The Next Day

She looked up at the angry man standing beside the bed for a moment in confusion until the pounding in her head cleared a bit. Suddenly, every horrible humiliating moment of the past day came rushing back to her.

“What are you doing here Luke?” She snapped at him.

“Besides finding my fiancee in bed with another man?” He snarled back.

“How dare you! Who the hell were you with yesterday? It sure wasn’t me in that bed!” She couldn’t believe his nerve when she had walked into that hotel room and discovered her fiancé doing the nasty with some little tart he had picked up at some bar. As far as she was concerned, that little episode ended all of his rights as to who was in her bed.

Wait, who was in her bed? She looked down at the arm that was curved around her waist. Slowly she followed the strong, tanned arm upwards until she met the most handsome blue eyes twinkling at her. She watched as a slow sexy smile curved one corner of his mouth.

“Morning, babe” he drawled slowly.

Elizabeth felt her eyes widen as she stared in disbelief at the man lying next to her. She couldn’t help as her eyes lowered to take in the bare, sleekly muscled chest. Hell, there probably wasn’t a woman born who could resist the sight. Her head started to pound again as flashes of memory of the night before returned to her. She had gone down to the hotel’s bar to drown her sorrows from her fiancé’s defection and to forget about having to cancel all of the wedding plans.

“Those appletinis’ must pack quite a punch!” She mumbled to herself.

“Don’t tell me you don’t remember the great time we had?” The man next to her teasingly asked.

“Hello! Excuse me! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Luke’s voice interrupted tersely between them. “Do you even know who this guy is or are you just picking up strangers?” He practically yelled at Elizabeth.

“Of course, I know what I’m doing and even if I didn’t, it isn’t any of your business anymore!” She replied heatedly.

“So who is he?” He sneered back at her.

“Ummm...Troy!” She declared triumphantly as she glanced at the man next to her.

“We’ll talk about this later...after you get rid of the gigolo.” Luke threw a scathing look at Troy. “I’m not going to let you end it like this. We’re getting married!” He strode angrily out of the room, slamming the door behind him.



Elizabeth sat in the bed slightly stunned by Luke’s declaration. She had figured he had moved on even before she had chucked his engagement ring at his head the day before. Slowly she turned to face Troy.

“So you wanna get it on?” He smirked at her before sliding the covers back to get out of the bed.

She flinched a little before realizing that he had his pants on under the covers. Quickly she peeked down at herself to find that she was also still wearing her bra and panties.



“So, umm..We didn’t uh,” she heard herself stutter.

“No, we didn’t uh.” He mockingly replied. “Stan asked me to keep an eye on you and make sure you didn’t get into trouble.”



She groaned as she finally made the connection. Troy was her brother-in-law’s best friend. Ever since her sister had married Stan, he had become the big brother she had never had.

“Just wait until I get my hands on him. I don’t need a watch dog!”

“Really? You couldn’t prove it by me.” He replied as he headed towards the bathroom.

She groaned again as she realized he was somewhat right. She heard the shower start in the bathroom as she quickly slid out of the bed and frantically searched the room for her clothes. As fast as she could she pulled the slinky dress over her head and slipped the high heeled shoes on and made a beeline for the door. Her hand paused on the door knob as the thought crossed her mind that only a coward would let a man chase her from her own hotel room. Forget it! She would come back later once she was sure he would be gone.





After a quick shower and a loan of clothes from her sister’s hotel room, Elizabeth hit the local tourist spots. It was a beautiful day to sight see and forget about the mess her life was becoming. As the sun started to slowly sink into the horizon she headed back to her hotel. Surely by now Troy would be long gone and she wouldn’t have to try to explain her embarrassing behavior to him.

It was dark in the room when she opened the door and as she crossed the room to turn on the bedside lamp, there was a wisp of sound just before a pair of hands grabbed her from behind.

Elizabeth tried to scream just as a hand was clamped down on her mouth.

“Where is it?” A voice grated in her ear. “Don’t mess with me or you’re gonna get hurt!”

“Where’s what?” She stammered as his hand loosened on her mouth.

Before he could answer, a knock sounded on the door. They both froze for a moment, until Troy’s voice came thru the door.

“Elizabeth, I know your in there. I saw you get off the elevator.”

As she tried to scream, the man hit her viciously on the head with something hard and she fell to the floor as everything went dark.



“Lizzy! Come on babe open your eyes.” Elizabeth heard a voice murmuring urgently moments before her eyelids fluttered open. Troy was tenderly cradling her in his arms, gazing at her with concern in his beautiful blue eyes.

“What happened?” He asked her.

“There was a man in here. He hit me with something when you knocked on the door. He asked me where it is.”

“Where what is?”

“I don’t know. I have no idea what he was talking about.”

“Let’s go to the hospital and get you checked out, then we’re going to report this to the police.” Troy lifted her gently to her feet and escorted her out the door.



Hours later as they returned to the hotel room, Troy slowly closed the door and turned to face her.

“Pack your things. You’re moving in with me.” He stated with a challenge in his tone.

“What? But,” she stammered.

“I don’t want to hear it.” He interrupted. “You’re not staying in this room by yourself.” He gazed at her with intense emotion in his eyes.

“I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you.”

Well, what could she say to that? Before she knew what was happening she was unpacking her things in his room. The large king size bed dominated the room and no matter how much she tried to ignore it, her gaze was repeatedly drawn to the bed like a magnet. So easily could she imagine her and Troy making love on the sinfully large bed, rolling around on its satin sheets. His room was way more elegant than hers had been. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a hardship to stay with him.

Troy stepped out of the bathroom and their eyes met across the room. The intense sexual tension was palatable in the air. Slowly he crossed to her and cupped her face in his hands as he drew her to him. His lips covered hers as he kissed her deeply and throughly. After a moment, he lifted his lips and gently trailed them down her cheek to her throat.

“I’ve been wanting to do that since I first laid eyes on you.” He softly murmured.

“Wow, that was good.” She was almost in a daze.

“Good? Well, let’s make it great.” A sexy smile curled his lips as he kissed her again. Carefully, he moved her backwards until she felt the bed behind her knees. Before she knew it he had her clothes on the floor and they were laying on the bed. Man, he was the best kisser in the world! She pulled his shirt from his pants and ran her hands underneath to feel his strong chest. “Mmm, you feel so good” she purred. He quickly pulled his shirt over his head and discarding the rest of his clothes joined her on the bed.





The next morning when she awoke she was alone in the bed. Elizabeth listened intently for a moment to see if she could hear if Troy was anywhere in the bedroom suite at all. Good, nothing but silence. She relaxed against the pillows and thought about the wonderful night they had shared. It was too bad that Troy was not the commitment type, she could easily fall in love with him. The phone on the night stand next to the bed started to ring and she quickly answered hoping it was Troy.

“Hello.”

“Why aren’t you in your room? Where are you? Are you still with that gigolo?” Luke harshly demanded.

“That is none of you business, and I have nothing to say to you.”

Luke’s voice quickly changed to a cajoling one. “Please darling, I have to talk to you. Meet me at the Harbor Haus Restaurant.”

“No, we have nothing to talk about.” She replied firmly.

“Please, it’s very important!” She had never heard his voice so desperate.

“Okay, but only for a few minutes.” She agreed reluctantly.

“Be there at seven.” He hung up rather abruptly.



Promptly at seven o’clock she walked in the door of the Harbor Haus Restaurant. Before she even had a chance to look around, Luke came out of the shadows of the entry and grabbed her elbow, swiftly turning her back towards the front door. He escorted her firmly down the sidewalk and into the parking lot towards his black Mercedes.

“What are you doing? I’m not going anywhere with you!” She exclaimed.

“Just get in the car!”

Before she could react he had the door to the car open and was shoving her into the passenger seat.

“What is wrong with you? You can’t just kidnap me like this!”

“Looks like I can, doesn’t it?” He smirked at her as he started the car and peeled the tires as he left the curb.

“I want the ring! Where is it?”

“What in the hell are you talking about! I threw it at you the night I found you in bed with another woman. Did you forget that little fact?”

“Don’t play with me! I never figured you were smart enough to figure out what the game was.” He floored the Mercedes until it was rocketing down the freeway.

Elizabeth couldn’t believe what was happening. Luke was acting like he had totally lost it. She had never seen him so upset, he had always been very calm and collected. Almost smug in the way that he had always dealt with others. There was no sign of the man that she had known, now he was jittery and nervous. A fine sheen of sweat glistened on his forehead.

“The ring you gave me back was not the same ring! Give me the ring! Don’t jerk me around or you’ll be sorry.” He nervously reached his left hand down to his side and pulled out a gun.

As he pointed the gun at her, he glanced in the rearview mirror and froze for a second before letting out a curse. He put the gun down and grabbed the wheel with both hands just as a huge black Hummer tapped their bumper.

“They’re gonna kill both of us unless you give me the ring.” He said desperately.

“I don’t have the ring and I don’t have a clue what is going on!” Elizabeth was past panicking and going straight into hysterics.

The Hummer pulled along side them, then suddenly rammed into the Mercedes causing Luke to lose control of the car and fly off the road into a ditch then slamming into a tree. Thank God she had put on her seatbelt! Luke had not been as fortunate and as a result had smashed up against the steering wheel and windshield.

“Oh my god! Luke are you okay?” She could see blood running down his face but couldn’t tell if he was dead or merely unconscious.

Two men suddenly appeared on either side of the vehicle. They were large dangerous looking individuals. Both of them were wearing dark suits with sunglasses. The one closest to Luke reached in the window and pull his head back.

“He’s out cold.” He looked at Elizabeth. “Where’s the microchip?”

Goon two wrenched her door open and grabbing her arm, pulled her roughly from the car while goon one walked around the back of the crumpled car towards them. Only then did she notice that both of them carried guns. Not really that surprising considering what was happening.

“Now, why don’t you be a good girl and tell me where the microchip is? We don’t want to have to hurt a pretty thing like you.” Goon one was obviously trying to lay on the charm, although it wasn’t really working because he looked like he really did want to hurt her. Was looking forward to it actually.



Suddenly, like a bolt of lightening she realized that the microchip was hidden in the engagement ring that that rat Luke had given her. But what was she to do? She had given the ring back to him so why was Luke insisting that she still had it. Or more correctly that she had given him a different ring? There was a muffled groan from the drivers seat as Luke started to regain consciousness.

“Go get him, Jerry.” Goon one nodded his head towards the car.

Jerry walked over and grabbed Luke jerking him out towards where she stood.

“I’ll only ask one more time, Luke. Where is the microchip?”

“It was in the ring. But the bitch switched the rings and gave me a phony.” His voice was slurred. “I don’t know how she figured it out. It took her long enough to even realize that I was cheating on her.”

As all three men turned to look at her, she realized that she was in deep doo-doo because there was nothing for her to tell them. Elizabeth thought she really must be a ditzy blonde to not only not realize her fiancé was a louse but also a criminal. How was she going to get out of this alive? With a quick glance around she realized that they were out in the middle of know where with no hope of someone just happening to drive by. Her mind raced as she tried to think of someway out of this predicament.

“Maybe if you take out her kneecap she’ll be more cooperative, Tony.” Jerry told his partner.

As Tony swung the gun towards her, apparently to follow through on Jerry’s thought there was a loud crack just as a spot of red blossomed on the front of Tony’s chest. Simultaneously a second crack sounded and before Jerry could even react he was on the ground alongside Tony.

It took a moment before Elizabeth could even understand what had happen, then she looked around desperately fearing that she would be next. That’s when she saw Troy and Stan striding towards them with guns drawn.

“It’s okay Lizzy. We’re FBI, everything is under control now.” She had never been more grateful to hear Troy’s husky voice but she couldn’t believe it. Troy and Stan were FBI? Since when? Her sister told her that Stan was a stockbroker.

“Does Nancy know what you really do?” She asked Stan.

“Of course, but we try to keep a low profile because we work undercover most of the time. We’ve been monitoring Luke for a while and finally realized he had hidden the microchip in your engagement ring. So when I saw you in the pool and stopped to say hi, that’s when I switched the rings.”

“So what’s he involved in and what’s on the microchip?” She asked Stan because she couldn’t bear to look at Troy. Was what happened between them only part of his cover? She couldn’t believe how stupid she had been, of course he didn’t feel the same way about her that she felt for him. Her heart felt like lead in her chest, all she wanted to do was cry.

“That’s classified information, but I can tell you that the information on that chip will help us bring down some of the most dangerous terrorists. I’m sorry you had to be involved at all.” Stan gave her a sympathetic look after a quick glance at his partner’s face.



A week later Elizabeth was getting off the airplane in Aruba. Nancy had talked her into taking the trip that was meant to be her honeymoon. After all, it was paid for and she needed a vacation to try to get over Troy. It was hard to face the fact that the wonderful night she had spent with him meant nothing to him, but with no word from him since he and Stan had rescued her it was time to face reality. As she turned from picking up her luggage at the claim check, from the corner of her eye she saw a familiar figure.

“Hi babe, it’s about time you got here.” Troy was standing in the terminal smiling at her.

“You’re waiting for me?” She asked weakly.

“I’ve been waiting all my life for you. Lizzy, I love you.” He walked forward and gathered her into his arms. “Will you marry me?”

Tears welling up into her eyes, she hugged him back tightly.

“Yes! I love you too!”

He whirled her around then kissed her passionately before they walked out of the airport to begin their life together.