The Hotel - 12

Raucous laughter coming from the table where Caitlin and most of the men had settled caught my attention. Noah and Phil had apparently decided not to go exploring after all because they were there, along with Ramsey and Marsh. Jenn and Kirby were nowhere to be seen, and Tessa was seated by herself at the far end of the bar. I wondered if she'd finally come to the realization that she had no chance with Kirby and decided to flirt with the bartender, who seemed to be entranced by whatever she was saying at the moment.

Seeing Ramsey had me asking Edwin, "What do you do about food when the storms hit?"

"We have two very large walk-in refrigerators, a matching freezer, and a huge pantry."

"Nice to know, if it starts to snow before morning."

Edwin chuckled. "Don't worry, we won't let you starve. Besides, as I told you earlier, even if it does it won't be enough to worry about. It's too early in the season."

I hoped he wasn't tempting fate, saying that.

"How did you get involved in what you're doing?" he asked, so I told him, starting with my majoring in scene design in college and on from there. By the time I finished talking his ear off, most of the troupe had left the lounge, other than Phil and Noah who were holding hands as they talked quietly to each other.

"True romance?" Edwin asked, seeing them, too.

"Working on it, I think."

"And the young woman…Jenn?" I nodded so he continued. "Her and Kirby?"

"If you asking how involved they are, I'll bet my last dollar they take the final step while we're here and end up in bed."

"What about you? Do you have someone? Maybe that cute Caitlin?"

"Nope. We're good friends, but then I am with everyone in the troupe. It would be very difficult if I wasn't—if we weren't. Friends, that is."

He smiled. "I understood what you meant. If you don't mind my making a very presumptive statement, my guess is you're gay."

"Based on what?"

Edwin shrugged. "A feeling, nothing more." Then he grinned. "If you weren't leaving in a couple of days, I might try to test my theory."

"Well, that answered that question," I replied, trying not to laugh. "We are, though."

"If you weren't…?"

"I'm not into one night stands." I looked dead at him. "I want to know the guy first, to know if he's worth my getting into a relationship with him. I'm not looking to settle down in a vine-covered cottage, like in some romance novel, but I don't want to invest time in him without getting something back other than sex."

"That makes sense. Slow and easy, the way Jenn and Kirby seem to be taking it from what you said."

"Exactly." I stood. "On that note, I'm heading to bed. We have a long day tomorrow, making certain everything is up to par for our performance Friday night."

"It was nice talking with you," Edwin replied. "If I was a bit nosy, I'm sorry. It's the way I am."

"No problem. Anyone who's in entertainment is used to it." I bid him goodnight and went up to my room.

My dreams were interesting to say the least. Some featured me and Edwin doing intriguing things together, and I mean in bed. Others involved wolves—watching them, following them, and terrifyingly seeing them turn into humans, one of whom resembled Edwin. Did I think that was possible? Of course not—when I was awake. My dreams seemed to disagree, which when I thought about it surprised me. The first time I'd met him I'd thought he'd make a great Dracula. Now, I was seeing him as an extremely sexy werewolf, which probably wouldn't have happened if we hadn't seen that wolf the first night we were here. My imagination running wild I figured, when I woke up from that dream.

Eventually I fell back to sleep, without any more dreams that I remember.