Encounter in Atlanta

by Ed Howdershelt

short laugh, "You look like a kid on Christmas morning." "That's because you look like an unwrapped present." Going to her, he took Beth in his arms and said, "In fact, you look delicious. Mind if I have a taste now?" Kissing her, he let his fingers trail down the backs of her arms and finished the motion with a reach for her bra strap. Beth giggled when he licked her shoulder, then nibbled. As her bra came loose, she bit her lip and waited for his reaction. Inhaling the scent of her hair, he whispered, "Ohhh, yes. You taste great, ma'am. You smell great. You look great and you feel great. I'm really going to enjoy nibbling on you." Stepping back, Cade used a finger to pull the bra free of her and hung it on one of the hangers as he leaned to kiss her shoulder again. Leading her back to the desk, Cade handed Beth her open wine and openly admired her as she took a long sip of it. She started to snicker again and choked a little on the wine. Some few drops of it trickled down her chest. "Hm," said Cade, "Guess we'd better wash that off, huh?" Smilingly nodding, Beth took another sip as Cade stripped off his clothes and set them on the desk chair. The hackles on the back of his neck were up and a light coating of goose bumps formed on his arms as a response to a strong sense of being watched, and not just by Beth. As he draped his pants so that nothing would fall out of the pockets, he glanced around the room and wondered whether his instincts were being triggered by a hidden camera. If so, screw 'em. He'd order eight by ten glossies unless Beth had any objections. Should he mention anything to Beth? No point. They were both naked. They'd been drinking and smooching. If they were being filmed, it was too late to give a damn about it. Then he realized that the watcher might be Mandi. After all, she'd watched him deal with Nassir. And she was watching? Same answer. Too late to matter. He looked toward his room as he sipped his beer. On general principles, he nodded slightly as an acknowledgement and tipped the bottle to her, then sipped again and rubbed his forearms to quell the goosebumps. Setting his beer down, he rubbed his neck, as well, then moved to accompany Beth to the shower. A few moments later, his sense of being watched winked off abruptly.

  Mandi had returned to the room after an hour or so of unsettled boredom aloft. She'd heard the door to Beth's room open and had glanced that way through the walls. Seeing Beth alone had puzzled her, and she'd scanned the hotel for Cade. Finding him standing at the bar drinking a beer puzzled her further. Had something gone wrong? Mandi glanced toward Beth's room to see if she appeared upset at all and saw Beth hurrying about, tidying up the room. A few moments later, Beth swilled some mouthwash and checked her face and hair in the bathroom mirror. Hmm. Not the actions of a despondent woman. Looking back down at Cade, Mandi saw the bartender put some bottles in a bag and hand the bag to him, then saw Cade head for the elevators. Uh, huh. As far as Mandi knew, Cade wasn't that fond of booze. Unless she was mistaken and he was bringing the drinks to her, he and Beth were going to party. A few minutes later, Mandi heard Cade's almost inaudible footsteps approaching in the corridor. He wasn't sneaking; the sounds of his striding steps were no different than usual. She watched him glide past their door and on to Beth's door, then open it and enter, after which he used a knuckle to tap softly on the door. Beth answered, "In here, Ed." The way Beth kissed Cade after he delivered the wine let Mandi know that there were definitely no difficulties between them. She watched a few moments longer, mostly just to see how Cade would proceed. In a rather gentlemanly manner he soon had Beth down to her panties and was removing his own clothes by the desk when something about his demeanor changed in some barely perceptible manner. Cade straightened up, turned slightly to face Mandi's direction and sipped his beer, then he nodded slightly and tipped his bottle toward her. Sipping again, he rubbed his forearms before rubbing the back of his neck as he set the bottle on the desk and walked with Beth to the shower. Mandi sat down in her desk chair in openmouthed amazement. Cade knew! He actually knew she was watching him! But how? And did he really know, or was he just assuming..? But he'd looked right at her. Not toward the bed area or anywhere else. Straight at her. Just a lucky guess? Somehow Mandi didn't think so. Switching her vision to normal, she lay back on the bed to think and fell asleep sometime before Cade let himself into the room. Although he moved as quietly as ever, Mandi came awake and watched him through the darkness. Almost as if he, too, could see in the dark, he went to the desk, stripped, and headed for the bathroom, where he didn't turn on the light until he'd closed the door. Hm. Considerate of him, anyway. After a quick shower and the use of his toothbrush, Cade padded across the room to the bed, slipped under the sheets, and went to sleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Cade snapped awake Sunday morning for no good reason that he could imagine. The phone wasn't ringing, nobody was knocking on his door, and the TV was off. He sat up and glanced around the room and saw no Mandi, but her luggage was still by the desk. His travel alarm clock -- set not to go off at all -- read almost eight o'clock on the nose. Hm. What the hell had wakened him? Feeling ravenously hungry, Cade visited the bathroom and drank several glasses of water to fill the void. That took the edge off his hunger as he cleaned up and dressed, then headed for the restaurant for breakfast. As he left his room, he saw Ray Lewis enter the ops room across the hall and headed that way to see about some wake-up coffee and a general situation report. Tony answered the ops door and let him in, and as Cade entered the room, he saw Beth by the coffee pot. Beth looked up from stirring her cup and saw him. She paled slightly and bit her lip. Aw, hell. Was she having morning-after recriminations or was she just worried that he'd say something about last night? With a smile, Cade said, "Leave me some of that stuff, lady," as he approached. He snagged a cup and filled it, then tossed in a few small ice cubes from the nearby ice bucket. To the room as a whole, he asked, "Anybody seen Mandi?" Tony said that she'd gone to breakfast with John. "Breakfast," said Cade, taking a donut from the tray by the coffee pot, "Yeah. My next stop." Turning to Beth, he asked, "You had breakfast yet? If you aren't on duty this morning, we can snag a free paper at the luggage check-in and read the funnies over pancakes." Beth seemed to consider the offer, then said, "Sure. I haven't eaten yet, either. Give me a minute to check my messages," and headed for her desk. Cade parked his rump on the corner of somebody's desk and sipped his coffee as he snarfed another donut and waited for her. Beth's hands were trembling a little, he noted. Well, he'd reassure her that he wouldn't tell anyone. That was about all he could do, really. When she stood up again, Beth made a production of searching her purse and the top of her desk, then went to Cade and said, "I need to get something from my room on the way," before she led the way to the door. Cade topped off his coffee and snagged another couple of donuts before following her. Both donuts and the coffee were gone before he caught up with her a few doors down the corridor. He used his jeans to dust the sugar off his hand and followed her into her room. As soon as the door had closed, Beth spun to face him and asked in an angry tone, "What the hell did you tell Mandi about last night? About us?" Shrugging, Cade said, "Nothing. She was already in bed when I got back to the room. She was gone when I woke up this morning. We haven't talked at all since just before I gave you that 9mm ammo last night." Obviously not convinced, Beth said, "When she came into the ops room a while ago, she had to wait for John. She chose to do her waiting by my desk, Ed." With a chuckle, he said, "Well gee, ma'am, that does sound pretty ominous. You were probably the only other woman in the room, Beth, and..." "She just sat there and stared at me," Beth interrupted, "Just sat there and stared at me for about five full seconds before she gave me one of those fakey smiles and said 'Good morning, Beth. Did you sleep well?'" Again shrugging, Cade said, "I didn't tell her a damned thing, Beth. I swear it." As she again studied his face for signs of perjury, Cade asked, "Um... and did you? Sleep well, I mean?" Beth's eyes narrowed to gunsight slits. She growlingly snapped, "Yes, as a matter of fact, I did." Grinn
ing, Cade asked, "Was it because you were dead tired or because you had a great time?" As she opened her mouth to respond in what looked like a snappy manner, Cade raised a finger and prompted, "Honest answer only, please." Smoldering a bit, Beth sighed and answered in a rather grudging tone, "Yes. I had a good time, Ed. Is that what you want to hear?" "Of course that's what I want to hear. Don't you think I was busting my ass to please you last night? You sure seemed to think so at the time, ma'am, especially when I..." "Never