**Edited by krisgee**

 “The Rented Husband”

2011 Copyright All Rights Reserved

Chapter 25

                Olivia froze at the sound of the woman’s scream.  She was positively shell shocked.  Poised on the edge of the bed with her shirt perched just above her perky breast with nipples standing at full attention from Brody‘s touch, she couldn‘t make her body move for anything.  She could only stare blank faced into the strange woman’s frightened face while awkwardly trying to cover her nakedness. 

                And it couldn’t be just any woman, no, that would be too easy.  Her brief glance over at the night table beside the bed revealed the lady’s Holy Bible and the chair beside it held her neatly folded habit.  She was a nun.

                Brody jumped up, pulling a dumbfounded Olivia up with him.  “I’m so, so sorry ma’am.  Really sorry,” he told her backing up.  He put on his brilliant smile and steadily started to take steps backwards pulling Olivia with him.  “We thought this was our room.”  He stumbled, caught himself and continued, not daring to take his eyes of the woman who had finally stopped shrieking.  She was now mumbling some incoherent words as she crossed herself with her hands.  “You see, we both left our keys in the room and we had a maid and-”. 

                Oomph!  

                Brody keeled over from the shoe that the scared woman had thrown and hit him square in the stomach with.  She was not taking to his story all too kindly.  She evidently wanted them out of her room and she wanted them out now. 

                 “Ma’am, please,” Olivia tried again and ducked when the telephone book came flying her direction.  “Okay,” she said, holding up her hands, “We can take a hint.”

                Feeling completely sobered up now, she grabbed Brody by the arm and started to pull him along.  “Come on, this woman isn‘t up for any explanations.  Be a man and suck it up so we can get out of here.”

                As he tried to straighten up he shot her a cold glance that told her he didn’t think too much of her statement.  “I’m doing the best that I can.”

                 “Well, then you need to do better,” she told him tersely.

                 “I’ll show you better,” he angrily whispered, “As soon as I get you back in our room.”

                 “Ha!” She scoffed and grabbed his arm, pulling him back down to the floor when the alarm clock came flying in their direction.  “Shut up and move your ass, we can talk later.”

                 “So speaks the woman who was standing topless in front of a nun,” he gibed.

                 “Why you sorry son of a-” Olivia started and bent down, grabbing the first thing that she could get her hands on.  Armed with the alarm clock, she started repeatedly smacking him upside the head while calling him every name that came to mind. “Stupid, lazy, miserable, sorry excuse of a man.”

                She stopped to gather her breath and he lowered his arm from his head where he had raised it to protect himself from her blows.  He glared at her.  “Are you done yet?” 

                Her mouth twitched just a little on the left side.  She looked at the alarm clock in her hand and then back up at Brody.  “No!” she snapped, “As a matter of fact I’m not.”  Once again, she lifted her arm to rail on him some more and he snatched the clock from her hands.

                 “That’s enough young lady.”

                 “I don’t think so,” she countered, abruptly standing up.  She wasted no time in smacking him relentlessly with the palm of her hands.  She was embarrassed, angry and hurt and it was his entire fault. 

                 “Excuse me,” a new voice entered the room.

                Brody saw the security officer and tried to smile at him all the while trying to restrain Olivia’s hands.  “Sir,” he bit out between gritted teeth.

                The security officer walked further into the room, but was smart enough to keep his distance from the wild looking Olivia.  “Um,” he said, and scratched at the back of his neck, “Is there a problem in here?”

                Brody rolled his eyes.  “Nothing I can’t handle,” he told him just as a hand came flying across his face.

                 “Ooh, that one’s gonna leave a mark,” the security officer grimaced.

                Brody growled in frustration, staring back at the security officer.  “Do you mind?”

                He simply shrugged his shoulders.  The nun, now fully dressed in her habit appeared, and regally stalked over to the security officer, launching into her complaints, pointing fingers in their direction. 

                Thankfully, Olivia was beginning to wear down and dropped her hands to her side.  She had no voice left and looked like she had just run a marathon.  While the security guard talked with the nun, Brody asked her again, “Are you done now?”

                 “Yes,’ she mumbled, not offering him anything else.

                Slowly, he released her, one hand at a time and started to step back from her.  He kept his hands ready just in case she started again and only marginally relaxed when she turned away from him.

                The security officer came over to where they stood.  “This lady says that you both broke into her room and was going to have um, intimate relations on her bed.”

                Brody let out an exasperated sigh.  “I can explain,” he told him.  “We thought it was our room and we both left our keys in our room earlier in the day.  The maid was at the end of the hall, we told her our story and she let us in.”

                 “Did you think to look at the room number?” the security officer questioned.

                Brody thought back, No, I was to busy with something or rather someone else to worry about a room number.  Flattening his mouth into a grim line he answered, “No, no, I didn’t.  I was…..pre-occupied.”

                The security officer looked over at Olivia before glancing back at Brody.  “May I ask how the two of you know each other?”

                Brody rubbed his fingers at his temple.  “She’s my wife,” he mumbled.

                The security officer nodded and then mischievously grinned.   “Ah,” he drawled out, “I think I’m starting to get the big picture now.” 

                Brody stared hard back at him.  The little security officer was really starting to get on his nerves.  “And what picture would that be?”

                He put his hands on his hips and widened that knowing gin of his.  “You’re newlyweds, right?”

                Brody glanced over at Olivia.  “Yeah.”

                The security officer clapped his hands together.  “Well that explains it then.”

                He shook his head, “Explains what?  What the hell are you talking about?”

                The nun’s head popped back up in Brody’s direction.  She gave him a disapproving glare and crossed herself again.

                 “Jesus,” he murmured, covering his face with his hands.  He didn’t realize his mistake until he heard the nun start to rattle off some low words and crossed herself two more times for good measure.

                The security officer covered his mouth in order to stifle his own laughter.  “Look,” he said, his attention directed at Brody.  He did the best he could to draw a serious face.  “Just apologize to the nice lady and we’ll all call it a night, okay?”

                 “That’s what I tried to do in the beginning but she attacked me,” he said and then looked over at Olivia who was strangely being standoffish.  “And then,” he started and snorted in remembrance, “Well, you know the rest.”

                 “That I do,” he agreed, still standing there with that damnable smile of his.  “Just apologize and be done with it.”

                Brody turned to the nun.  “I’m sorry,” he told, sincerely meaning it. 

                The nun lifted her chin and then nodded, effectively dismissing them.

                 “Are we free to go?” Brody asked the security officer.

                 “Yeah,” he said.  “Just check to make sure you have the right room next time, and since I am here are you sure you want me to leave you alone with that wildcat of a woman over there?"  Brody, turning to look in Olivia's direction, turned back to the officer and said,  “Yeah, I can handle the wildcat."

                Brody grabbed Olivia by the arm.  “Don’t worry, we most definitely will.”  They both prattled in between the nun and the security officer and walked out the door.  When they stepped out into the hall, Brody took a minute to see what room they had actually walked in to.  “Room 607.”  He shook his head; their room was 807, two floors up.

                He walked over to the elevator, still holding onto Olivia’s hand and pressed the up button.  While they waited, he glanced down at her and frowned at her somber disposition.  “Liv?”

                She refused to look at him, even refused to speak to him.  She was mortified beyond belief.  What if her family got wind of this?  That lady was a nun of all things and then he wanted to be a jerk about the whole thing. 

                The elevator opened and she walked on in front of him.  Turning around, she pressed the button for the eighth floor.  Brody walked on behind her and waited for the door to close.  “Olivia?” He tried again.

                She kept her stony face, facing forward.  She watched as the button to the seventh floor lit up, and then the button for the eighth floor light up right behind it.  The bell dinged and the door opened.  She walked out of the elevator and strode to towards the door to their room.

                Brody huffed out a breath.  “So,” he said following in behind her, “Is this how it’s going to be?  Are you seriously going to give me the silent treatment after you beat the crap out of me?”

                She stopped in front of the door, still refusing to acknowledge him.  Brody stood stiffly behind her.  It suddenly dawned on him that neither of them had a key to the room, so they were still locked out. 

                The elevator bell dinged again, the sound echoing in the stillness of the hallway.  Brody turned towards the sound and the same security officer stepped off of the elevator, still grinning like it was nobody’s business and holding up a master key card.    “Didn’t you mention that you both locked your keys in the room?”

                Brody nodded.  “Yeah, we did.”

                He stepped up in front of them and right before he swiped his card he ask them, "Are you sure you have the right room this time?"  Looking at the officer Brody replied, "Yes, I am certain this time." 

                "Well in that case, I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay.”

                Brody gave him a tight smile after Olivia walked in ahead of them.  “Will do,” he offered curtly.

                The security officer turned and left, his grin never once leaving his face.  Brody walked into the room and closed the door.  He heard Olivia messing around near the closet so he decided to go to the bathroom and brush his teeth. 

                He was at a loss for words with this woman.  So much he wanted to say to her but she drove him to the brinks of insanity.  And what’s more, that was part of her attraction.  Wiping his mouth, he glanced up at himself in the mirror.  He had always seemed to have a way with the ladies.  He was cool, he was calm and confident but when it came to the little southern spit fire out in the room, all of that was forgotten.  He was more like the bumbling village idiot.

                He didn’t know what to do and it was too late tonight to try and figure anything out.  He had already made up his mind to let Olivia have the bed, he would sleep on the couch and maybe tomorrow they could try this all over again.  Sort of like a new start. 

                Walking out of the bathroom, he made his way towards the bed to grab a pillow and stopped dead in his tracks.  She was curled up on her side and with the innocent position that she was laying in, a pang struck him in the chest.  He wished that he could lie beside of her and just hold her in his arms.  He could imagine the feel of her soft body pressed up against his, very much like it was before they realized they had walked in the wrong room.

                Everything in him tightened at the memory.  His groin suddenly felt heavy and he bit back a curse.  It really was for the best that everything happened the way it did.  Surely, she would have hated him come morning if they had gone though with it.  It just wasn’t time yet, or maybe it was, just not the way it would have happened.

                Tip toeing to the bed, he reached over her and carefully grabbed the empty pillow.  He stared at her sleeping form for a moment and before he could stop himself, he bent down, pressed a soft kiss to her cheek and whispered at her ear, “I’m sorry Liv. I.... I.... Oh hell, what am I thinking?"

                Standing back up, he closed his eyes and forced himself to walk away from her and to the small couch on the other side of the room.  Tomorrow would be a new day and with her older brother coming in and the wedding rehearsal on top of that; there was no telling what he was in store for.  The only thing he was certain of was that it would definitely be short of   ..... interesting.