Free About Last Night... by Stephanie Bond

have come down with something, and the CDC put the entire facility under quarantine."
    "That's nuts. For how long?"
    He sat on the bed and leaned forward to cradle his head in his hands. "The top guy said at least forty-eight hours."
    Steve cursed. "Which means we'll have to postpone the rehearsal and the dinner for tonight. Maybe even the wedding." He
    swore again, this one causing Derek to wince. "My mother is going to be irate, and I don't know how I'm going to break it to
    Janine."
    The topic of their conversation walked into the room. With her bare legs and feet sticking out below her wrinkled black
    raincoat, she resembled a bag lady. A very fetching bag lady, Derek realized with a start. "Steve," he said, loudly enough to
    gain her attention. "Janine already knows about the quarantine."
    "What? How does Janine know?" Steve asked. "Wait a minute—how do you know that Janine knows?"
    Derek watched her face crumble with dread as he mulled over how best to break the news to his friend. She bit her lower
    lip, beseeching him to … what? "She's here at the hotel," he said, nausea rolling in his stomach. Only his brother, Jack, made
    him feel this way: protective, yet taken advantage of. He hated it.
    "At the hotel?" Steve shouted. "Where? How?"
    Janine Murphy, Derek decided, was a big girl who'd gotten them both into a big mess and she and her big blue eyes could
    take responsibility for it. "She's … I'll have her call you when I see her," he finished lamely, ridiculously warmed at the
    expression of gratitude on her face. "Are you at your place?"
    "I'm at a friend's," Steve said. "But I'm going to my folks' to break the news to my mom before she hears it on television."
    "Television?"
    "There were at least four TV crews in front of the hotel," Steve offered. "And so many uniforms we thought a bomb had gone
    off. By the way, what's Janine doing at the hotel?"
    For a few seconds, he panicked. "Looking for you, I suppose." Derek strained to remember what she'd said when she'd
    crawled on top of him, but he'd been kind of distracted at the time by her roaming hands.
    "So where did you run into her?"
    "We … saw each other in the lobby," he hedged, looking to her for affirmation. She nodded. And it wasn't exactly a lie,
    though he hated covering for the minx.
    "She's a sweetheart, isn't she?" Steve asked. "I know she doesn't exactly stand out when she enters a room," he continued,
    causing Derek to raise his eyebrows. "You probably noticed she's kind of a nature girl."
    The image of Janine in that very unnatural pink getup was seared on his brain. "Um, no, I didn't notice that," he said wryly,
    certain his sarcasm was lost on his hung-over friend. Janine frowned and scratched her bare foot with her toe.
    Steve laughed, then lowered his voice in a conspiratorial tone. "But underneath those tentlike clothes, Janine has a nice bod."
    "She sure does," Derek said without thinking, then coughed and added, "She sure does seem like a nice girl, I mean."
    Her eyes widened and a hint of a smile warmed her lips. He wanted to shake his head to let her know he was only talking for
    Steve's sake, but once again, he didn't have the heart to hurt her feelings.
    "You sound horrible, man. Do you have whatever is going around at the resort?"
    "Maybe," Derek admitted.
    "Well, do me a favor and don't touch any of my stuff."
    Steve's casual guffaw irritated him. Derek surveyed Pinky's elfin frame, tempted to inform Steve just how much of his "stuff"
    he'd already touched.
    "And do me another favor," Steve added. "Keep an eye on Janine for me, would you?"
    Derek pursed his mouth. "That should be easy."
    "If you know what room she's in, I'll call her myself," Steve said. "Or I'll check with the desk."
    "Um, no." Derek rushed to stop him. "She's staying with…" He rolled his hand to indicate he needed help.
    She put her fingers in her ears, then pinched together the fingers of her right hand and started punching the air.
    "She's staying with the