The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that the birds were singing, loudly and nearby. The second thing was the cold breeze across my skin. It was the sound of a door opening and closing that ensured I was fully conscious.

Gingerly, I opened one eye and hastily closed it again. Now I was sure I’d drunk too much. The throbbing in my temples intensified as I opened both eyes and caught sight of Toby, hovering in the doorway.

“The bathroom’s third door on the left if you’re gonna hurl,” he growled, stepping fully into the room.

“Thanks, I think.”

He disappeared inside the walk- in closet and re-appeared with a grey silk gown, clutched to his chest.

“I don’t think you’ve quite have the figure to bring it off,” I commented dryly, my brain just about catching up with the rest of my body.

He stared back at me briefly before his eyes drifted down the bed.

I followed his eyes and shivered involuntarily at what I saw. Whoops, the pale blue sheet was draped across my hips, barely covering my manhood and exposing the slight paunch, that no end of working out seemed to remove. I clasped the sheet and pulled it up, tightly around my chest.

“Don’t think you have much to offer there either,” he snorted, before turning on his hip and walking towards the door. “Besides I have a matching wrap.”

His voice carried down the hallway as I heard him open the front door. “By the way, the first briefing starts in thirty.”

I sank back onto the pillows and groaned. The day was starting off really badly and the worst was yet to come.

******

My attention wandered during the first briefing. Nothing to do with the material, I’m sure the Stamp Collectors of America Association is truly fascinating, but I was more interested in the look of contentment on CJ’s face. Our second date had gone much better than the first and after one, although by the pounding behind my eyes, it may have been two, bottles of wine, we had tumbled into bed. She was still smiling as she left the podium and glanced in my direction. Which, hazarding a guess, would confirm the fact she had yet to speak to Toby.

Jostling through the sluggish pod of reporters, I made for her office. I’ve found if she yelled at me first thing, by the end of the day, I could do something to redeem myself.

I gave Carol my favorite Leprechaun grin and positioned myself against CJ’s doorframe. “Hey.”

CJ barely glanced up from her thumping on the keyboard. Someone had obviously found the Advil this morning. “Nimrod?”

“Imagine my surprise to wake up in the arms of another man,” I laughed, hoping frivolity would win the day and hopefully a third date.

Carol’s head shot up and CJ raised an eyebrow, motioning me inside her office with a finger and pointing to the door.

I closed the door behind me and moved towards the desk, bracing myself on my palms.

“What the hell?” she yelled.

“I woke up to Toby trying on your ball gowns. And I gotta say, he looks good in brown.” See, someone once told me girls like a sense of humor.

“I don’t have a brown. . . YOU WERE still there?”

Okay, so not with this girl.

“Yeah, in all my glory.”

“Shit,” she covered her eyes with a hand. “I was half-way here when I remembered the dinner. It was quicker for him to stop off than me to return.” Her body slumped forward onto the desk and gave me a rather nice view.

“He has a key?” Okay, so my voice was really high there. Jealousy is not becoming of a man.

“He’s had a key to every apartment I’ve ever owned,” she explained casually.

I didn’t like the sound of that. What if we’d been, well you know, doing it, when he’d arrived. There’s also the fact that he has a key and I don’t. By the way she’s glaring at me, I’m guessing I’ve started to frown.

“So, I guess I won’t see you tonight?” No humor there, in fact now I sound like a clinging stay-at-home wife, or Amy.

“Danny!”

“Okay, so I’ll go home and wash my hair.”

“You realize that now I’m gonna have to talk to Toby,” she complained, raising her body off the desk. “And he’s gonna be pissed at me.”

“Is Toby ever anything but pissed?”

“No.” CJ shook her head and I caught sight of a smile, which was going to distract me all day, I might add.

“So tell him it was an accident. You woke up and realized you’d slept with a reporter. It worked for Sam and his call girl,” I grinned.

“She wasn’t his call girl.”

“No, but you can call me anytime.” Now would be a good time to leave, I think. Leave the girl smiling and she’ll come back for more. “See ya later, Gail.”

I made it as far as the door before CJ cleared her throat. “Fishboy, aren’t you forgetting something?”

I turned and gave her my most innocent expression, “I am?”

“Yeah, see you later.”

Sometimes, she just walks into my traps, eyes wide open.

“Sure. So, should I just meet you here after the dinner?”

The famous death glare was directed my way and I beat a hasty retreat, never looking back. I was just stepping into Carol’s office when the miracle happened.

“Danny?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s okay. Here’s my key, I’ll see you there,” she smiled.

Catching the key first time, I swaggered back to my desk, maybe it wasn’t going to be such a bad day after all.

The End