Within four hours, all of the furniture was out of the apartment & packed neatly into the back of the U-HAUL truck; Alex’s truck was loaded onto the trailer and packed solid with boxes & blankets.
Lynn was downstairs talking to Tommy, Tony & Robbie having left a few minutes earlier. Alex was standing out on the now empty balcony but turned slightly, looking over her shoulder, sensing someone behind her. She wasn’t surprised to find Sully standing in the doorway, his intense blue eyes catching & holding her own ice-blue eyes. He had taken his shirt off after the first trip downstairs helping Tony load the sofa and was now holding the shirt in question. She walked up to him and was pulled close to him as he wrapped his arm around her and kissed her. The kiss was not tentative but was gentle & passionate; unfortunately, the kiss was interrupted when Tommy & Lynn came inside.
“Oh, shit! Sorry, guys; we didn’t mean to interrupt anything,” Tommy apologized, his arm around Lynn’s shoulders.
“That’s ok, man; I’ll just have to remember to return the favor in the near future,” Sully said jokingly, his arms still around Alex’s waist. He looked back at her, saying, “Why don’t we go out to eat tonight? Our treat,” he indicated Tommy & himself. “Just the four of us; the others can fend for themselves,” he laughed.
Alex looked at Lynn, smiling & both girls said in unison, “Sounds great!”
Then Alex said, “I have to go give this key to the realtor before 6 p.m. Why don’t ya’ll go to the hotel and shower; I’ll catch up with ya’ll there. Lynn, we’re staying at the Sheraton on Canal, right?”
“Yep, and I desperately need a shower before I go anywhere! And don’t worry about the U-HAUL, Alex, I’ll drive it to the hotel, so we won’t have to worry about that tomorrow morning!”
“Well, where’s the realtor? I’ll take you, that way you don’t have to take a taxi. Then I’ll just drop you off at the hotel,” Sully suggested.
“The realtor is only a few blocks up, but that sounds good to me. Lynn, you got that extra room keycard?”
“Yeah, here ya go, room 821,” Lynn said, handing Alex the keycard.
Alex took it & put it in her back pocket, then turned to Sully, “I’ll meet ya downstairs; I’m gonna finish locking up, ok?”
“Ok, take your time; there’s no rush,” he said, kissing her gently and walked downstairs, putting his shirt back on.
“I’ll see you in a little while, Alex,” Lynn said, as she & Tommy walked out.
As her friends walked out, Alex took a final walk around the apartment, locking windows & turning off lights. As she walked over to close & lock the balcony doors, she saw Sully, his shirt unbuttoned, sitting on his bike, patiently waiting & smoking a cigarette. She smiled when he looked up and winked at her.
She stepped back, closed & locked the balcony door, then walked to the front door, turned off the living room light and closed & locked the door. She then walked downstairs and climbed onto the back of Sully’s bike, wrapping her arms around his waist as they rode down the street.
Twenty minutes later, Sully pulled up to the curb in front of the hotel and helped Alex off the bike, but didn’t remove his arm from around her waist. When she turned around, he kissed her gently, then told her, “Are you ok? You seem tired,” he said, a concerned look in his eyes.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she smiled. “Just give me a call in about 30 minutes or so. And if you’re a good boy, we just may continue that kiss a little later.”
“Can I take that as a promise?” he asked with a smile in his eyes.
She smiled at him, then running her hand into his hair, she leaned over & kissed him deeply. “Does that answer your question?” she asked softly. “I’m gonna go take my shower now & will be waiting for your call.” She then turned and walked into the hotel, the doorman watching her as she walked into the lobby, then turned and watched as the man rode off on his bike.
As Alex walked into the hotel room, Lynn asked her, “So, you two seem to be getting real close, real quick!”
“Almost as close as you & Tommy, it seems,” Alex replied, laughing. “I’m going to take my shower. Sully should call in about half an hour or so,” she said as she walked into the bathroom.
“You can actually get ready that fast? It took you almost an hour last night!” Lynn laughed, ducking as Alex threw a tennis shoe at her.
Twenty-five minutes later, Alex walked out of the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around her body, rubbing her long damp hair with another towel. “I hate hotel towels! They get soaked before you can dry off all the way! Oh, SHIT! Sully! What the hell are you doing here?” She dropped the towel that she was using to dry her hair and barely saved the other towel before it fell off. She stared at Sully, who was lying on her bed, bare-chested & barefoot, smoking a cigarette. She then noticed dinner set out on the table by the window, a bucket with a bottle of chilled white wine beside the table. Then she realized that they were alone. “Where’s Lynn?” she asked quietly as Sully put his cigarette out and walked over to her with a big terry-cloth robe.
“She went to dinner with Tommy. She said that you seemed tired when you came up to the room, but suggested I come over anyway,” he explained as he put the robe around her.
She smiled as she pulled the robe closed & let the towel fall to the floor. “Thanks, but I wouldn’t have minded going out.”
“Well, I did notice that you seemed tired when I dropped you off. I called while you were in the shower & decided to bring dinner to you instead of taking you out,” he said, taking her hand and leading her to the table.
He poured two glasses of wine, before sitting down across from her. “I know you promised me that we would continue that kiss tonight, but why don’t I take a rain-check on it? We’ll just have a nice, quiet dinner, then you can go to bed so you can get some sleep before that long drive tomorrow.”
She looked at him over the rim of her wineglass. “Somehow, I didn’t think I’d ever hear something like that come out of your mouth. That’s very thoughtful of you, Sully. Thank you,” she said, smiling.
Twenty minutes later, as they were finishing their meal, the phone rang and Alex got up and answered it. “Hello? (Pause) Hey, Lynn. (Pause) You sure about that? (Pause) Ok, I’ll let him know. Good night, I’ll see ya in the morning. (Pause) Yeah, give me a call around 8 or whenever you get up. (Pause) Ok, talk to ya then.” She laughed softly as she hung up the phone & walked back over to Sully, sitting in his lap.
“What’s so funny?” Sully asked as he put one arm around her waist and placed his other hand on her knee.
“It appears that Tommy has convinced Lynn to stay with him tonight. She’s also decided that it may be best for all involved if we start a little later in the morning & break the trip up into a two-day drive. I guess that’s ok; it won’t be so tedious that way!”
“Great! I wish he had given me a warning that he was gonna pull a stunt like that! I’m sure as hell not walking in on that!”
“Well, I will agree that it was rude of him not to warn you, but at least it gives us the chance to continue that kiss,” she said quietly, running her hand down his bare chest. She leaned forward and placed a light kiss on his lips, then traced his lower lip with the tip of her tongue.
Sully ran his hand up her leg as he caught her lips in a deep and passionate kiss. He broke the kiss a few minutes later, both breathless. He looked into her eyes and smiled slightly. He reached up and gently touched her cheek. “I can tell just by looking at ya, that you’re tired. I honestly don’t want to take this any further tonight. I’m not going anywhere tonight, I promise; but can I just hold you tonight?”
“Thank you; I am tired. And yes, I would love to have someone hold me again,” she said, tears in her eyes.
“Don’t cry, baby; I wouldn’t dream of hurting you. Why don’t you get dressed then come to bed. It’s still early, so we can just watch some TV if you want,” he smiled.
Alex stood up and walked to the bathroom to put on a T-shirt and a pair of boxers. She walked back into the room to see Sully back on the bed and flipping through the channels.
“Come here, Darlin’,” Sully said as he pulled the covers back and patted the bed. She smiled as she walked over and crawled up onto the bed and curled up next to him. He pulled her close and she settled her head against his shoulder. Sully flipped through a few more channels and finally stopped wen he saw that ‘The Mummy Returns’ was just beginning. “This ok for you?” he asked as he rubbed her back.
“I love this movie. I’ve heard that ‘The Scorpion King’ is almost done. I can’t wait to go see that one!”
“Well, it is almost done and so is the music. They actually gave me complete control over the music for the movie and I’m very happy with the way it’s coming out. When we get you settled in Florida, I’ll give ya a listen to it.”
“That sounds like a deal,” she said smiling as she dropped her arm around his waist, settling herself closer.
He pulled the covers back over them and they settled down to watch the movie.
Halfway through the movie, he realized that Alex hadn’t moved for about ten minutes; he leaned his head to the side and looked down at her. When he saw that she was asleep, he turned the TV off and carefully laid her down. He got up and double-checked the door, then turned off the light beside the bed before lying down and pulling Alex back into his arms and drifted to sleep himself.
