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sallow flesh of her face, and the
violently black circles under her eyes, those made her clamp her
eyes shut hard, made her turn and walk fast for the bathroom
door.
    Sheryl Crow was still
singing about car washes and bars and Billy. Adding to the music
was an aroma that made Susan’s mouth water and her empty stomach
growl in protest like a Bengal tiger. The scent was so familiar,
yet she couldn’t quite place it. As she moved cautiously through
the foreign hallway, out into the rather glaring light of day, she
was struck by the gorgeous view--the white sand beach, the palm
trees swaying in the breeze, the deep, clear blue waters making the
sky pale in comparison.
    “Oh shit,” Susan
mumbled. “I’m in Cancun.” She wondered who was with her. Had the
dream about the cocktail napkin been just that? Was she on her
honeymoon?
    A man walked out from
the kitchen area of the suite with a pizza box in his hand. She
didn’t recognize him at first. Not until he shot Susan with a
million-watt smile.
    “Kevin?”
    His smile turned into
a grimace, but he laughed good-naturedly.
    The last time Susan
had seen Kevin was in college. Skinny and nerdy, yet cute, in a
younger brother kind of way. But the guy in front of Susan wasn’t
only built like an underwear model, his boyish face had turned
handsome. Had he grown a few inches too?
    He seemed more like a
man now.
    But something else
flooded her mind. The dream about the napkin hadn’t been just a
dream. Mark wasn’t there. He had really stood her up at the altar.
And Kevin...
    “You’ve been taking
care of me,” she said, not a question but a realization. “You’ve
been with me the entire time.”
    Susan thought she saw
a hurt look flash in his eyes, but he closed them so fast that she
couldn’t be sure.
    “Where else would I
be?” When he opened his eyes again they were happy, if not
downright smart assed. He shook the pizza box just as Sheryl
started singing again. “I’ve got your favorite. Pete’s Pizza.”
    Susan made a humph
sound in her throat and gave him an incredulous look. “Pete’s back
in Hanover...New Hampshire?”
    “The same.” Kevin
walked over and set the box on the coffee table, plopping down in
the overstuffed couch cushions--just like he used to back in
college.
    Susan moved closer.
It certainly smelled like Pete’s Pizza, her absolute favorite pizza
in the world. “But how?”
    “Had it shipped
frozen FedEx.” He wriggled his eyebrows. “Had them cook it when I
was ready to wake you up.”
    “You thought Pete’s
Pizza and Sheryl Crow would wake me up?”
    His smile was
devilish. “It was that or the Anne Rice way.”
    “The Anne Rice way?”
Susan sat down on the couch gingerly, her body still stiff.
    “Remember those
Sleeping Beauty books Liz had you two reading? The ones she wrote
as A.N.Roquelaure?”
    Susan’s
expression dropped and her cheeks flushed. The Erotic Adventures of Sleeping
Beauty. “So you...”
    “Read ’em too. Yeah.
You girls had some kinky reading habits back then.”
    She shook her head.
“What does that have to do with waking me up?”
    Kevin’s smile was
downright naughty. “How did the prince wake Beauty?”
    Susan looked away
trying to remember, and then it hit her. “Oh!” The prince had
screwed Beauty out of her coma.
    “Aren’t you glad I
came up with another way?”
    Susan’s mouth hung
open, so she shut it abruptly, making a clinking sound with her
teeth. “You have pizza?” She changed the subject. Kevin had never
made her feel like that before--all warm and tingly. Maybe it was
just the memory of those super hot Anne Rice fairy tales.
    Kevin held out some
napkins. “I remember you need lots of these.”
    “Are you saying I’m a
slob?” she said, a warning in her voice, though a smile spread its
way across her face. It was the first smile she’d had since the
wedding that wasn’t, and she felt it evaporated a moment later.
    “I’m not saying
you’re a slob.”
    “Good,”