“And doing it extremely well, too.”
She fell sideways and lay tight against him, her head on his shoulder and her leg over his, spilling his seed onto him. “Messy, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“I love it. I love your sweat, too.”
“That’s entirely involuntary; it doesn’t require any talent.”
“No, it’s just part of you.” She got up and went into the bathroom. He heard water running, and a moment later she came back with a hot face cloth and wiped down his body.
“The service is very good around here,” Teddy said.
“I’m going to keep it that way,” she replied. “What can I get you?”
“A cold beer, please.”
“Oh, me, too.” She trotted off toward the kitchen.
“There are cold glasses in the freezer,” he called after her.
She returned with two perfectly poured glasses, and he sat up and rearranged the pillows for both of them.
“It’s fun watching you walk around naked,” Teddy said.
“Then I’ll do that a lot.”
They touched glasses and drank the cold lager.
Teddy experienced a rush of feeling for her. He wanted her to never leave his house again, but he could not express this desire. “What are your career plans?” he asked.
“I’ve got four years on the job,” she said, “so I guess I’ll put in at least twenty, for the pension-barring a better offer, of course.”
“What would you consider a better offer?”
“A job with a federal agency, I guess-FBI, DEA, like that.”
“Then you’d have to move,” he pointed out.
“Probably. I suppose they employ agents in Florida, though. I’d like to stay here. Mind you, my new job is something meaningful; it’s better than chasing down speeders on I-95.”
“I suppose it is. You’re a bright woman; you need something that requires intelligence.”
“I do.”
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Teddy was trying to think about the future, but it was hard. What was he going to do? Ask her to marry him and run with him when the Agency stumbled across him somewhere? Could he confess to her the murders he’d done, necessary for the welfare of the country though they may have been. Could he ask her to share the risks in his life, to change her identity, to keep moving? He actually enjoyed the chase, but it seemed unlikely that she would. He tried to bring his mind back to the present.
“What about you?” she asked. “Are you going to settle down in Vero Beach?”
“Seems like a nice town,” he said. “So far. Certainly the company is good.”
“How’d you pick Vero anyway?”
“I read something about it somewhere. It’s a nice size-not too big, not too small-and I don’t mind a hot summer.”
“I do,” she said, “but there’s nothing I can do about it.”