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him, safe in his arms, my hands in his. Oh, this was much better.
Concentrating with him so near was hard. It took several minutes for me to quit wiggling
and squelch the urge to roll him over and make out. But I had to.
I leaned against him, acutely aware of each place our bodies touched. Those hands of his,
if he d only move them a bit lower& or higher, like he had in bed last night. No, the breasts were
for his mouth. Hands lower. We d been nearly as exhausted as tonight, but easing into a comfy
snuggle had ended with drowsy, scorching lovemaking. The kind of lovemaking you think of days
later and your heart rate ratchets. Like now, remembering him hot and heavy as a ton of bricks
and sliding between my
Randi. Knock it off, or we ll end up back in that crappy hotel room again.
And he did mean again. We d already been here once the night before and only managed to
sling ourselves back fourteen hours to the room in that dinky Texas town.
Oops. Sorry.
With an effort, I thought of the trees around us in their counterclockwise spirals. Focused on
how secure I felt with Mitch. Happy. Understood.
192
Autumn Piper 193
Ahh. There was the place inside I knew. Silence surrounded us, hemmed by the sound of
his heartbeat and mine. I relaxed against him, felt his body melt toward mine. Gravity lessened;
our weight seemed like nothing. I conjured the image of The Feng Shui Inn. Mitch joined me. The
rocks around us seemed to circle, we spun without moving. Energy hummed and buzzed and lit
the whirlpool around us. Not like last time, no extra images to trip me up. Mitch and me and our
destination. It felt complete, meant to be. Right.
The Inn loomed before us, exactly like we d left it. In fact, the same sunflower next to the
door was about to open and bloom. A small jolt knocked the top of my head into his chin. Yowch.
The Stu-bump was still tender.
The glow intensified. Daylight.
We d done it!
That was, like, way easier than last time. Thank God.
Looks like somebody was expecting us. He pointed to an upstairs window, where a small
figure moved aside and a curtain fell back into place.
Sudo.
He was outside almost instantly, waving us in and herding us up to his office.
I couldn t resist snagging a newspaper from the desk on the way up. Not that I cared too
much about the news; all I wanted was the date.
July 12, 2010. Five more days. Would he show up?
Randi.
Hmm?
The professor asked if you wanted anything to eat.
Oh. No. We, well, we just had dinner, like an hour ago.
Sudo nodded. You will be tired. Jet lag is a picnic compared to time-lag, yes? He pointed
out his window across the courtyard. You just returned from your trip to Grand Canyon. Of
course, the picture was taken before we left on our trip, so we were actually back a day earlier than
we d left. I had planned a meeting with you two, but Mitchell came by a few moments ago and
postponed it. I believe he had other plans for your day?
Like a romantic trip to the observatory. Wow, how would things have been different if I d
called my mom that morning instead of procrastinating? Mitch and I would have gotten jiggy lots
sooner, for sure. And who knew how we d have handled arriving in Miami together? I might have
really messed things up that day, but maybe it was for the best, knowing how things turned out.
Mitch cleared his throat. Yeah. So I guess we need to make ourselves scarce until sometime
early tomorrow morning, huh?
True. We might really screw with our own heads if we ran into ourselves.
Sudo smiled. Get some rest. This key is for the suite in the back wing. He handed it to
Mitch. My wife assures me you ll only want one room? Come back this evening for your post-
travel interviews.
194 Trouble Under Venus
Oh. I apologize in advance, I said, but my mother and sister will be showing up here later.
Might as well give him as much warning as possible. And they called the, um, FBI. I m sorry.
He put his hands, palms together, in front of his chest. It was only a matter of time. Do
not concern yourself.
* * * *
Mitch lay snoring in the bed, but I couldn t sleep. We d rested all afternoon, interviewed
with Sudo, and come back to the room. Apparently all the nights spent keeping an eye on me in
Miami had caught up with the Goodbody. Poor guy.
I stood at the suite window, watching as three people I alternately loved and hated ransacked
my room.
At the edge of the dark courtyard, two very close figures appeared. He paused, looking
toward my window, then moved with caution. She stood up tall and marched straight for the room.
Let the circus begin. I really didn t care to watch and relive all those arguments, so I turned
away. And bumped smack into Mitch.
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