Life Blood ---XVI---Page No--51

"Come here," he said.

Whoosh. There he was. He strode through the door, tan safari
shirt, smelling like a man who’d just driven hundreds of miles
through Central America in an open Jeep. I wanted to undress
him with my teeth and lick off the sweat. Brown eyes, skin tan as
leather, he threw his arms around me and I felt the weight of the
world slip away. He was here. I was wearing a robe, fresh from
the tub, but it was gone in a second. Steve, I gotta say, knew a
thing or two about the bedroom.

As we wound ourselves together for the next two hours, I had
a refresher course in how much Id missed him, soul and body. His
taste, his skin, his touch. Finally, we were both so exhausted we
just lay there bathed in sweat, spooned together on the sagging
bed. I hadn't felt so good in years. It was like another world.

"God I've missed you," I said again, holding him closer. The
air-conditioning was beginning to lose ground against the late
sun, but I didn't care. After my solo nightmare of the last two days,
I was remembering what it was like to be a couple again.
        The Camino Real, by the way, turned out to be an American-
style hideaway with budget shag carpeting and flaking blue walls.
In a way, though, the downtrodden decor actually made it more
romantic, like we'd sneaked off to a garish hot-sheet motel for a
twilight rendezvous.

I finally dragged myself up and got us a bottle of water. Then,
leaning against the rickety headboard, I recounted an abbreviated
version of what had happened yesterday after we'd first talked—
the theft of my film, and then Lou being assaulted and Sarah
taken, apparently willingly, to be brought (I strongly suspected)
back here. What I held out on were the details about a certain
Colonel Jose Alvino Ramos, my belief that he was behind the
crimes and in league with Alex Goddard and stalking me. I was
afraid our room was bugged.

"Morgy, we'll get through this," he said, reaching over to

stroke my hair. "If somebody brought her back down here, we'll

find her. And I apologize for being such a shit on the phone, about
the baby. I'd just had a local lab lose three rolls of high-speed

Kodachrome and I was seriously frosted at the world. We can keep trying if you want to."

"Just hold me." I put down my glass and I reached around and
ran my finger across his chest. It was so lovely to be this close to
somebody you wanted so much. I loved his earnest brown eyes
and his soft skin. I loved him. Just having him with me made such
a difference.

The unexpected part was, I'd asked him to come and help

me, but now that he was here, I was starting to feel uneasy about
luring him into my personal nightmare. Was that really fair?
        Also, I was getting hints he had problems of his own. The
photo book, I gathered, was not coming together the way he'd
hoped. He'd mumbled something about finding himself torn
between a heartstrings essay about the children (his specialty;
you've probably seen his work, whether you know it or not), a
devastating portrayal of the latest crop of sleazy politicos, or a
nature valentine to the vanishing rain forest. But whenever he
agonized about his work, I knew enough to keep my mouth shut
and just listen. He didn't want bright ideas; he just wanted me to
clam up and be there for him.

Anyway, I knew he'd think his way through the problem. He had a deceptive air of vulnerability that always disappeared in a crunch. He was the master of ad hoc solutions. . .

At that moment, he reached for his watch, studied it, and
abruptly bolted straight up. "Hey, I almost forgot my surprise. I
hope you're still up for it. Did you know this is our anniversary? It
was on this very day I first watched you dive into that grungy
swimming pool at the Oloffson in Port-au-Prince."
        "My God you're right. I'm humiliated." I hugged him contritely,
feeling like a self-centered twit. I guess I was too focused on
Sarah. (I screw up a lot on birthdays too, always with an excuse.)
"I don't even have a present for you. I've been so—"
        "That's okay." He grinned then stood up and headed for the
shower. "Not the first time. But I've got one for both of us. We'll
make it a gift to each other. It'll help start you thinking like a
guatemalteco insider."

"What? You sneak. What did you get?"

"A trip back into the void of prehistoric time," he yelled over his shoulder. "I am the possessor of a little-known secret about this town. I called from Belize City this morning and made dinner reservations for us downtown. You'll see."