When I wake up, the sun is nearly blinding me.
Still sleepy, I sit up a little and push my hair out of my eyes, wondering why I always seem to have twice the hair I went to sleep with when I wake up.
Automatically, my eyes go to Danny's side of the bed. He's not there.
Just before panic can overtake me, I hear a rustling sound and look over to see him sitting at the table at the foot of the bed, calmly reading the paper and sipping coffee.
He's already dressed in black slacks and a dark blue shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He's wearing his glasses again.
In other words, husband Danny is gone and businessman Danny is back.
"Good morning," I say in a voice still husky with sleep.
He looks over the paper at me. "Morning. Did you sleep well?"
A hot blush suffuses my body and I sit up more, dragging the sheet with me. "I don't think I slept at all."
He smirks and goes back to his paper. "You drifted off around dawn."
I chide myself for being so bashful; I can't be bashful and still have done the things we did last night.
So I slide off the bed, still wrapped in the sheet and go over to where he sits.
Draping my arms around his neck from behind, I lean forward and kiss his temple. "Did you get any sleep last night?"
He appears utterly unaffected by me. "A little."
I lean over even more, pressing my breasts against his back. "Would you like to go back to bed?" I say in what I hope is a purr.
He absentmindedly captures one of my hands, resting on his chest, and kisses the palm. His eyes are still on the paper. "I can't. We need to get back to the hotel."
I stand up straighter and blink at the back of his head. "You're ready to leave?"
He sighs and folds the paper, finally turning to face me. "I called Ray earlier and told him we'd be back by ten. It's nine now."
"Oh."
"Besides, the point of this trip was for us to spend time as a family, right?"
"Well...yes, but-"
"Good." He stands up and takes off his glasses, placing them on top of the folded newspaper. The he gives me a quick kiss and a pat on the bottom.
"Go on, get dressed. I've got a few more phone calls to make and then we'll be on our way."
"OK." What else is there for me to say?
Gathering up the shirt and jeans Danny packed for me, I head toward the bathroom to take a shower.
Danny is already immersed in a call when I turn on the water.
I still bear the marks of last night on my body. A faint bruise here, a whisker burn there and I shiver at the memory of how those little marks got there.
I feel like I haven't slept all night, but I'm still on this remarkable high. After the first time, I dozed off just for a moment to be awoken in a way that sure beats the hell out my alarm clock at home. After that, each session of lovemaking just sort of blends together. Sometimes we were on the bed, sometimes the floor, once even in this very bathroom in that huge tub.
Every time seemed better than the one before it and when we finally were able to keep our hands off of each other for more than ten minutes,I fell asleep wrapped in his arms, feeling safe and sated, if not loved,as I had that first night.
But for as many different places as we made love and As many different times, one thing remained constant: he never let that hold he has on himself slip. Even as he was doing things to me that I didn't even know existed, things that made my mind yield in humble submission to my body, he remained almost aloof.
And now, this morning, it's like we're polite strangers, despite the fact that we now know pretty much every inch of each other's bodies rather intimately.
By the time I'm showered and dressed, Danny is off the phone and the bed has been made up.
"Did you, Danny Santos, actually make a bed?" I tease and am rewarded by one of his rare smiles.
"Yeah, I'm not totally useless."
Still hesitant in my flirtation, I move closer to him and murmur, "I'd never call you useless."
He smiles again, but it's a slower smile, more calculating than the first.
He cups my face in his hand and and rubs his thumb over my lips before lowering his mouth to mine.
The kiss is slow, almost lazy, as his lips caress and his tongue gently finds and spars with mine.
My knees are rubbery when he pulls away and, without thinking, I shoot a glance of longing at the freshly made up bed.
Danny sees my gaze and chuckles softly. "Not now. Andrew is waiting for us."
I step back, still feeling strange and feverish and hating that I can't make him feel what I feel.
"Right," I say, flustered. "Andrew's probably wondering where we are right now."
Danny nods and picks up the small duffel bag he packed our clothes in. "If you're ready..."
"Yeah," I say, taking a quick sip of coffee, hoping its heat will banish the other, more dangerous heat from my body.
Of course, it doesn't.
In my mind, I pictured us leaving this boat hand in hand, laughing softly and pausing every few moments to kiss, the way lovers do.
Instead, we leave with him just a few steps ahead of me, already talking on his cell phone to someone.
And suddenly, I wonder if anything will be different at all.