Damien fished his phone out of his pocket. He had heard it but forgotten about it. He had one missed call from an out of state number. He clicked to listen to the voicemail, and he smiled as he listened.
“Patrick, I’ve got to run. Let me know if you find anything, and I’ll get in touch in the morning. I’ve got somewhere I need to be right now.” Damien rushed back to his car, he wasn’t letting Sky change her mind.
Patrick waved. “Sounds good. I’m going to look around a bit longer. Maybe go out to Jomen’s old house.”
Damien’s drive back to the hotel took him ten very long minutes. He broke a lot of speeding records through town, but the Sheriff was occupied, so he figured he was safe. He quickly parked and jumped out of the car and walked into the hotel.
He stopped at the elevator and saw it was on the fifth floor. He was too impatient, so he raced up the stairs. Three flights of stairs was nothing to a shifter, so it only took a moment. He pulled open the door leading to her floor and saw room service getting ready to knock on her door. “If you don’t mind, I’ll take care of that.” Damien pulled out a twenty from his wallet and tipped the man. “Thanks.”
The bellhop nodded and walked away pocketing the money. Damien waited until he was out of sight and knocked on the door. “Room service.”
He heard her call out from inside. “Just a moment please.”
The door opened, and his breath froze, she stood in the doorway in just a robe.
“Damien?”
“I… I got your message and came over to talk. I intercepted room service and figured I’d kill two birds with one stone.” He was rambling, and he knew it, but at the sight of her tanned skin, his thoughts went awry.
“Oh, come in. Are you hungry? I can order you some food or share.” Sky stepped back, and Damien pushed the cart inside. He was hungry, but not for food.
“I’m good, but please don’t let that stop you from eating. I’ll put everything on the table for you. We can talk while you eat.” He tore his eyes away from hers as he walked past her.
He saw her tuck the robe together more over her chest, and he wanted to reach over and rip it open. He prayed to whatever deity was out there that she wouldn’t change clothes. He wanted to see whatever bit of skin he could as she moved.
The door shut behind him, and he removed the lid to the domed tray. “Your spaghetti, madam.” She chuckled and it warmed him.
Sky walked up next to the table, and Damien pulled her chair out. “Please have a seat. I’ll put this cart in the hall so we have more room to move in here.”
Sky nodded and eagerly took the plate he grabbed for her. He smirked then put the grated cheese, and silverware next to her plate. “You didn’t order anything to drink?”
“No, I was going to just drink water from the fridge. I had a Diet Coke earlier.”
Damien tsked. “I’ll take care of this.” He walked over to the hotel phone and called down to the front desk.
“This is Damien Grimes in Ms. Adler’s room, could you please send up a bottle of your best wine and please make it fast. Also the room service cart is in the hallway for you to grab.” Damien hung up without bothering to wait for a reply. He knew they would do what he asked without hesitation.
“When you do things like that, it makes all the articles I read seem that much more plausible.” Sky poured grated cheese on her spaghetti and picked up her fork, glancing at him.
“I don’t do it to push people around. They know I will tip well, and because of that I expect fast service. The faster the delivery, the more I tip. I’m aware the wages at most jobs in a hotel aren’t the best, so I try to give them a little extra when I can, to help out.” Damien sighed. “I’m not used to explaining my actions to anyone, but I can see how you would assume the worst of me.”
Sky set her fork down and turned in her chair. “I should apologize to you. I let my preconceived ideas dictate how I saw you, and I didn’t give you a fair shot. I just…I’ve known people with money who were talked about in the papers, and everything that was written about them turned out to be true.”
A knock at the door startled Sky, and Damien grinned. “See, prompt service.”
He walked over to the door, pulling it open and holding out money before the door was fully open. “Thank you.”
Sky laughed. “Did you even see who was at the door?”
“Why? Were you expecting someone else?” Damien froze. She was in her robe. Maybe he interrupted something. His panther was pissed at the thought.
“No! I wasn’t expecting anyone, but as I found out earlier today, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have unexpected guests.” Sky chuckled and turned back to her food.
Damien wasn’t sure what she meant, but he would find out. “Only the finest glasses to go with our wine, madam.” He grabbed the two plastic cups that sat by the sink and walked over to the table, taking the seat opposite her.
“What do you mean about unexpected guests?” He peeled the plastic off the cups and set them on the table to fill with wine.
“Earlier today, Jackie, Misty, and Ragen came by to see me. It’s the reason I called you actually. They explained who they were to you, and that you can’t get anyone pregnant but your mate.” Sky focused on her food, not lifting her eyes to his.
“I see. You realize now the articles claiming I have multiple children are false.” Damien set her filled cup of wine in front of her and filled his next. When she nodded he continued. “To be honest, and give you a better explanation, I do take care of several children, but like the ones who found the Mayor. They aren’t mine.
“I’m a surrogate, officially and unofficially, to several families, and I help the kids when they need it. Some are former employees who were injured on the job, or had a major illness. Most are too proud to ask for help, but if you offer to help their children, they will almost always accept.”
Damien watched Sky as she ate, or attempted to eat. She seemed to forget she was holding a forkful of spaghetti halfway to her mouth. “Be careful, darling. You’re going to drop that on your nice white robe. As much as I want to see it off you, I’d rather it not be because you dropped food on yourself.”
Sky glanced down and blushed. “I’m sorry, I, uh, I’m just shocked. I completely judged you wrong and that wasn’t fair.”
“Did you enjoy spending time with the ladies today?” His panther sat up at that question, they both needed to know if she accepted their pack mates. Each was important to them, and his mate needed to connect to them too.
Sky set her fork down and picked up her glass of wine. “I really did. Well, until Misty received a phone call from Eli. He will take some getting used to, but I liked the ladies very much. They were fun, and I enjoyed their relationship with each other.”
Damien grinned. He hoped Eli was manning up, but that was a topic for tomorrow.
“Can you tell me about some of the other accusations thrown your way?” Sky picked up the garlic bread next to her plate, made a face and set it back down. He really hoped she wasn’t eating it because she wanted to kiss him and didn’t want garlic breath. His panther wanted that too.
“Ask me anything. I will be 100 percent honest. It’s time for the truth to come out, and I want my mate to know everything there is to me.” He hadn’t meant to say his mate, but she didn’t seem to take the words as he meant them in reference to her.