Free Pants on Fire by Casia Schreyer

clicked a few keys on the keyboard. “He’s checked in. Reservation for tonight and tomorrow night yet.”
     
    “Thank-you.” She went up and knocked softly on the door. There was no answer. She stood in the hallway debating whether she should go down and sit in the lobby for an hour or if she should knock louder. Once more, she thought and knocked.
     
    She could hear a muffled voice and she leaned against the door. “Where the hell did my pants go?” Tyler muttered. A moment later the door opened a crack.
     
    “Megan.”
     
    “Hi. You told me to come back.”
     
    “I wasn’t expecting you this early.” He wore pants and nothing else and Megan felt her heart begin to beat a little faster.
     
    She licked her lower lip and shrugged. “I can come back later, if you want. I just – I was at a friend’s house last night and she had to get going early this morning and I didn’t want to go home right away.” She sighed. “I’ll come back later.”
     
    “If you walk away I’ll just chase you.”
     
    Now her heart was thundering. “As fun as that sounds I don’t think the other guests would appreciate us tearing up and down the hallway.”
     
    “Up and down? Just how far do you think you’d get?”
     
    Hope filled her eyes. “Not far?”
     
    “Damn right. Get in here so I can show you how much I missed you.”
     
    Once in the room she found herself trapped between him and the door. And he was leaning on the door so there was no way she could open it. “I guess …”
     
    He cut her short with a kiss and it surprised her in its softness. He pulled away slowly and rested his forehead against hers.
     
    “You taste like stale alcohol,” she whispered.
     
    He started to chuckle, slow at first, in the back of his throat, but when she started laughing too he lost all control and soon the two of them were leaned against the door trying to catch their breath. “I missed you.” He pulled all the way away. “Can I go have a shower? I got drunk last night and a shower might stop this ache in my head.”
     
    “Go ahead. I’ll wait. Should I order you some breakfast.”
     
    He grimaced.
     
    “Bad idea?”
     
    “Very bad. I’ll be quick.”
     
    As soon as he was gone she picked up the phone and ordered a large stack of toast. By the time he had showered, shaved, and brushed his teeth it was waiting on the dresser for him. He stared at the toast and then at her.
     
    She shrugged. “So I don’t listen very well. I’ll help you eat it.”
     
    “It’s a deal, even without the bathrobes.”
     
    “Listen, Tyler, I’m really sorry about yesterday.”
     
    “It’s fine. I replayed the whole thing over in my mind and it sounded pretty bad.”
     
    She finished her toast. “It’s funny that you went out and got drunk last night since that’s basically what I did.”
     
    “We should have gotten drunk together. Might have been safer.”
     
    “I was at a friend’s house, the one who paints, we were celebrating her success.”
     
    “I was alone in the bar trying to convince that same busty blonde that while I might be willing to share a bottle of scotch with her, I was not willing to share my bed with her. She took a lot of convincing.”
     
    “Did no one come rescue you?”
     
    “The only other people I saw in the bar were her friends and they were too busy doing whatever it is the barely legal crowd does these days to care that their friend wouldn’t take a hint.”
     
    “How did you get away?”
     
    “I went to the bathroom. When I came out she was over giggling with a friend so I slipped out. I left her at least four glasses of scotch, too.” He shrugged. “If that was the cost of freedom, I got off cheap.”
     
    “You could have just slept with her.”
     
    “Nice try Megan, I’m not walking into that one.” He took her hand in his. “I know I said I wouldn’t do this, but I do love you, Megan.”
     
    “Tyler, we don’t know each other very well