The door swung gently open all the way to the wall before he entered the
room, blocking the door's return swing with his right boot as he glanced around
and continued his entry with almost no pause.
Mandi sat on the bed, Andrea sat in the desk chair. A bottle of champagne
nestled in an ice bucket on the desk and Mandi's bags had been moved nearer the
door because two blue suitcases had taken their place by the desk. There were no
other people in the room and both women were staring at him.
"Well?" asked Mandi, "Are you coming in or not?"
Andrea chuckled as Cade replied, "Have you ever seen me just waltz right
into a room, ma'am?"
Snickering, Mandi asked, "Not even your own room?"
Cade walked over to Andrea as he said, "I'm old enough to have old habits
because I earned them the hard way. Your own room is the first place to expect
an ambush. Especially on birthdays in military service. 'Surprise!', and all
that."
Mandi snickered again, but her glance went to Andrea as if to confirm
something.
As Andrea stood up to take his hand, he met her gaze for a long moment, and
said, "And you are definitely a surprise. Hi. I'm Ed, and I hope to Goddess
you're Andrea, ma'am."
Her smile continued, but she asked, "Goddess?"
"I'm a pagan. We mostly prefer goddesses if we bother with deities at all."
Andrea glanced at Mandi, who nodded and grinned as she said, "That probably
wasn't a line, Andrea. He has a pagan website where he sells stoneware and
pewter jewelry."
Returning her gaze to Cade, Andrea said, "I'll have to see it sometime. Yes.
I'm Andrea. Are you at all disappointed?"
Shaking his head, Cade said, "Not even a little. Are you?"
Grinning, Andrea said, "Mandi and I have been talking about you. I've
decided that youth may not be everything. Could I have my hand back now?"
Pretending to notice that he was still holding her hand, Cade released it
with a calculated 'Oh, I kinda forgot' shrug.
Laughing, Mandi said, "I think you've got his attention, Andrea. Let's have
some champagne. Cade?"
Reaching to open the champagne, Cade said, "I'm on it."
The wire on the bottleneck broke when he twisted. Cade reached for his
beltknife, flicked it open, wedged it under the wire, and twisted. The wire
broke and he pried it off, then slapped his knife shut and slipped it back into
its belt pouch.
In the mirror above the desk he noticed both Mandi an