"Just to pretend to be."
She was ready. Her hand hesitated on the doorknob. Hal is a nice man, she told herself. A professional. Ms. Whitehead had assured her that hiring a LoveMatch escort meant complete peace of mind. He would behave appropriately at all times. What seemed appropriate was entirely up to her.
Was that what was bothering her? That she knew Hal wouldn't make a move on her? Or that he would, but only as part of his job, and only if she gave him the right signals?
Laila shoved such thoughts away firmly. Hal was a nice guy, if a bit clumsy, and so what if he had sexy eyes and a great smile? She was paying him to be interested in her and that was all.
"It's all yours." She brushed by him, head held high.
He took a small case and a bundle of clothes from his ridiculously large bag and went into the bathroom. Through the closed door Laila could hear water running and the toilet flushing. Gargling. Her cheeks pinked. There wouldn't be much privacy this week.
She found some extra blankets and pillows in the large carved armoire and laid them on the love seat. She looked down at Hal's new bed critically. He was at least six-two . Most of him would be hanging over the edge. She looked at the large, luxuriously appointed brass bed.
No. She couldn't invite him to join her. She looked again at the love seat, with its scratchy buttons and hard cushions. But could she sleep on that?
She was saved from self-sacrifice when the bathroom door opened and Hal came out. He'd slicked his wheat-colored hair back from his forehead in smooth waves. He wore only a pair of loose cotton drawstring pants, but it wasn't his bare feet that made Laila's breath catch in her throat. It was his bare chest.
Beneath the oxford shirts, Hal had been hiding the chest of a real David. Michaelangelo's David, to be more precise. His skin was smooth and nearly golden in the room's dim lighting. His abs were sculpted, his pecs smooth humps of muscle sprinkled with just a smattering of crinkly golden hair. His arms, too, bulged with well-defined muscle, but none of it was grotesque or overblown. He didn't look like a body-builder, just like a man who took care of himself.
"I left my t-shirt in the suitcase," he said apologetically.
Laila swallowed hard, willing the saliva pooling in her mouth to moisten her dry throat. All she could think was, Whoa. Her mind called up an image of Clark Kent and Superman. What else was Hal hiding behind his glasses and his slightly geeky wardrobe? The phrase Man of Steel rose to her mind and made her blush at the implications.
She stepped aside to let him open his suitcase. The huge bag was too big to rest comfortably on the room's small suitcase stand. Hal wrestled with the bag, finally managing to balance it on the stand. Laila watched in guilty pleasure as his muscles tensed and strained under the weight.
"Just a minute." Hal fiddled with the suitcase's zipper. It didn't budge. Hal pulled harder, really tugging on it with strength.
Laila saw that when he'd zipped the bag earlier, he'd caught a piece of clothing in it. The way he was working at the zipper now, he'd never be able to open it. "Let me help you."
Everything happened all at once. Laila moved next to Hal and slipped her fingers into the small opening, freeing the caught cloth. Hal's tugging released the zipper forcefully. The suitcase lid, bulging with all the stuff Hal'd packed, flew open. Hal fell backward, knocking Laila over with him. She landed on his chest with an, "Oof!" The suitcase, set precariously on the stand fell over on top of both of them.
Laila had just a few seconds to appreciate the warmth of Hal's bare skin against her cheek and the way he smelled before the square silver packets rained down on them both. There were dozens of them, some larger, some smaller, but all contained the same thing.
"Condoms?" Laila cried, holding one in her hand. Extra-ribbed for her pleasure.
She threw herself off of Hal, stepping on him in the process. Hal let out a low, pained groan and curled into a fetal position. Laila barely noticed the damage she'd caused. She flung the prophylactic down with the rest of them, and it hit Hal squarely in the head.
"Condoms?" She looked around at the mess from Hal's suitcase,