Time And Space

“If you`ve got the time I`ve got the space?”

“Huh?” Todd looked up from his phone; a redhead had slipped onto the stool beside him and was giving him an expectant look. “I`m sorry,” he said, brow creasing in confusion, “I didn’t catch what you said?”

She smiled, it was a radiant smile, one designed to disarm the stoniest of hearts, her hair cascaded around her bare shoulders in waves, her eyes were emerald green, and her lips, the upper one a perfect bow, were painted the same crimson colour as her mini-dress, with a lipstick so glossy it looked permanently wet. “I said, If you`ve got the time, I`ve got the space.” Her voice was soft and breathy; the whole effect made him a little light-headed.

The furrow in Todd`s brow added a few partners, he was about to respond when the bartender appeared in front of them, “What can I get you?” he asked the woman. She looked at Todd, arching an eyebrow, “Aren’t you going to buy me a drink?”

“Oh, yeah, right,” he said still trying to regain his mental balance.
She smiled at the barman, “Vodka martini, two olives,” he nodded at her, strolling away to fill her order. “So,” she said, “You still haven’t answered my question?”

“Question?” he was definitely out of his depth and struggling to keep his head above water.

She slipped a room keycard onto the bartop, “Your time, my place?” she turned the smile up a couple of notches and a cloud of butterflies took flight in his stomach.

“I think you`ve got…” he stopped as the barman placed her drink on a coaster in front of her, “Six thirty five,” he said to Todd, who handed him a ten dollar bill with a, “Keep the change,” the barman nodded his thanks.

“I`m sorry,” he said, “I think you`ve got the wrong guy.”

The woman was sitting sideways on the stool, her legs pointed towards him, she turned and surveyed the bar, examining each of the male patrons in turn, he took the opportunity to study the rest of her.

The dress started just above her cleavage and ended half way down her thighs, he thought her breasts were too pert for their size, deciding she`d almost certainly had a boob job. Her legs were long and shapely, and as he looked at them she uncrossed and recrossed them, he looked up, she was smirking, “Like what you see?” she purred; and for the first time in forever he felt a flush creep up his neck.

She turned back to him, “Nope,” she said, “You`re definitely the cutest guy here,” she lifted the glass to her lips and sipped, he would`ve bet good money not a drop touched her lips. “So you still haven’t answered my question?”

By way of reply he held his left hand up to his face, back of it toward her, wriggling his fingers so she couldn’t miss the wedding band, “Sorry,” he said, “I`m spoken for.”

Her smile turned to one of amusement; she lifted her own left hand and mimicking him, wriggled her own fingers, showing off the slender wedding ring, “Snap,” she said, and took another sip of her drink.

“Look I`m flattered, really I am but…”

“Georgia,” she prompted.

“Georgia… I love Rosie, that’s my wife, I love her and well…” his train of thought was derailed as Gary walked past them to the far end of the bar; he winked at Todd as he took his seat. Christ, Todd thought, not now.

Georgia put one hand over his, “And I love my Mark; but well you know how it is at these conventions, it can get so lonely, and I can`t get off by myself.”
She laughed when she saw the look on his face; it was a husky laugh that sent tingles all the way down his spine. “My you do have a dirty mind, I meant get off to sleep, but I do like how you think.”

“Lo..Lo..Look Georgia, I`m flattered; really I am, but I couldn’t, honestly; I love my wife.”

She tilted her head as if she were judging him; then, placing one hand on his knee, she leaned forward until her mouth was by his ear and said, “I`ll let you do Anything,” emphasising the word anything, “Does Josie let you do anything?”
Her lower lip brushed against his earlobe, setting off fireworks that reached all the way to his crotch, then she straightened, arched her fingers, scraping her fingernails up the inside of his thigh.
He lurched forward, almost doubling over, grabbed her hand, not roughly, but firmly and removed it, giggling as he did, “No..No; stop, I`m ticklish.”

“Oh?” she managed to inject an enormous amount of impish mischief into that single syllable, enough to make him press one arm protectively to his side, “No don’t?” he pleaded, leaning away from her.

She sat back, “You`re no fun,” she pouted; even pouting she looked amazing, “Are you sure I can`t tempt you?”

“I`m sorry” he said, trying hard not to sound like he was, “You`re very..” he meant to say pretty, but said, “Beautiful," instead, “but..” he waggled his wedding finger at her again.

She sighed and shrugged, “Okay,” she said, as she slipped the keycard back into her purse, “Your loss.” He couldn’t help but turn and watch that perfect ass as it wiggled away from him.
As he turned back to the bar, he saw Gary getting out of his seat, a concerned look on his face. Todd glared at him and gave a barely perceptible left right shake of his head; it was a confused Gary that sat back on his stool.



10:18 that morning……

“You`re going to love Tahoe,” Gary said as the taxi pulled up in front of the hotel, “it`s better than Vegas, the honeys, mmm..mmm..mmm. What were the names of those twins, in Minnesota, the blondes; Binky and Bonky, was it?”

“Becky and Belinda,” Todd corrected him, grinning at the memory of that wild night.

“Yeah them,” Gary said, as they got out of the car, "Well they`re dogs compared to the babes they got here."

The taxi had pulled in in front of a white panel van, and as they waited for the taxi-driver to open the trunk, Todd noticed the man lounging beside the divers door give him a double take, then look away quickly; weird, he thought.

As he went to get his briefcase off the backseat, he saw, reflected in the open doors glass, that a tall broad-shouldered bald man had joined the first man, they were both looking his way, doubly weird, he thought.

As he paid the taxi driver, Gary was already dragging their suitcases towards the hotel, he positioned himself so he could watch the two men reflected in the car`s rear window, they were definitely watching him, though he couldn’t think why.

As he strolled towards the hotel, the smoked plate glass making a perfect mirror, he saw that the side door of the van was rolled completely open. The interior was filled with electrical equipment, including what looked like monitors, and on the floor he could see at least two video-cameras, the shoulder mounted type used by T.V. news, but there was no station logo on the vans side. There was a third man in the van but he had his back to him, still there was something familiar about him, about the way he moved, Todd knew he`d seen him before, Damnit, he thought, as he entered the revolving doors, still wondering about the man in the van, That`ll drive me mad all-day now.

He found Gary at reception, “Shit, would you look at that,” he pointed to a pair of wooden doors with round porthole style windows in them, above them was the word `BAR` but it was what was in front of them that had caught his attention. Two chrome stanchions, a red velvet rope stretched between them, a sign with the word `Closed` hanging from it.

“Oh that’s only temporary,” the receptionist told them as she handed them their keycards, “It`ll be open by five, they`re just doing some electrical work is all.”

They had a late lunch after the first seminar and were heading towards the auditorium for the second talk of the day when Todd spotted the bald man outside the bar, talking to a man in a suit, the suit had a brass plate on the left breast pocket, hotel management, he thought. The two stepped over the rope and pushed through into the bar, curiouser and curiouser, he thought.

He spotted a young man in a burgundy uniform with a matching pillbox hat and said to Gary, “I gotta take a leak, hold a seat for me,” going after the bellhop without waiting for a reply.

He caught up with him in a short deserted corridor, “Excuse me,” he called.

The bellhop stopped and turned; a fixed smile on his face, “Yes Sir?”

Todd pulled out his wallet, “How would you like to earn twenty bucks?” he folded the note lengthways, holding it out between the first two fingers of his right hand, like he`d seen it done countless times on T.V.

The bellhop`s smile never flickered, “What can I do for you sir?” he asked, his eyes fixed on the note.

“What`s going on in the bar?”

The bellhop snatched the note from his fingers, “They`re setting up for a T.V. show,” he said, the bill disappearing into a pocket.

“I know that,” Todd said, “but what show?”

The bellboy smirked, “We`re sworn to secrecy,” he said, “More than my jobs worth to tell you. But…” He looked around, making sure they were alone. He rubbed fingers and thumb together, “Make it worth my while…”

Todd pulled out a fifty, the bellhop shook his head, “Gotta be a C-note,” he said.

When Todd hesitated; he winked, adding, “It`s worth it, believe me.”

Reluctantly Todd added another fifty to the first, holding them out. The bellhop teased them from his grasp and said, “It`s one of them gotcha shows, Scoundrels, ever hear of it?”

Todd felt a little a knot in his stomach, he had heard of Scoundrels, it was one of Rosie`s favourite shows, now he knew why the man in the van had looked so familiar.




Five minutes after the redhead had left, Todd was once again scrolling through his celphone when he heard a Familiar voice declare, “Honey..Surprise…”

He fixed a look of astonishment on his face as he turned to greet his wife, “Rosie,” he said, ignoring the bald man with the video camera, and the man beside him holding the microphone.

Astonishment gave way to delight, “What are you doing here? I was just thinking; I wish Rosie was here, and here you are.” She wore an anxious smile, her eyes red-rimmed, her cheeks smeared black, as if her mascara had run and she`d wiped it away with her hands.

Before she could answer the man stuck the microphone between them, “Todd Hannity..Nick Carver..you`re on Scoundrel`s, congratulations you`ve passed the test.”

“Test?” he gave Rosie a confused look, she looked as if she wished the world would swallow her up, “What`s he talking about Rosie?”

All afternoon he`d been trying to decide how he would play this; furious seemed best, after all, an innocent man would be outraged at having his fidelity tested on national T.V. Yep, he`d decided righteous indignation was definitely the way to go.

Now she was in front of him he thought, I`m gonna make you squirm.
He was genuinely looking forward to seeing how she`d try to explain this, and was already calculating how many brownie-points it was worth.

“Honey?” he said, tenderly taking both her hands in his as fresh tears leaked from her eyes. Then, with all the fake sincerity he could muster, asked, “Rosie, is everything Okay, honey, what`s going on, who are these people?”