The jacket portion of the pinstriped, navy suit was tossed over a chair even before the door of the hotel suite was completely shut, and Connor's fingers did the magic, mindless thing that freed him from his royal blue silk tie and the grey tailored dress shirt even as he crossed the suite to pull the drapes shut to the world. He lived for the road and sky, but the number of miles he'd spanned in the last 6 months were exhausting even for him. Glancing at the stainless steel Rolex on his left wrist, he groaned and made a lying little promise to himself that he'd take some time off after the next debriefing at "home." His Sig Sauer .45 he dropped into a drawer atop a Gideon Bible, and the .357 magnum ankle gun went under a hand towel on the back of the toilet. Rituals complete, he dropped down onto the end of the bed and began untying his shoes with one hand and flipping past the hotel suggested pay per view channels with the other. He sat with one sock on and the other off, absent-mindedly staring confusedly and fascinated at a television show that seemed to involve miniskirts, slapping, and young men with plucked eyebrows when there was a knock at the room's door.
His head turned from the television reluctantly and suspiciously. He couldn't think of a single good or welcome reason for anyone to be at his door, and he could think of several very bad and unwelcome reasons. He peeled his remaining sock off, eased the bedside drawer open, and plucked the Sig back out with a silent sigh. He walked silently toward the door and stepped sideways into the bathroom before calling out.
"Yeah?"
A woman's voice murmured something that he couldn't make out from the other side of the door but something about the tone and timbre rang familiar to him so he checked the door's peephole. A moment later, stunned and confused, he slid back the deadbolt and chain and opened the door to the only woman he'd ever completely surrendered his heart. She stood for just a moment in the hall, silhouetted in the doorway, and then brushed past him into the suite. In her heels, she was just short of his 6'1" inches, and her chestnut hair made a long wave around her face and fell down past her bare shoulders. The maroon dress that clung to her every curve and plane had thin straps that draped over her swimmer's shoulders and didn't hide the thin straps of her expensive black bra. He'd barely absorbed that the front of the dress plunged and hugged her heavy breasts and flat stomach before she was past him and his eyes were focused on the back of her neck where she swept her hair to the side and plucked the zipper of the dress in her bent fingers and tugged it downward.