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“It’s fine. I should have slept on the couch, but this bed is so comfortable.”
“You’re telling me,” I said with a wry smile. Even in a suite that cost thousands of dollars a night, the couch proved a terrible place to sleep. The fancy piping dug into my arms and the cushions were lumpy from years of use.
“We could just share. The bed, I mean. I don’t mind.” Nora made the offer tentatively. “There’s plenty of room.”
I tamped down an overeagerness that would have scared her away, metering my voice. “I don’t want to put you out.”
“You wouldn’t,” she said with an air of finality that put the conversion to bed. She pulled the covers up over her shoulders. “Are you leaving?”
I wavered, standing awkwardly over the bed when I’d rather be in it. “Not yet.”
She patted the space next to her. “Lay down for a bit, then. Who were you talking to?”
“Payton.” I sat down on the edge of the bed, drawing up a leg to face her.
She burrowed her face into her pillow with a content sigh. “She seemed nice.”
“She is,” I said, searching for a way to pivot the conversation away from Payton while the clock ticked down. “Where are you all going to dinner?”
“I’m not sure. Some sushi place.”
“Raw. It’s Angela’s favorite. Do you like sushi?”
“I like sake,” Nora grinned.
“So, you’ll come back too tipsy to want to go out? I was thinking of a horse ride through Central Park. It’s not Christmas, but it’s chilly enough to pretend.”
Her eyes widened. “I will stay perfectly sober if I get a ride through the park.”
“Done,” I promised.
* * *
ANDY
I’m done with dinner. Want me to pick you up at the restaurant?
I tapped my phone, re-reading the message I sent fifteen minutes ago from our empty hotel room.
Brad and I ate dinner over development plans for a gym in the city. When I looked up, the clock neared nine. Normally well past when the spouses finished dinner and stumbled back, but I hadn’t gotten a message from Nora.
My phone lit up. I nearly knocked it on the ground, eager to read the text.
NORA
I’d love that. I might have gone a little overboard on the sake.
Or at least that was my interpretation of the text, littered with misspellings, numbers, and spaces.
On my way.
The restaurant was only a few blocks away from the hotel. I waved off the receptionist’s offer to call a cab, walking the short distance instead. With Nora nowhere to be found at the entrance, I went inside, spotting her sitting in the center of the table, laughing, her eyes sparkling and her cheeks pink. A wave of lust soaked through my body that I quickly pushed away.
I walked up to the table with a greeting and watched as everyone’s eyes swiveled toward Nora expectantly. Well, Nora and I.
Right, newlyweds.
I wrapped an arm over her chest, and she tilted her head back against me—like it was the most natural thing in the world.
