The Hotel – 47

"Would you like to stop by my place for a nightcap?" I asked Edwin. I thought we were alone on the sidewalk. I was wrong. Ramsey and Caitlin were close enough behind us they overheard me.

She grinned, giving us a knowing look and whispered to Ramsey, "I told you so."

"It's not what you think," I protested.

"Uh-huh." She patted my arm before linking hers with Ramsey's. I heard her giggling and rolled my eyes.

"Cat's out of the bag," Edwin said with some amusement. "To answer your question, I'd love to."

We didn't actually have a nightcap, heading straight to sex instead, tearing off clothes between increasingly heated kisses until we were naked on my bed. As always, the sex was fantastic. On that level we meshed perfectly. It was the rest of things I wasn't so certain about.

"It won't work, you know," I said, when I had the energy to speak.

"Why not?" Edwin seemed genuinely puzzled.

I held up my hand. Folding one finger I replied, "We're too different." I bent the second one. "We live too far apart." Another finger went down. "Neither of us is willing to give up what we love doing."

"There's nothing wrong with being different," he said. "It can make our lives interesting."

"I mean really different."

"I get that. Next problem, as you see it, is easily solved. I can get from there to here this fast." He snapped his fingers. "As I told you, it's part of what I am."

"True, I suppose. But it'll take me at least an hour to drive to the hotel."

"You call; I'll come and get you." He smiled, leaning in to give me a kiss. "As for giving up what we love doing? Why should we?"

"What if we decided…" I paused, not wanting to push things. We weren't even close to what I was going to suggest.

Despite my hesitation, Edwin understood immediately—or perhaps because of it. "If the time comes when we want to live together, we'll figure out a way to make it work."

"How, Edwin?" I sat up, cross-legged, looking at this man who had become too important to me. I didn't want to give him up, even though I knew I should.

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "Until then, if 'then' comes, let's take it one day at a time, as clichéd as that sounds. We might find out all there is between us is damned good sex. I don't believe it for a second, but…" He held out his arms and I went into them.

"I know it's more than that," I said. "Seeing you again, after so long, made me realize how much I've missed you even though I tried my damnedest not to."

Kissing my temple, he said, "I felt the same, and tried to forget all about you until I decided it wasn't working."

"For either of us. I suppose that says something—that we couldn't."

"You know it does. Are you willing to give us a try?" He smiled, tracing a finger over my lips. "I promise when I come down here it will be because I want to do more than sleep with you. You can show me your city, for starters."

"You're telling me you've never been here before?" I asked in disbelief.

"Only on business, like when I hired your troupe to come to the hotel to put on the show." He shook his head. "That didn’t end quite the way I expected, in several ways."

"No kidding," I agreed. "All right, you're on. If you stay the night, I'll give you the cook's-tour in the morning."

He hesitated momentarily before nodding. "I think the hotel can survive without me until tomorrow night." He chuckled. "If not, we're in big trouble because it's going to have to on a fairly regular basis from now on."

I liked what he was implying, a lot, and told him so. That led to some kissing, and as we were still quite naked, another round of sex. Then we fell asleep in each other's arms.