Part 559

"What is it about you two and airports?" Billy groused as he tried to keep up with Becca and Sarah. The way they were dodging in and out of the crowd, you’d never guess that one was a relatively new mother and the other was … well, ‘almost’ a new mother.

"C’mon Billy, gotta keep up!" Becca called over her shoulder. Nudging Sarah in the side she laughed. "Did you notice he never gets angry at us? I wonder if he gets paid extra to keep his cool?"

Sarah snorted. "The way we try his patience? He must make a hell of a lot of money."

Both women got a serious case of the giggles as they began to purposely weave back and forth through the crowd, just to make Billy have to work harder to keep up with them. After one weave too many, he finally caught up with them, grabbing them both by the backs of their shirts to slow them down. "You two are gonna be the death of me," he growled. "If anything happened to either one of you, I just might as well not even bother going back to the venue, because there’d be a price on my head and bounty hunters on my tail."

"Awww," Sarah cooed, "but you KNOW we love you!"

"Uh huh, sure you do," he snorted. "Let’s get Kevin’s woman and get the hell out of here."

The scenario from Portland seemed to repeat itself as a shriek burst through the crowd and a bundle of excited energy launched itself at Becca and Sarah. Lynne wrapped herself around the two, laughing and talking at the same time. "How ARE you? What are you doing here? Kevin doesn’t know, does he? Wait a minute, I thought Raoul was coming to get me?"

"Slow DOWN!" Sarah laughed.

"Get real," Becca said with a grin. "You think we’d let Raoul come and get you without us? And deny us the supreme pleasure of seeing the look on Kevin’s face when he finds out what we’ve done?"

"So what DID you do with Raoul?" Lynne asked.

"Not exactly sure, but once Billy found out what we were doing there was no keeping him away."

"Besides," Sarah whispered loudly, "I think he has a crush on you!"

"I heard that!" Billy growled. "Now can we please get our cute little butts in motion before we get swamped by fans?"

"Aww," Lynne gushed, "You think my butt’s cute?"

"Not as cute as MINE," he said as he shot her a look and hustled the three women to the waiting car.

The car wove its way through the streets of Las Vegas, and Lynne sat up to peer out the window. "Hey, wasn’t that our hotel?"

"Yep, but we’re not going there yet," Sarah smirked.

"But-"

"We told the guys we were going shopping, so that’s where we’re going," Becca said, patting her knee comfortingly. She shot a sideways glance at Sarah, and resisted the urge to giggle. She knew exactly how Lynne felt, and while it was a tad cruel to keep them apart any longer than necessary, she knew the end payoff for both Lynne and Kevin would be that much sweeter. "Billy, have the driver pull over right up there." Becca had spotted a small row of boutique shops and was anxious to get out and wander around for a bit, minus a husband and baby tagging along.

They were midway through the third store when Lynne’s cell phone began to ring. Juggling the bags and trying to dig it out of her purse, she handed some of her things to Becca as she answered.

"Hello?" Her eyes grew wide and round and she choked back a shriek. Covering the mouthpiece, she whispered to the girls, "It’s Kevin!"

"Oh dear lord," Sarah giggled, "this is going to be good." She and Becca grinned as they watched Lynne try to field Kevin’s questions without giving away the fact that she was there in Vegas.

"Where am I?" she squeaked. "Umm … shopping. I’m out shopping with friends." She looked at the girls and shrugged as if to say ‘okay, so it’s not a complete lie’. She caught Sarah starting to say something and shushed her, afraid that Kevin would hear her and give it away. "What?" Lynne turned her back to talk, hoping Kevin wouldn’t catch on.

"I said, ‘who are you with?’" Kevin asked again, smiling as he reached for the pot of coffee on their breakfast table.

"Kev, who’s that?" Nick asked. He’d gone back to the buffet line for more bacon and eggs, and come back to find Kevin deep in conversation. Kevin waved him off, and Howie shushed him with an evil grin.

"Baby, the store must be really crowded, I can barely hear you. Lynne, you have to speak up."

"LYNNE?!" Nick choked on his eggs, and might have needed CPR if Howie hadn’t begun pounding him on the back.

"Shut up!" Howie whispered. "This is just getting good!"

"He called LYNNE?" Nick whispered back. "Jesus Howie, it’s going to blow our surprise." Nick drained his orange juice glass and hastily wiped up the last remnant of juice that trickled down his chin. He looked up at Kevin to find his eyes sparkling with mirth as he chuckled.

Concentrating on the phone once more, he lowered his voice sexily. "No, baby, just laughing at Nick. I miss you," he said, ending on a forlorn whisper.

"Just listen, Nick. Pay attention to your food, but listen," Howie admonished, buttering his toast while shamelessly eavesdropping on Kevin’s conversation.

"It’s been so long, Lynne. I think about you all the time, baby."

"You do?" she sighed. "Kevin, that’s so sweet."

Becca stifled a giggle as she watched Lynne talking to Kevin as if no one else was around. Store patrons were weaving around her, and she was oblivious to the fact that she was blocking the center aisle of the store.

"Think we should say something?" Becca grinned.

"Nah, I figure Kev must be sweet talking her and she’s gonna melt any second now."

Kevin leaned on the table, pressing the phone closer to his ear as he whispered even lower. "I need you, baby. I need to take you to bed and just-"

"Kevin! My god, I’m in the middle of a store!" Lynne blushed four shades of red as Sarah and Becca held their sides to keep from falling over in hysterics.

Nick snickered, then swung back at Howie when Howie whapped him upside the head, earning an angry look from Kevin.

"Look, I can’t really talk either. Call me back later? I’m heading back up to my room in a bit and then we can-" he broke off mid-sentence to reach beneath the table and adjust himself.

"Okay, baby," Lynne whispered with a smile. "I’ll call you back. Mm hmm, I love you too. Bye." Still standing in the center of the store, she had to be pulled out of the line of traffic by Billy while Sarah and Becca broke out into elated laughter.

Part 560       Index