Free Pants on Fire by Casia Schreyer Page A

yet.”
     
    “Ask away,” he said without thinking.
     
    “Fine, you work for a hotel, right?”
     
    “A chain of hotels, but yes.”
     
    “Doing what, exactly.”
     
    He hesitated. “This and that.” He shrugged. “It’s corporate America; you do as you’re told.”
     
    “Tyler, that’s not really an answer.”
     
    He sighed. “Fine. Every woman I’ve ever dated found my stories and anecdotes about my job boring so I don’t like to talk about what I do.”
     
    “My father worked for this hotel for decades and he ‘bored’ us every day with stories about his work.”
     
    “Fine, let’s just say that I do boring things for a boring hotel and one day I will sit and bore you with all my boring stories.”
     
    She laughed. “All right, point taken. Which hotel?”
     
    “Oh. The Mathers Hotels and Resorts chain.”
     
    “Wow, those are nice hotels.”
     
    “Yeah, they’re pretty impressive. What about you? What do you do?”
     
    “I work in television,” she said. “On a children’s show.”
     
    “That must be interesting.”
     
    She shrugged. “It’s not unlike corporate America. I do as I’m told. What was your worst date?”
     
    “Oh, I had this one woman break up with me because I refused to take her shopping. She threw a huge fit in the middle of a classy restaurant. I still can’t go back there. What about you?”
     
    “I am not talking about that.”
     
    “You asked.”
     
    Defeated she said, “Fine, let’s just say that some men are hounds and that I’ll never accept blind date suggestions from that friend again.”
     
    “Are you all right?” Worry filled his eyes.
     
    She laughed. “I’m fine. The taxi driver gets all the credit for that though. It’s the only time I got a free ride in a taxi.”
     
    He shook his head. “Nothing fazes you, does it?”
     
    She looked down at her lap. “Some things did. Part of why I blew up yesterday is because I’ve been hurt before, the kind of hurt that can haunt you for a while.”
     
     “We’ve all been there, Megan.”
     
    “No, Tyler. We haven’t all ‘been there’. Have you ever thought you were in love before? Like you think you love me?”
     
    “I do love you.”
     
    She glared.
     
    “Fine. Yes, I thought I was in love once before.”
     
    “Did you ever come home early from your vacation to find her naked in your apartment? Sounds sexy until you realize she’s entertaining her lover, in your apartment, while you’re on vacation. That’s what happened to me, Tyler. I thought I loved him and one day I come home to find him fucking some woman in MY apartment.”
     
    “No, that has never happened to me, but …”
     
    “No, Tyler. You have to understand. For a moment yesterday I thought you were just like him, and you’re not. I’m not ready to love you yet; I can’t, not with this sort of thing messing me up. But I’ll admit that I care and that I’m not looking forward to this vacation ending.”
     
    He kissed her hand. “The toast is all gone.”
     
    “So?”
     
    “Let me show you how much I missed you.”
     
    He carried her to the bed and showered her with kisses, making her laugh. Since she was laughing anyways he tickled her ribs until she slapped his hands and tried to roll away. He laughed too and pinned her hands above her head. While she couldn’t stop him anymore he couldn’t exactly tickle her either, so he went back to kissing her until she forgot to laugh and just relaxed into the pleasure of him.
     
    Playfully they undressed each other, giggling when she fumbled with buttons or when it took him three tries to unhook her bra. Of course he stopped first and said, “What a beautiful bra you’re wearing.”
     
    She had laughed and tried to slap him again.
     
    With their clothes scattered across the bed and in a mix-matched heap on the floor he pulled away, catching her wrist and pulling her along with him. “It’s too hot in here.”
     
    “You haven’t been