The Second Coming by John Dalmas

“Yes, it is,” she said quietly.

“Especially in a strange city, where you’re alone and don’t know anyone. In weather like this.”

She nodded, and they looked at each other for a long wordless moment. “I’d better go in now,” she said at last.

“Will you have supper with me again tomorrow?”

“I— Probably. Unless the center has something planned for me.”

He nodded. “Well then . . .” He backed away, just half a step, mouth smiling, but gaze heavy with desire. After a long moment, he threw her the same small salute he’d used when he’d walked her home after interviewing her. “Maybe we can continue that interview tomorrow evening. After supper, or after whatever the center has for you.”

“That would be good,” she said quietly, then turning, unlocked her door and stepped inside. There she paused, turned and looked back at him for another long and pregnant moment, opened her mouth as if to say something—then didn’t. He stood motionless, still watching. Her eyes withdrew, and slowly she closed the door.

* * *

He went to his room disappointed but encouraged. She’d almost, almost, almost asked him in. For a moment he imagined what they’d be doing at that moment if she had. He’d have her in his arms, kissing her, telling her how he’d fallen in love with her that first evening. And how many times he’d thought about her.

Tomorrow, he told himself. Tomorrow’s the night. I’ll interview her in her room, and bring a pint in my briefcase. His interest, he realized, went beyond both sex and her possible cooperation in an exposé. He’d loved eating with her, talking with her, dancing with her. He could imagine being with her on a long-term, perhaps permanent basis. Especially if she was as good in bed as he was sure she’d be. She could divorce Ben, who could take the girls.

Meanwhile he felt horny as hell, and considered calling an escort service, but decided against it. Lee had wanted him, too. She might call, tell him she was lonely. So instead he ordered a book onto his screen, to settle him down: Lee’s Lieutenants. It had been years since he’d read it.

* * *

Lee took a hot shower, and afterward looked at herself in the mirrored bathroom door. You still look good, she told herself. Good genes. For years she’d exercised rather religiously, though she’d pretty much lost the habit at the Cote. She promised herself to start again when she got home.

She threw back her bedspread and covers, and imagined having sex with Duke Cochran, watching themselves in the pair of mirrors that constituted the sliding closet doors. The images thickened her breath almost chokingly. She wished she had another drink, and reached for the phone to call room service.

Or Duke. Would he? She chuckled thickly. Does it rain in Seattle?

But it was room service she called, and ordered a pint of peach brandy. When it had been delivered, she poured a drink, sipped, then phoned Ben, waking him. She wished he was there, she told him, alone with her. It was raining, she was lonely, and the sliding closet doors were mirrors. They talked and laughed for thirty minutes while she sipped.

* * *

The next morning at the Millennium center, she met the director, who apologized for not meeting her at the airport. He’d intended to take her home for supper, and an evening with his family, but their daughter had been troubled with one of the “flu echoes” going around, sometimes with complications. By the time he’d gotten home at 3 o’clock, she’d had a temperature of 103 degrees. By breakfast she’d been “all right”—languid but hungry—and he hoped Lee would be their guest for supper.

She ran into Duke that morning at coffee break, and postponed the interview.

* * *

The next day she made an appointment with Duke for that evening, suggesting they continue till they were done. He’d agreed that would simplify things. The only drawback, he said, was not having an excuse to see her again afterward.

But at 4:15, when he’d completed another interview, there was a message for him at reception. Lee had gotten a call from home; a family emergency. She’d gotten her airline reservation changed to that evening, and Merlin had taken her to the hotel to get her things. By now she’d be on her way to SeaTac.

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