"Okay, mijo, I'll see you Sunday night," I said to Roberto, very early Saturday morning, as we walked up the pathway to Carlos's house. As much as I wanted to keep Rob for myself, his dad had the legal right to see him overnight, every other weekend. I couldn't change it. I kissed him and watched him go into the house, then drove back home.

And if I was truthful, it would be nice to have a break from my kid to do some last minute Christmas shopping for him, and to spend time with my neighbor. I also had the modeling gig later this morning; the class was about halfway through the session. I shivered in anticipation. That class seriously constituted foreplay.

Per the Saturday routine, at my usual fifteen minutes before class, I went into the ante room and took off my clothes, putting on my robe. Today the class assignment was to use charcoal to draw my weight, making the drawings of my body darker where I weighed more. I tried not to think about this concept too much.

I hadn't been with Jake since our quickie the other day; he had been back to his working ways, although I was starting to make up a dinner plate for him, and bring it over, so he had something to eat. He stopped by every night to talk, say hi to Rob, give me as much of a kiss as he could get away with, and take a plate of food home. I wished that he would work less, but he explained that a case of his was blowing up, and he needed to be there.

Now, as usual, Jake sat at an easel in the back, watching me with increasingly lusty eyes. Clad, again, in a white t-shirt and dark blue jeans with a heavy black belt, he looked like the bad boy, not the buttoned up lawyer. He kept running his hands through his ebony hair, making him look even more sexy, and with those dark blue eyes? Lordy.

Although he was working on his drawings, every time he caught my eye, I felt a throb go through my body. I was looking forward to tonight, since right now, my libido was going haywire. It was a good thing that women can hide their arousal; if an aroused man was the nude model, the whole class would know.

After class, I met Jake at his easel. He pulled me over to him by my waist and wrapped his arms around me, not caring that anyone saw. Uh huh. Yes. This was major progress for the man, since he initially hid from others that he knew me. We got a few curious looks from two other students who were packing up, but I didn't care. I was seeing him, and I had the right to see him; their opinion did not matter. One of the remaining students left.

"Hey," he said, holding me to him. Then the other student took off.

"Hey," I responded.

He smiled. "Do you want to go out to dinner with me tonight?"

"I'd love to."

"Great," he replied. "I need to get a few things done at the office and then we'll go."

Now it was my turn to smile. I think I registered that the professor was leaving, but I was mostly paying attention to Jake. "Yay," I whispered. And then he kissed me, a soft kiss that explored and lingered, ignoring the fact that we were in a classroom, although by now we were alone.

This kiss got a little out of hand.

With such a sweet start, it ended fiery, with both of us moaning into each others' mouths, tongues tangling, hands exploring. We had to break apart, or we would end up naked, on the floor, in a few moments.

He put his forehead to mine, breathing heavy. "I got tested the other day," he said. "I'm clean."

"Me too. All clean."

"Good," he said. "Then tonight—"

"Yeah," I said.

He kissed me again, lightly this time, and then kissed me nose, like he always did. "Good."

Walking me out to the car, we kissed and parted ways. I was headed to Target to get Rob some clothes.

When I got to Target, I saw a Minecraft shirt that I knew he would love, so I put that in the basket. And then I saw a pair of shoes that he needed. But I couldn't remember his shoe size. I thought I knew it, but I wanted to call just to be sure.

I called Carlos's cell.

When he answered, loud music blared in the background, along with a strange ringing noise, like slot machines, and the noise of tons of people. "What do you want, Lucy?"

"Can I talk to Roberto? I'm shopping and need his shoe size."

"Figure it out yourself."

"Carlos. Don't be like that. Just put him on."

"I can't."

My temper flared. "What do you mean you can't?"

"He's in the hotel room, he's not with me."

My stomach dropped. "What hotel room?"

"He's in Vegas with me."

I shrieked, and all of Target turned to look at me. I tried to lower my voice. "You know you are not to take him across state lines," I hissed, "that's kidnapping. It's illegal. You should have asked me"

"Well, I had to get here this weekend and my mom couldn't watch him, so he came with at the last minute. He's fine, he's in the room, playing on the tablet."

"You left my child alone? In Las Vegas?"

"Lucy, calm down. He's old enough to watch himself."

"No he is not!" I shrieked. "He's twelve! I'm coming to get him. Where are you?"

"Fuck, Lucy. Calm down."

"I will not calm down. I am coming to get my son. This is illegal. Where are you?"

"Downtown. Fremont Street."

"Where, exactly?"

He sighed. "I'm only telling you this because there's a huge game on tonight and I have a lot riding on it, so you can take him. Just for now." WTF? Did Carlos have a gambling problem? Was that why he needed to modify child support? "I expect to get him back after Christmas and then weekends as normal you hear? This doesn't change anything. This will just work out better this weekend. We're at the Golden Nugget."

"Carlos, I will be there in six hours. I am going to take Roberto back with me. And we will be talking about how this does change everything, or I will see you in court. Do you hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear you." He hung up.

I called Jake. "Change of plans," I said, hurrying out of Target without buying anything, talking on my cell as I speed-walked to my car. "Carlos took Roberto to Vegas."

"Across state lines? Isn't that against the child custody order?"

"Yes, it's fucking illegal. I'm getting him. We're going to have to cancel tonight. I'm sorry that my ex is such an asshole."

"It takes hours to drive to Vegas. Even if we fly, it still takes hours with getting to the airport, flying, and everything."

"He's left my son in a hotel room by himself so that he can gamble on some football game."

"Fuck. Okay, I'm coming too. Come home and pack, and we'll leave immediately."

I raced home, unlocked my door, ran to my room, threw in a change of clothes and toiletries for me, and clothes for Rob in a big bag, because who knows what Carlos had done, and ran out the door, bumping into Jake, who held a duffle bag and his keys.

"Let's go," he said, without preamble.

We slid into his BMW, and it purred into life. He took off quickly, getting us on the freeway in no time, and then out to the desert a short while after that. Vegas was the playground for Southern California, and many a weekend trip was spent there. I had certainly partied there. And it is just not the place for kids, especially not leaving a twelve-year-old alone.

What was Carlos thinking? Was he just so arrogant that he thought he could get away with this?

"This isn't the vacation I meant to give you," I told Jake.

"No," he replied, seriously. "But I've never been to Vegas as an adult, so there's that. How is Rob doing?"

I had called Carlos back, got the information for the hotel and the room number, and had called Rob, who thankfully answered the phone.

He sounded a little bit grumpy that I was coming.

"Mom, I'm playing Minecraft. I'm fine. I can take care of myself."

"Mijo, you are twelve. Jake and I are coming, and we will spend the night in Vegas and we will show you something fun to do. How does that sound?"

"Cool. I want to see the artifacts from the Titanic."

Trust my book-loving son to have an obsession with it after he read a book about it.

"Fine, we will go. We will be there in—" I looked at my watch, "two hours."

"Okay, mom. I'm just watching tv. I'm fine."

I rolled my eyes. Ugh. Carlos!

Turning to Jake, I said, "Drive faster, please. Please."