"What?" asked Mandi. "You don't."
Giving her another long look as he stirred his coffee, Cade grinningly said,
"I'm minding my manners, that's all. There's a beautiful woman in my hotel room
and I don't want to say or do anything that will make her leave in a huff."
Mandi gave him a skeptical look, then zipped her suitcase shut and set it on
the floor. Picking up the shampoo and the folded robe, she took them to the
bathroom alcove and set them on the counter, then turned to Cade.
"Say or do what, exactly, Ed? We talked about certain things in the bar,
didn't we?"
Nodding, he said, "We talked, but that's all. I don't remember being
specifically invited to do anything."
With a somewhat incredulous gaze, Mandi softly repeated, "'Specifically
invited..?'"
"Yup. We discussed. We inferred. That's all. Men and women don't communicate
all that well sometimes, Mandi. A long time ago I discussed and inferred like
that with another woman, a friend of my sister's. It turned out that she'd just
been talking about some of her thoughts and feelings about sex with someone
she'd thought had understood that we'd just been talking. When I acted on what I
thought she'd meant, she gave me one of those 'hurt puppy' looks and started
crying and bitching about how all men were such jerks. Ever since, I've made
sure to be sure."
With a narrow gaze, Mandi asked, "What do you mean by 'acted on', Ed?"
Sipping some coffee, Cade said, "I just made advances. I didn't throw her
over my shoulder and head for the bedroom."
After a moment of studying him, Mandi asked, "What kind of advances?"
Setting his coffee down, Cade quietly asked, "Should I simply answer that
question, or should I demonstrate?"
Her gaze still narrow, but now because she suspected Cade was teasing her,
Mandi said, "Try demonstrating."
Smiling as he said a firm, "Yes, milady," Cade stepped forward and took
Mandi in his arms as she, in turn, embraced him. Kissing her softly, he took his
time about letting his lips brushingly caress hers, then made the kiss become a
firm connection for some moments.
When the kiss ended, he continued to hold her as he whispered in her ear,
"That's all I did, ma'am. I'm kind of hoping you'll handle it better than she
did."
As Mandi chuckled softly, Cade punctuated the whisper with another brushing
kiss on Mandi's cheek and grinningly asked, "Do I have to let you go now,