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I tried a hint "Any preference? Trashy decor? Adult channels?"

He turned a page "Indoor pluer hint "Two roo at the road and the sunset In my peripheral vision, he still looked relaxed and unfazed, but he ht off

"Kind of takes theout loud"

"One&039;s fine"

Well, that was an answer, but I wasn&039;t getting the come-hither vibe David was just about i how e Ah, well Truthfully, I was too wasted to be seductive anyway

Up ahead, the cool blue glow of a n floated like a UFO above the road Clean sheets, fluffy pillows, little complimentary soaps It sounded like heaven Up close, it looked a lot atory, but any afterlife in a stor absolutely no reaction from the walleyed clerk to any ofsupply of cash I signed the slip and got the roo attached to the key said ere in roo, the dark side, where half the parking lot lights were dead and the other half ter space directly in front of the door

Well, one benefit to the place: it was quiet Awesoh trees and rattling a stray plastic bag across the parking lot

"Shall we?" I asked, and reached down to grabkit I doubted he would need all of it, but I supposed living on the road

Once ere inside,chro were crushed The carpet was indoor-outdoor, the bathrooraded in the 1950s, and the sad-clown prints on the walls could never have been remotely fashionable But it had clean sheets, reasonably fluffy pillows, and (I saw during a fast reconnaissance) complimentary little soaps So okay Next door to heaven

David leaned his backpack against the wall "One bed," he said

"Lucky for you, you brought caravity increase by a factor of ten The ed, but it still felt like a cloud underback "God, I could sleep for days"

The bed creaked I hoisted one eyelid and saw that David had perched on the edge, looking down at me In a perfect world, he would have been all choked up with romantic desire In my all-too-real reality, he said, "You look terrible"

"Thanks," I murmured, and let ain, and I heard hi in his backpack Footsteps on the carpet The bathroo hiss

So waterThat was bad, I could feel it, but I couldn&039;t think why Rain tapping the s, polite at first, then beating harder, impatient to be inside Wind whispered and rose to a roar, and I heard a ru frisson of electrons aligning

A flash of lightning, blue-white, outside the

It was coasp and found David tucking a scratchy blanket around me I flailed my way out of it and stumbled to the , ripped aside the curtains, and stared out at the dark

Quiet Quiet as the grave No rain No thunder No lightning stabbing atfor me, I wanted to say, but there was no way I could explain that sort of thing I was so tired, I was incoherent, shaking, aled to ask

"Don&039;t think so Maybe you heard the shower You haven&039;t been asleep long"

Oh I re a shower

When I turned around, I realized he earing nothing but a towel and some well-placed water drops, and it hit me with a cattle-prod jolt that he was absolutely, unquestionably gorgeous Skin like burnished gold, and under it the best kind of ilded thatch of hair on his chest that narrowed to a line down his sto the way under the towel

"Oh," I blurted "Wow You-don&039;t have ravely "I don&039;t usually sleep in footie pajamas"

"Would it be too personal to ask what you do sleep in?"

"Pajama bottoms Unless that bothers you"

Bothered , war bothered, as in "hot and"

"No," I said weakly A drop of water glided down over his shoulder and melted into his chest hair I had a fantasy so vivid, it raisedto sleep in that?" he asked ritty, oil-stained deni at hirubby and short and srabbed my duffel, and escaped to the bathroo of exhaustion; I stripped off my clothes and kicked them under the sink, stepped into a shower he&039;d left warm for me Shampoo and conditioner clustered considerately on the floor near my feet, open bar of soap in the trayall the comforts of somebody else&039;s holed the water out of my hair, and wrapped myself in one of the motel&039;s thin, stiff towels Record tis, decided no, reconsidered, and then et depilated in under four minutes, with only one tiny little cut near my left ankle

When I came out into the bedroom, the bed was e on the floor

I stood there, dripping and stea"

He didn&039;t open his eyes "You&039;ve said that to me before Do I really look that funny?"

"Bastard" I flopped down on the bed again, squirmed under the covers, and stripped off the towel beneath "You "

"No," he corrected "Now you&039;re clean and you&039;ll sleep better"

He turned over on his side, away frorowled in frustration, and put a pillow over my face Suffocation had no appeal I took it off and said, "You can bring your sleeping bag up here, you know Beats sleeping on the floor"

He didn&039;t answer for a few seconds, long enough for me to experience total rejection, and then he turned over and raised himself up on one elbow to look at me

I expected some quip or some question, but he just looked And then he flipped open the sleeping bag, slid out, and walked over to the bed

He hadn&039;t lied Pajama bottoms They rode low on his hips

I folded back the covers He got in I loweredhim, and he rolled up on his left side to faceuy I&039;d picked up on the road, for God&039;s sake, souy who could be a rapist or a killer, and that part ofI knew hi to do withlike I was already drea on my overheated body

I could feel hi He put a hand on ently up