Chapter Twenty-Eight #2
She nodded. “That was the truth.”
“As far as it went. And there you have it, my nightmare story.”
“Wait, how did you find the woman? You said Gatley was dead and she wasn’t wearing any good amber.”
“It’s true that Gatley was dead and so was his tech, but the locator on his sled was functional. He had put the coordinates for her location into it.”
“Where was the sled?”
“In the rotunda. Within visual distance. I found her and we used the sled to get back to the surface.”
Alice continued to watch him with her disturbingly insightful eyes. “Are you okay with knowing that you are partially responsible for Gatley’s death?”
“To be clear,” he said, “I never had a problem with Gatley being dead. I just needed to know if I had killed him and how.”
“And now you know that you can manipulate at least one very dangerous Alien artifact and possibly others.”
He smiled faintly. “But as of today, you are the only other individual in the world who knows my secret.”
“Are you worried that I’ll report you to the Bureau?”
“No,” he said. “I trust you to keep my secrets.”
“Even though I’m naive?”
“I never said you were naive. I said you were innocent.”
“Is there a difference?”
“Yes. Absolutely there’s a difference—but damned if I can explain it.
I repeat, you are not naive. You’ve dealt with a lot of very harsh and dangerous realities in your life.
Not only that, you managed to escape Serenity Gardens and stay out of Kelbrook’s path for several months.
You are smart, fast on your feet, and you’ve got grit.
You might be overly optimistic on occasion, but you are not naive. ”
“Wow.” Once again amusement glittered in her vivid eyes. “Do I get a gold star?”
“I’ll see to it,” he vowed.
“To be clear, there is no way you can call me innocent now.”
“No?”
She gave him a smug smile. “Exhibit A: consider what happened between us last night.”
She waved a triumphant hand toward the bed.
“I see what you mean. But here’s your problem. There’s innocent sex and then there’s dirty sex.”
She flushed. “Are you implying that what we had was innocent sex?”
“Yep. Don’t get me wrong, it was great sex, but yes, innocent.”
“Ha. Is there even such a thing as innocent sex?”
“Oh, yeah. But given your positive attitude and a lot of practice, I don’t see any reason why you can’t develop a talent for dirty sex.”
Her smile turned very shiny. “The good news for me is that I happen to live in the right city for learning about dirty sex. I’m sure there are all sorts of opportunities for picking up the fine points here in Illusion Town.”
“You’re luckier than you realize because you don’t even have to leave this hotel room to acquire the experience and the skill set required for truly dirty sex.”
She grinned. Her face was very pink now, but challenge sparkled in her eyes. “Are you offering your services as an instructor?”
“Pro bono.”
A series of sharp raps on the door stopped both of them cold.
“Room service.”
Alice, still very pink, jumped to her feet and rushed to the door. “That will be breakfast.”
“Check the peephole first,” he reminded her.
“Right.” She went up on tiptoe to peer through the small lens in the door. “It’s definitely room service. I recognize the waiter.”
She whipped open the door. The waiter stood in the hallway. He had a rolling cart outfitted with two shelves. An array of covered dishes was arranged on top.
“Please come in,” she said. “You can set the breakfast tray on the table.”
A muffled chortle came from the bottom shelf. Owen looked down and saw a large bundle of pool towels. He was in the process of trying to figure out why the room service waiter had tossed a bunch of towels onto the cart when a familiar pair of sunglasses and the tips of two ears appeared.
“Sebastian.” Alice bent down and scooped up the bundle. “What in the world? You’re soaking wet.” She set Sebastian on the floor, knelt, and began to rub him vigorously with one of the towels. “What happened? Or should I ask?”
The waiter grinned and set the large tray of food on the table. “The lucky dust bunny and some of his pals took an early-morning swim in the hotel pool.”
Alice got to her feet and tossed the towel onto the bottom shelf of the cart. “I see.”
Sebastian gave himself a couple of shakes to fluff up and then fluttered across the room and jumped up onto the empty chair across from Owen. He surveyed the covered dishes with polite greed.
“The kitchen staff coaxed the dust bunnies out of the water with a couple of trays of cinnamon rolls,” the waiter continued, steering the cart toward the door.
“Most of the little dudes grabbed the rolls and took off. We recognized this one because of the sunglasses. The pool staff wrapped him in a couple of towels and said to send him up to you with breakfast.”
“Thank you.” Alice hesitated, dread in her eyes. “Was there any damage?”
“The pool is fine,” the waiter assured her. “Mr. Ridley, the head concierge, said to tell you and Mr. March that the cost of the cinnamon rolls will be added to your room bill.”
Owen exhaled a deep sigh. “Of course.” He turned his attention to the tray of covered platters and lifted one lid. He and Sebastian both contemplated the warm croissants.
Alice hustled the waiter out into the hallway, closed the door, and turned around.
“I’ll pay you back, you have my word,” she said.
“I told you, don’t worry about it.” He lifted the lid off a different dish and studied the mound of creamy, cheesy eggs on the platter. “We’re in this together.”
“Partners, yes, I know. But partners are supposed to share things equally. This hotel bill is getting very large and I honestly don’t know when I’ll be able to repay you.”
He piled some of the cheese-infused eggs on three plates and added a croissant and butter to each serving. “Trust me when I tell you that you definitely balanced the scales last night.”
The tense silence sent a sharp pang of alarm through him. Congratulations, March, you took an already delicate situation and proceeded to move it all the way to complete FUBAR.
“Shit.” He looked at her. “I wasn’t talking about the sex. I didn’t mean that you had paid me back by sleeping with me.”
She visibly relaxed. “Good. I’m glad to hear that.”
“I was referring to your dream therapy work. Thanks to you, I recovered my lost memories.”
A spark of laughter lit her eyes. “I am well aware that I could not possibly repay you with sex, not as long as I’m merely an innocent with only an amateur’s skill set.”
He allowed himself to breathe again, but damned if he was going to take any more risks with the conversation. He picked up one of the two pots on the tray.
“Tea?” he asked.
She smiled, walked to the table, and sat down. “Yes, please.”
He filled her cup.
“When we were driving back through the tunnels, you told me to remind you of something,” she said. “It had to do with the crew that attacked us. You told me to be sure to grab Sykes’s phone and then you said something about a low-rent op.”
He forked up some of the eggs and refocused. “I remember.”