Love Is Pink! by Roxann Hill

cleared his throat.
    Total wedding night feeling , I silently agreed with that little voice. Aloud, I asked, “Did I make you wait too long?” Was that casual enough?
    “No,” David said as he stretched out his legs and leaned back in the chair.
    “Well, it’s all yours.”
    David considered what I’d said with a friendly smile. “What?”
    “The bathroom,” I added quickly. “You can go to the bathroom now.”
    “Oh, right, of course,” he said, sitting up straight. “Sorry. I was just lost in thought.”
    “That happens to me, too, sometimes,” I said, which didn’t make the situation any better.
    He got up awkwardly and tried to get past me. I rested a hand on his arm. He stared at me, dumbfounded.
    “You need your bag,” I said.
    “My what?”
    “Your toiletries.”
    He put his hand on his head. “How could I have forgotten? I though t . . . ” Pointing to the bathroom door and then Emma and then me, he said, “Oh, it doesn’t matter.” He turned around, grabbed his duffel bag, and disappeared into the wet, windowless cell.
    I’d only just sat down on the same chair he’d used when I heard the water running. I made sure Emma was sleeping, and waited, just like David had, a few minutes ago.
    Hearing him step into the shower, I thought about how he’d look without any clothes on. The hard jet of the spray leaving pearls of water on his skin. How he’d lather up thoroughly without missing the tiniest spo t . . .
    All of a sudden it hit me that David had listened to the same shower sounds while I was in the bathroom. He’d probably played out a similar scene in his head, but with me in the leading role. That would account for his odd, self-conscious behavior when I suddenly emerged from the bathroom.
    This was promising to be a great night.

11
    H is damp hair was combed back. His skin had a fresh glow to it. He wore jogging pants, and his T-shirt revealed that he was more muscular than I’d thought. As I said, he was quite good-looking, in his own way.
    “How was the shower?” I tried to loosen things up between us.
    “Wet,” he said. “Nice bathroom. Good water temperature. Everything works.”
    “I’m not at all tired,” I lied.
    “Me neither. But I have an idea.” He went back into the bathroom and came out with two toothbrush cups. “I saw a bottle before.” He pointed to the night table. And right there, as if on cue, stood a bottle of complimentary wine.
    I got up to inspect the label. Just as I thought: cheap stuff, probably purchased from the bargain store. But anything was better than going to bed with this stranger. No, not “going to bed with,” it’s “getting between the sheets with.” No, I mean, “sleeping with” the stranger—ugh, that’s even worse! What had I gotten myself into?
    We sat on the chairs across from each other. David unscrewed the top. He poured the wine into the glasses, and we toasted.
    I’d prepared myself for a vinegary taste. But to my surprise—although it was a simple wine—it was mild and pleasant on the tongue.
    “Emma’s already sleeping,” I said.
    “She was tired.”
    “Very tired. It must have been a very long day for her.”
    “Normally she goes to bed much earlier.”
    “That’s probably better.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
    I took another sip. Once I’d emptied my glass, David refilled it without my asking.
    Slowly, a pleasant warmth spread over me, and it suppressed my anxiety.
    “When do you need to be in Berlin?” David asked.
    “The earlier the better. I need to clear something up there.”
    He nodded as though he understood. “I have an important meeting ahead of me, too. On the twenty-third of December at eleven o’clock.”
    “Aha,” I said without asking further questions. I assumed he needed to report to the unemployment office. It was more difficult to find a job in the winter, especially if one wasn’t skilled, as I’d surmised was the case with David.
    “We’ll drive