair and she had the most amazing legs. Five months ago, he'd introduced Lane to his grandparents who were visiting from Italy. When Ben had told them that he and Lane were just friends, his grandfather had said "Just friends, ha! You'd be a fool to let that beautiful red haired woman get away." Nonno was a smart man. Ben didn’t intend to let her get away.
"No, you didn't wake me. He's doing fine. I imagine he'll be released today, maybe tomorrow. I'm going to let Jeff tell you the whole story. He's looking forward to having you here. You know how boys are, all macho, but when they're hurt or sick, they like to have their mommies there." She laughed. “I'll be waiting for you when you get in. Did you check luggage? Call me when you land and I'll be sure I'm at the curb when you get out. I don't know if Ben will be with me or not. He's had some business come up here in Saint Louis." She laughed again, "Sure, I'll tell him."
She clicked off, and looked at Ben. "Maggie says she can't thank you enough for your help." She climbed back into bed. "She thinks that Jeff would have died if you, Liz, Blake, and Tanner hadn't gotten involved." She snuggled into him and put her head on his shoulder. "It's a pretty scary thought. Do you think they'd have killed Jeff after they moved their drugs?" He ran his fingers through her hair and bent to kiss the top of her head.
"I hate to speculate what they'd have done.” He kissed her and whispered, “As much as I wish we could stay in bed, Pauli is going to be back soon. You need to get up and be showered before he gets back. He's seen as much of your nearly naked body as I have and I don't want him see any more.”
Lane laughed as she got up. "Okay, I'll grab my things and get into the shower. You guard the door, won't you? I promise I won't come out until I'm decent."
Ben sat on the bed he'd slept in and turned on the TV. He surfed though the channels looking for local news wondering if there would be anything about the drug bust. He suspected that they might be withholding the information to allow the sheriff in Nebraska to bust the meth house.
He heard the door open and heard Pauli pause before he entered the room "I'm back. Is everyone decent?"
"You idiot, come in. Lane's in the shower in here. Go into the other room, get your shower, and get dressed. I've laid out my clothes on the bed; you're welcome to anything else in the suitcase. What time do you need to be at the hospital today?"
"I'm not on duty until tonight. Are you and Lane heading back to KC today or are you going to wait until her friend's son is released?"
Ben followed Pauli into the other room and closed first Lane's door and then his adjoining door. "I imagine it will depend on what the doctors have to say about Jeff's condition today. You could come to the hospital with us have a look and tell us what you think. You might like to meet Jeff anyway. Since you seem to have the same taste in women."
Lane always did some of her best thinking in the shower. She was washing her hair, thinking about how things had changed in the last 24 hours. Yesterday morning, she certainly didn't think that she'd be lying in bed kissing Ben this morning. They'd run into one of his ex-girl-friends at his father's restaurant, Bellini's, about six months ago. Her name was Liza. Lane guessed her to be in her early 30's. She was a beautiful woman who was about five feet six inches tall, had long brown hair and big brown eyes. She was a former KC Chiefs cheerleader who was now a Psychologist. Ben had smiled, introduced Lane as his "friend" and told Liza it was nice to see her again as he put his hand in the small of Lane's back and guided her into the private dining are called The Board Room where the family ate. Lane thought at the time, that Liza would have fallen back into Ben's arms in a heartbeat if only he'd given her the slightest sign that he was interested. After they sat, she'd asked Ben about Liza. He said they'd dated for a while a couple of years ago. She asked him that night why he'd never been married. He said he couldn't imagine spending the rest of his life with any of the women he'd dated.