u're staying here tonight, or
moving to her room?"
"Staying, if it's okay with Mandi."
"It is," said Mandi. "This is where people expect to find him, and he can
answer the door if anyone drops by."
"Okay, then," said John. "I'll move Samuels into your room and you can have
his tomorrow."
Looking at his watch, he said, "Well, it's getting late, so I'll get out of
here." Turning to Mandi again, he held out one of the brochures and a pen and
said, "Oh, before I forget, would you autograph one of these for my daughter?"
Mandi took it with a smile and signed it as Cade asked, "For your daughter,
huh?"
John gave him a droll look, but said nothing.
"I haven't seen the brochure," said Cade, intercepting Mandi's return of the
document to John.
Unfolding the paper, he saw a near-photo-quality picture of Mandi in uniform
on the left side of the page. On the right side was a brief that gave her name,
a post box address in Arlington, VA, an email address, and a website address.
"Kewl," said Cade, "It usually takes a whole day to put a site registration
and activation through."
"We have friends in the business," said John. He handed a printout to Mandi
and said, "The site is paid up for five years. Here's the login info for both
the website and the email. You can let us know where to send your snail mail."
"I'll pick it up for now," said Mandi. "Thanks, John."
With a nod, John reached behind himself for the door handle and said, "No
problem. Later, people," as he let himself out of the room.
When the door closed behind John, Cade turned to Mandi and said, "There's
only one bed. I'll have the hotel bring up a folding bed if you want."
Shaking her head, Mandi said, "No need," as she went to the little
refrigerator and opened it. "Want anything?"
"Maybe later. If your stuff's packed, I'll go get it."
Opening a Coke, Mandi sipped it before she said, "I'm all packed, but I
think it would be faster if I went for it. You guard the hallway, okay?"
Leaning against the desk as he watched her drink again, Cade noddingly said,
"Will do, milady."
Mandi froze in mid-sip and gazed at Cade for some moments, then came to
stand a couple of feet from him as she said, "Again and again I hear 'ma'am' and
'milady'. Are you into bondage games or something?"
Meeting her gaze, Cade grinningly said, "Nope. That kind of stupidity never
held any appeal for me."