One Night Standards Read Online Free PDF

took one look at him, and then he could tell from the horrified expression on her face and the way her mouth was opening that she was about to scream. He quickly did the only thing he could think of…covered her mouth with his hand. Her shriek turned into a muffled squeak.
    â€œHi, I’m Mark McMann. Any second now, you’re going to remember me from last night. We drove in together last night, laughing, were both tired, we didn’t have a condom….” He smiled without humor as a look of recognition crossed over her face. The look of horror, he noted, redoubled. “Ah, here we go. You remember.”
    He removed his hand slowly, and she gasped. “You’re still here. It’s morning, and you’re still here.”
    â€œIn my defense, I was exhausted…Hey!”
    She jumped out of bed and bolted past him, dashing to the center of the room, looking as if she were trying desperately to get her bearings. He noticed that she was only wearing panties, and she didn’t seem to care in the slightest. “What time is it?”
    â€œUh…” His brain had shorted out temporarily, seeing that lithe body of hers wearing only a pair of silky-looking bikini-cuts. “Um…”
    She looked around at her clothes, then pushed her blouse out of the way of the clock. “Eight o’clock! Crap! Crap! ” She glanced back at him. “Focus, Tennessee. Grab your clothes and get back to your room! ASAP!”
    He blinked. Of course, that had been his plan, before he’d frozen in the headlights, as it were. He’d seen naked women, although they were usually models. And they weren’t usually shaped like Sophie. For a short girl, she certainly had…
    â€œMark!” She snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Not that it isn’t flattering, but you’ve got to wake up, sweetie. Do you really want people to know we spent the night together?”
    Those were the magic words. He jumped out of bed, thankful that he was still wearing boxers. He assiduously avoided looking at her and instead did as she said, focusing on grabbing his clothes and pulling them on, tripping back onto the bed as he tugged his pants on both legs at one time.
    â€œCan’t you hurry?” he heard her call from the bathroom. The shower was running…. Man, he needed to jump into the shower. He needed to unpack, for God’s sake. He needed to get moving…. His boss Simone was probably in the hotel by now, and would probably want to call the staff meeting at 10:00 a.m. or something…. Jeez, he needed to look at his PDA, see if he’d gotten any e-mails; she was all about sending those sneaky e-mails to make sure people were plugged in all day.
    He buttoned his shirt hastily, noticing that he seemed to be missing a button…and abruptly remembered how he’d lost it. He went slightly hard and quickly headed off any more thoughts in that direction.
    It was just a temporary lapse of reason. People were considered innocent for stuff like murder with just that kind of rationale. Besides, it wasn’t as if it were ever going to happen again.
    â€œI’m out of here, I’m really sorry…” he said to the open bathroom door, figuring she was in the shower. “I’ll…er…”
    He’d what? Call her later? They hadn’t even had sex, for pity’s sake. And now they weren’t ever going to see each other again. That thought caused a little sting, but he’d get over it. So what else could he say?
    â€œHave a good conference,” he finished lamely and headed for the door. He looked out the peephole and then opened the door, peering out. Nobody in the hallway. He dug around in his pocket, found his room key and then made a break for it. He got in the room quickly and noticed immediately that the hotel-room phone light was blinking. He had a message. He decided to jump in the shower and get dressed first,