Chapter 105

1 p.m. Monday

Regan gave Andy a kiss on the cheek before darting into one of the many shops that surrounded the Renaissance Hotel. The rain had lessened so she had shucked her yellow slicker - giving it to Andy to carry with him. Andy watched Regan's butt as she hustled down the wet sidewalk - and noticed the taxi driver was doing the same.

Regan turned and waved to Andy (or maybe the cab driver) just before she entered the store to purchase an umbrella. The poor weather meant there was no one camped out in front of the hotel - which obviously pleased the concierge-slash-doorman. Armand rushed out to shield Andy with an umbrella and gave Andy a warm smile as he pushed open the door, hoping word of his attentiveness would get back to Rita Riley (who scared him to death).

Andy moved to a corner of the lobby before he unpeeled the yellow raincoat from his body. It was wet and he wasn't sure what to do with it.

"May I take those for you, Mr. Drayton?" Armand asked.

"Uh," Andy stammered, looking at the objects he held in his hands before coming to a decision. "No, thank you. I'm headed out to the airport to pick up my father. I'll just put them in the back. I need to return them to the Rileys. I just didn't want to drip all over your floor."

"Certainly, sir," Armand said pleasantly. "Don't worry about the floor. You're not the only person to leave water on it today, sir."

"Please, call me Andy," Andy replied. "I've been here for a week and I'm not used to having someone treat me like I'm ... special. I'm really not."

Armand looked at the young man in front of him. The doorman was no geneticist but even he could see that Andy was everything the newspaper had purported him to be - at least as far as his heritage.

"Uh, I'm just going to head to the garage to get my car," Andy said. "Regan ... my girlfriend ... is buying an umbrella."

"The hotel would have been happy to let you use one of ours," Armand pointed out.

"Yeah," Andy said, smiling slightly. "The problem is that I tend to lose them as soon as the sun comes out. I wouldn't want to borrow something that I couldn't return. I hope Regan is better at it that I am. That store she went into is expensive. Oh hell, she can afford it, I guess. Rita probably owns an umbrella factory somewhere."

It took Armand a moment for two things to settle into the doorman's brain. Regan - the young redhead he'd seen with Andy Drayton several times over the past few weeks - was Rita Riley's child; and the young man was genuine in his statement about returning items he borrowed. Most hotel patrons considered anything they could lay hands on fair game for theft - robes, towels, silverware on occasion, and certainly umbrellas.

The smile he offered this time was genuine.

"If you prefer, you can cut through the employee's entrance to the garage," he offered. "It'll put you closer to where you park."

"Thanks," Andy said. "That's nice of you."

The doorman led Andy down a hallway and used his keycard to open a steel door. Andy had seen the door from the garage side but had no idea where it led. He stood only 10 feet from his car - and his mother's. He wondered how she got to work this morning.

"Do you know my mom?" he asked Armand.

"Only by sight," the doorman answered.

"Yeah, that's what I mean," Andy said. "Is she upstairs?"

"I do not believe so," Armand replied. "She left with Mrs. Riley and her sister-in-law yesterday afternoon and I was told she wasn't expected to return until this evening."

Andy nodded. He would have to call Camille so see if she needed him to pick her up.

"Oh, hey, I'm really sorry about that circus out front yesterday," Andy said. "I know that had to make your job 10 times harder. I apologize for not taking that into consideration. I'm sure you deal with enough jerkoffs without us adding to the total."

Armand found himself laughing and, just for a moment, reverted to Carl - the man his wife and children knew.

"The jerkoff total is usually pretty high up there," he admitted. "And it was worse yesterday. Still, it isn't your fault. I found out that one of the guests here called a few of the TV stations to tell them you were here. Don't worry about it."

He patted Andy on the shoulder and closed the door behind him. Andy drove down the block and was waiting outside the shop when Regan emerged with an umbrella that was big enough for the entire offensive line of a football team to huddle beneath. Andy got out to open her door but she waved him away.

"I have the umbrella, you goof," Regan said. She climbed into his SUV and leaned across the console to give him a kiss - not only for his thoughtfulness but so she could lift her butt high enough for the motorists passing to see it.

Her jeans shorts were cut high enough that the bottoms of her cheeks hung out when she bent over (and sometimes when she didn't).

"We better go before you get a ticket," she said as she settled back in the seat. She slid the umbrella between the seats, giving Andy a look down the neck of her T-shirt to her breast-filled bra. She took Andy's hand and put it on her warm thigh as he threaded through afternoon traffic toward the airport.

"You're not going to believe this," she said when they hit the freeway, "but I'm actually hornier today than usual."

"Oh?" Andy asked. He wasn't sure what else to say.

"I'm not sure why," Regan continued. "The doctor said the birth control shot would affect me since it was the first time I've ever used it. I don't know if you've noticed but my boobs have gotten bigger."

"I've noticed," Andy replied.

"I sort of figured that you had," Regan giggled. "And they are super sensitive now. I mean, it always felt awesome when you'd play with them but now ... wow! I was pretty sure I was going to get off just from having you lick my nipples last night. The last time, when you were sucking on them while I was on top, it was crazy hot."

"Good to know," Andy said. He slid his hand upward to caress her breast through her bra and shirt. It wasn't easy because he was driving.

"Oh, no," Regan said, pushing his hand back to her thigh. "You need to leave them alone until we can do more about it."

"I could ... like ... play with you if you want," Andy offered. "Down there."

Regan looked at him for a moment while biting the corner of her lower lip. She had replaced her pad with a tampon before they left. The pad had been a mess but it shouldn't be too bad with a tampon to stanch the flow.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

Andy hadn't actually meant that he'd play with her as he drove through traffic. It was more a suggestion for later. But he saw that she had her hands on the buttons to her shorts so he only nodded. Seconds later, Regan lifted her butt off the seat and slid her shorts to the floor. She left her blue cotton panties in place so Andy slid a finger through the leg. He found that she was completely dry.

He took his eyes off the rainy roadway for only a second to glance at her.

"The tampon keeps all the moisture inside," Regan said, clearly disappointed.

"Oh," Andy said. He thought for a moment and then extracted his hand from between her legs. He put two of his fingers into his mouth. Even though Regan hadn't been wet, he could still taste her unique flavor on his tongue.

"You might need to help with your panties," he noted. Regan saw what he was about to do and slid her panties to the floor, too. She slid forward in the seat to give him full access and gasped when his moistened fingers started to make circles around her tender button.

"You are so good to me," Regan said breathily.

"It's the least I can do after what you did for me this morning," Andy said. He saw Regan had slid a hand beneath her T-short and was pulling at one of her nipples through her bra. He glanced at the clock on the dashboard and pulled off at one of the exits. He pulled into a motel parking lot and stopped well away from the road and the motel entrance.

It took a few minutes because he had to constantly moisten his fingers but he solved that problem by using both hands. Regan was bucking her hips against his digits when she came, her T-shirt pushed upward and her bra pulled downward. Andy glanced around for cops while he let Regan enjoy the afterglow of her orgasm.

"Holy shit," Regan said. She had her head back on the seat rest and her mouth open. "Christ, I really needed that."

"I'm glad to be of service, Ma'am," Andy told her. He put one hand in his mouth to savor Regan's taste again but she intercepted his other hand and brought it to her own lips.

"I'd totally go down on myself if I could," she said with a laugh. The windows of the car had started to steam up so Andy cracked a window while Regan got herself redressed.

"I'm not sure what you do to me," she told him as they headed toward the airport again. "But whatever it is, keep doing it."

Anne was the first person Andy recognized exiting the terminal. Evan had called to let him know the plane had arrived so Andy had gotten out of the SUV to wait for them. Regan, of course, had followed him. They had stood, arms around the other, beneath the umbrella for what seemed like an hour before Anne appeared.

They walked over quickly to let her get beneath the large umbrella with them and Andy gave his grandmother a one-armed hug and a kiss on the cheek. Regan had waited until Andy released Anne to wrap both her arms around the woman.

The Dowager Countess of Smithfield looked at her grandson and his girlfriend with a hint of tears in her eyes.

"I've missed you," Andy said, smiling at her.

"I've missed you, too," Anne replied, giving her grandson another hug. "I was terribly worried you would be cross with me. Thank you for forgiving the schemes of a conniving old woman."

Andy snorted.

"Last night, we saw people 20 years younger than you that don't look as good as you do," he said. "You might be scheming and you might be conniving but you're not an old woman."

"We survived, none the worse for wear," Regan said with a shrug.

"Where's Dad?" Andy wondered, looking through the doors for any sign of Evan.

"He is retrieving the bags and filling out the paperwork," Anne told him. "I believe he wanted me to have to face you alone."

"It's fine," Andy told her. "I was a bit unsettled when I figured everything out but I was ready to blame Dad. It was Regan who pointed the finger directly at you."

"Andy!" Regan said.

"Lad, you don't throw your girl beneath the trolley," Anne said, laughing along with him at Regan's expression of horror.

"Yeah," Regan said when she realized that Anne wasn't angry or hurt.

She tickled Andy's ribs while they walked to the waiting vehicle and waited for Evan. Too many people were coming out of the terminal for them to stand near the entrance. It was another 15 minutes before Evan appeared. The rain had ceased again so Andy went forward alone to take one of the two rolling suitcases Evan toted behind him.

He used his free arm to give Evan a hug as he took the suitcase from his hand.

"I'm glad you're home safely," Andy told him. He tried to take the carryon bag Evan had on his shoulder but his father shook his head.

"It's good to be back," Evan admitted. The fact that Andy seemed so happy to see him made it even better.

"You know, it's weird," Andy said as they walked to the car. "It's only been a few weeks but ... it was strange not having you here. I ... I really like having you in my life, Dad."

Evan glanced away and used his shoulder to dry a tear that escaped.

"I really like being a part of your life," he said in a tight voice. "Perhaps the next time, you can join me on my travels."

"Maybe," Andy said. "We'll have to see how it fits with school but I think I'd like that."