He was scrolling through the CDC Web site. The first time he’d pulled it up, he hadn’t found anything really interesting, but he’d kept clicking on related sites that had links to the CDC, and he gave a satisfied grunt as a long list popped on the screen. “Finally.” He clicked on Print.
“What do you have?” Lily asked, bending down to read over his shoulder.
He lowered his voice so no one could overhear what they were saying. “A list of infectious agents and the safety precautions taken with each one.” He nodded at the computer she was using. “What do you have over there?”
“A projection of illnesses and deaths during the next pandemic. Nothing useful, I don’t think.”
“This should tell us what we need. If it doesn’t, my friend in Atlanta can fill in the blanks. I should have asked him a bunch of these questions this morning, but I hadn’t had time to think about it and he called me a bastard anyway, since it was three am there when I called him.”
“Understandable.”
“I thought so, too.” Her hand was still on his shoulder, and he covered it with one of his. “Let’s take this stuff back to the hotel to read. We can order room service, and you can get unpacked and settled in.”
“We’ll have to tell the hotel there are now two people staying in your room, instead of just one.”
“I’ll just say my wife has joined me. Not a problem. Keep your sunglasses on and don’t let any of the staff see your eyes, and we should be in the clear.”
“I’ll look pretty silly sitting around a hotel room wearing sunglasses. Colored contacts will be easier.”
“It isn’t just your eyes that are so identifiable. It’s the entire package, the color of your hair, your facial structure. Just duck into the bathroom when room service is delivered. Other than maid service, that’s the only time we’ll be interrupted.” He logged off, then gathered all the pages that had been printed out. He paid for the service while Lily logged off her computer and did the same.
They stepped out into the street, and the wind whipped at them. Though the day was sunny, it was cool enough, and the windchill cold enough, that a lot of people were wearing hats and scarves. Lily pulled her own hat down so it covered all her hair as they walked to where Swain had parked the car. He seemed to have remarkable luck in finding parking space in a city that was notorious for difficult parking, but she was beginning to think Swain was just one of those people born under a lucky horseshoe. If he’d leased a Hummer, somehow he’d have found a place to park it.
He forwent making any more disparaging comments about the Fiat, though she heard him making that high-pitched whining noise under his breath a few times. The days had gotten really short, with winter only a few weeks away, so the sun had already set by the time they got to the hotel and twilight was fading fast, making Lily’s sunglasses unnecessary. She pulled them off but remembered that she still had a pair of pink-lensed sunglasses that she’d used as part of her disguise in London, and fished them out of her bag. The tint was light enough that she could see with the glasses on and wouldn’t look like a total idiot for wearing sunglasses at night but was sufficient to hide the color of her eyes.
She slipped them in place and turned to Swain. “How do I look?”
“Sexy and stylish.” He gave her a thumbs-up. “Just keep your eyelids at half-mast, as if you’re jet-lagged, and we’re home free.”
He was right; no one paid any attention to them at all as he carried her bags through the lobby with her trailing behind. When they were in his room, he called the front desk and told them his wife had arrived, so there were now two occupants in his room; then he called housekeeping and requested extra towels. Lily busied herself unpacking, putting her clothing away in drawers or hanging it in the closet beside Swain’s clothes, and her toiletries in the bathroom.
She got a jolt as she set a pair of her shoes beside his in the bottom of the closet There was something intimate about the sight, her shoes so much smaller and daintier than his, that brought home to her the fact that she was now, for all intents and purposes, living with him.
She looked up to find him watching her, reading her discomfort.
“It’ll be all right,” he said gently, and opened his arms to her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Lily went to him, burrowed herself close to the comforting warmth of his body, nestled her head in the hollow of his shoulder, and felt some of her tension ease as he wrapped his arms around her. He kissed the top of her head. “I repeat, we don’t have to have sex tonight. If you’re that uncomfortable with the idea, we can wait.”
“Can we?” she asked softly. “Normally I’d wait a lot longer than this, because two kisses and one grope do not a relationship make-”
He gave a bark of laughter. “I guess not, but even though logically I know we’ve known each other only a few days, part of me feels as if it’s been a lot longer than that. A week, maybe,” he teased. “Have I really groped you just once?”
“Once is all that I remember.”
“Then it’s definitely just once, because you’d remember my gropes.” He rubbed his hand up and down her back, coaxing her tense muscles to relax.
“Tonight may be the only night we have,” she said, trying for a matter-of-fact tone but unable to keep out a hint of wistfulness. The truth of that had been in the back of her mind all day. She couldn’t afford to take her time, get to know him, ease into a relationship. Seen in that light, her decision was simple: she might well die tomorrow, and she didn’t want her last night on earth to be spent alone. She didn’t want to die without having made love with him, without sleeping so close in his arms that she could hear his heartbeat. She wanted him to be her love, even if she wouldn’t have a chance to discover if he was the love. At least she would have the hope that he was.