A Tricky Family Dinner 1/3

When Timothy arrived back at the hotel, he walked in to find Caleb diligently working through some pending files on his laptop and drinking a glass of bourbon. Tim poured himself a glass and flopped into a chair. He was tired tonight. He figured it was from the stress of trying to make everything go perfectly today. Caleb raised an eyebrow at him.

"That bad?" Caleb asked cautiously.

"It has been an exceptionally good day. I'm tired and I even took a nap." Tim chuckled.

"How did you manage to take a nap on a date," Caleb paused thinking, "scratch that. I know how." He shook his head, "Did you just throw caution to the wind and jump right into bed with Mia?"

"I did what she asked me to do. Sue me." Tim smirked. Then he sighed, "I am worried though about her being pregnant. It only took once with the twins."

"So, what's the play?" Caleb wondered aloud.

"Mia and the twins are moving into the penthouse of this hotel tomorrow. I am going to give it two weeks then drag her to the courthouse." Tim said assuredly.

"Do you think it will happen like that?" Caleb asked.

"It's going to have to. I know I can't touch her again until we are married and if I must wait any longer than that I will probably die." Tim replied with a snort.

"That good, damn." Caleb joked.

"Better." Tim said seriously. "You can help me make the offer on my marital home here in Norde City, tomorrow. It is an exceptionally large expensive property and I want it closed within two weeks." Tim said, grabbing a file from his stack and handing it to Caleb.

Caleb flipped through the pages, "Nice."

"There is plenty of space for our children." Tim said.

"How many children are you planning on having?" Caleb snorted. Tim merely raised an eyebrow.

"Wait did you say they are moving here in the morning?" Caleb questioned his friend.

"To the top floor, yes. Mia had a falling out with Dominic over the doctor and decided to leave with the children. I told her to come here. We will occupy the top three floors for safety and privacy." Tim spoke informationally.

"Timothy, if someone found out there would be scandal." Caleb reminded his friend gently.

Tim nodded, he knew, "Another reason we need to marry, soon."

"Well then, I will help you and Mia in any way that I can." Caleb said. It seemed like his friend was breaking all the rules now. Timothy had spent a lifetime as the man in control and now that he had a taste of freedom he was existing on the fringe. For Mia, Tim would do anything.

***********

The morning dawned bright and clear in the Lane household. As soon as the children were off to school Mia rallied Angela and Peyton and they started packing what they needed to survive at the hotel. Timothy texted to let her know that everything was arranged in her name with the hotel and that she and the children had the Penthouse suite which consisted of three bedrooms, a kitchen, living area, and dining room. There was even a private study where she could work.

When everything was packed, their bags were taken down to the foyer to be loaded in the car. Peyton and Angela followed Mia into the breakfast area as she gave them lists of things to be picked up at the store to make living in the hotel easier. They left to deal with these things and Mia grabbed a cup of coffee and sat at the table.

"Are you actually moving out, Mia?" Connor asked. "Where are you going?"

"Yes, and to a hotel." Mia answered eating a grape.

"You don't need to do that. Dominic can behave." Jason sighed.

"I've seen no sign of it." Mia replied, "but I want to do this, and the hotel is temporary until we find our own place. It's past time for us to live on our own."

"An unmarried woman should live with her family." Claude interjected.

"Well then it is a good thing that I am a divorced woman with two kids. No one will care." Mia snarked.

"We will miss you." Nathan said gently

"I want to miss you overbearing oafs too. That is why I need to leave. Be nice to Eva, it will be hard for her to be here all alone again." Mia said sadly.

Dominic walked into the room and sat in his normal seat. He looked past Mia to the bags in the foyer. "You are really leaving then?" Mia nodded.

"Family dinner tonight, I will text you the details later. Since you have decided not to marry Nicholas, I have invited him and his sister to dinner to thank them for the years they have spent attending to your son. I expect that you will be there." Dominic said imperiously. "Try to behave out in the world Mia. You are a Lane, act like it." Then he opened his paper and ignored her.

Mia felt like she had been slapped. From the looks on her brother's faces they were equally shocked. Eva had her hand over her mouth and looked like she might cry. Mia looked back at the foyer and seeing her bags gone, stood. She walked out the front door and her family trailed behind her. Each brother and sister gave her hugs and told her to send for them soon so they could visit. As she got into her car she sighed, Dominic had never come out to say goodbye to her.

Mia arrived at the hotel and went to check in. The process was seamless, and the hotel manager let her know that if she needed anything that the staff was there to help her day or night. She let him know that privacy and security were her main concerns. Having two small children to care for after all. He assured her that they would do everything in their power to ease those concerns.

Mia finally got to the suite and found it to be more than adequate but unremarkable except for the floor to ceiling windows in every room. No one could see in, however, since they were on the forty-sixth floor. Mia told Angela to ensure that all the balcony doors were locked and then unpack the children. Peyton was already squaring her things away. She had him set aside a knee length, royal blue, one shoulder dress for dinner this evening.

Mia just sat down in the sitting area preparing to send Tim a text and let him know that she was there when there was a knock at the door. Peyton answered it and allowed Timothy and Caleb to enter.

Caleb flopped into a chair without being asked, "You are not going to accuse me of knocking you up or anything are you?" he said smirking.

"You know I am sorry about that. I couldn't remember." Mia cried.

"Yeah sure. That's what all the girls say." Caleb said with a grin.

"Wow, really? Are you that forgettable?" Mia joked.

Tim snorted, "You walked into that." he turned to Mia, "He's extra jovial because I just made him Vice President of Operations."

"Congratulations, Caleb! That's huge. We will have to celebrate." Mia told him.

"One of the reasons why we are here. We are going out to dinner tonight with the mayor and his daughter, Jasmine. I'm hoping they hit it off. I was wondering if you would like to go as my date?" Timothy asked.

"She's quite funny so she might be able to tolerate him. I can't tonight though, Dominic pulled the family dinner card right before he told me to start behaving like a Lane. It was a fun morning." Mia said sarcastically.

Tim reached out and brushed his hand across her cheek but then dropped his hand. He had seen Peyton in the bedroom and didn't know what the deal with her staff would be.

"Your staff?" he asked quietly stepping closer to her.

"They are loyal to me. I pay them, not my family." Mia answered knowing what he was asking.

Tim sighed, pulling Mia into his arms and kissing her slowly before pulling her to sit next to him on the sofa.

"So where is your dinner tonight?" Caleb asked.

"Umm," Mia picked up her phone and scanned for a notification from Dominic. It said, 'The Country Club, 7pm sharp, don't be late.' Mia showed them both the text.

Caleb looked at Tim who nodded silently. Timothy smelled a rat and he had just decided that their party would have dinner there as well to keep an eye on things.

"Who all is going to be at this dinner, Mia?" Tim questioned.

"Well, it will be all of us except Liam. He is filming a movie in Niveo. Dominic and Eva, Connor, Nathan, Jason, Claude, and myself. Then Dominic said it is a thank you dinner for Nicholas and Rachel to thank them for caring for Sage for so many years. Quite the group." Mia explained.

Mia looked up at the looks on the two men's faces "Dominic said, and I quote since you are not going to marry him, we should at least take them to a proper dinner and say thank you for devoting years of their lives to Sage."

Tim sighed, "I don't think you should go. This smells bad. I think they are going to try something."

"Timothy, I can't not go. It's my family and Nicholas who saved our son's life a dozen times over. Rachel helped raise him. I can't disrespect them like that. I don't want to marry him, but I owe him more than you can understand." Mia looked near tears, so Tim relented pulling her against him. Something bad was going to happen, it was too convenient that this was happening today.

Peyton left to get moved into his room a short while later and Angela followed not needed until the twins returned. Mia secretly thought they were an item but hadn't confirmed it yet. Once they were gone Timothy pulled Mia with him into the master bedroom and shut the door behind them. He paced around the room for a moment then noticed a dress bag hanging on the closet door.

"Is this what you are wearing to dinner?" Timothy asked. Mia nodded. Tim opened the bag and looked over the dress carefully. Conservative, classy, and nothing flashy. It was clear Mia wasn't dressing up for anyone. "Who dressed you the night you went out with Nick," he was suddenly sure that it hadn't been Mia's choice.

"That was Eva," Mia laughed. "She said we needed to see if Nicholas could be thawed out. I was terrified to wear it. I thought I was going to fall out." Mia laughed again at the memory. "My brothers were yelling it was a whole debacle."

Tim smiled, moving away from Mia's dress to stand in front of her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and wound the other in her hair pulling her lips to his. The kiss started slowly but quickly deepened and soon Mia was lying on the bed with Tim pressing into her length from above. Timothy ran his hand under her shirt and around her side and Mia's hand ran under his shirt that she untucked. Both needed to be closer, and their movements were nearly frantic.

Tim broke away for a second trying to cool his mind only to feel Mia's tongue and mouth move along his collarbone and onto his neck. He moaned, his breath hitching and pulled her mouth back to his. His hand was traveling to where he wanted it most when there was a knock on the door.

"Tim, can you come out for a second?" Caleb's voice questioned seriously. Tim looked in the mirror and tried to smooth himself out. He felt rumpled. Looking back at the bed where Mia lay, he held up a finger to her and she nodded. Tim walked through the door noticing that Caleb looked sheepish and embarrassed.

"What? Is the hotel on fire?" Tim ground out.

"Timothy, man. Right before we came here you said not to let you be alone with her too long, it's been fifteen or so minutes. I am doing what you asked. If you tell me right now that you were not about to break your own rule, then next time I won't bother you." Caleb explained. Tim sat down on the sofa and tried to slow his heart rate.

"Thank you for risking being murdered for me, that was close." Tim exhaled noisily.

"My murder or you and her?" Caleb frowned squinting at Tim.

"Both, to be honest." Tim responded realizing that a low ache had started below, and he was less than thrilled about it.

The door to the bedroom opened and Mia stepped out. He was afraid to go back to her. Timothy held his hand out to her which she took, and he pulled her into his lap tucking her head beneath his chin and wrapping his arms around her.

"Was it something important?" Mia asked the two men.

"Just HR needed to have a question about my promotion answered in order to get the paperwork processed before Monday." Caleb lied flawlessly.

Mia smiled, she hoped that he and Jasmine would take to each other because they were both good people and deserved to be with someone good. She was sad that she would not be there as a date for Timothy but also to see if there was chemistry between the two. There was chemistry between herself and Tim. She had been an inferno a few minutes ago. Even now the fire burned though it had been tamped back for the moment.