Page 3 of Colvin
“Antigrav it is then.” Colvin was pleased she’d picked an activity he’d enjoy as well. Of course usually when he was flying with antigrav, he was in the middle of a combat situation, dodging deadly rays and explosions, so it would be a nice change to soar with a beautiful woman. “I’ll research what the resort has available.”
“I’m sorry I can’t tell you off the top of my head,” she said. “But the feelgood has scrambled my brain a bit and specific amenities aren’t part of my job responsibilities.”
“We’ll find out together then.”
The hotel was brightly lit and fairly busy but they got checked in with no problem. The desk clerk was a bit surprised to see Ivy in her role as a matching participant but covered her astonishment smoothly enough. Colvin was glad she’d chosen to confide in him at the beginning of their date because he certainly would have begun to wonder what was going on if IDA staffers obviously knew the woman he was matched with.
Their suite was luxurious as promised. Ivy staked a claim to the bedroom with a view over the ocean, which was fine with Colvin. He’d slept in so many places in his time in the military, from holes dug in muddy fields to officers’ quarters to an actual palace that he didn’t care. He’d trained himself to fall asleep promptly and awaken at whatever time was required.
Ivy said goodnight, surprised him by giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and disappeared into her room, where her belongings had already been put away by the resort’s robos.
The first night of the date was over.
He snagged a beer from the stasis keeper in their tiny kitchenette, went into his room and called up an interstellar tisba match on the holo platform. As he watched the two teams maneuver and score, he had a pleasant sense of anticipation about tomorrow. Already this experience was turning out much better than he’d had any right to hope.
Chapter Two
When Ivy awoke the sun was already up and she had a moment of panic before she remembered where she was and where Darien was. She never slept in like this but a building headache reminded her forcibly of last night’s indulgence in feelgoods and she threw on her robe and rushed to the bathroom to search for headclear. The suite was quiet and Colvin’s door was open so she walked barefoot across the plush carpet to check. Sure enough he was gone.
For an instant she panicked, thinking he might have been disgusted with the whole setup and with her and left. Then she saw the note on the stasis keeper and rushed to read it.
“Figured you needed to sleep in. I’m going to the hotel’s gym to work out. Say 0900 for breakfast? Order whatever you think sounds good—Ardannans have fast metabolisms so we eat a lot. The beach is our objective for the day.”
Checking the wall chrono, she calculated she had time for a quick shower herself and after placing the breakfast order, she grabbed a few of the high end lotions and shampoos and let the multiple shower heads and pulsating water finish the task of erasing the effects of last night’s indulgence. She never went out anymore, not since Darien had been born and although she might have a small glass of wine from time to time after a really bad day, she wasn’t much of a drinker. She’d deliberately gone easy on the feelgoods at the club but her tolerance was low nowadays.
Deciding what to wear today was easy since the beach was their destination. She picked a striped one piece that did amazing things for her figure and hid the stretch marks. She was proud of being a mother but vain enough not to want to show herself to Colvin. Discussing her son wasn’t on the agenda for this week. Neither was sex, although she had to admit he was tempting. Although he was probably fifteen years older than her, he had a great body and the silver threading through his close cut hair was attractive.
Ivy pulled on the coverup which matched the swimsuit and slid her feet into practical sandals just as the door opened and Colvin came in. He was clad in gym shorts which did nothing to hide his endowments. He had a towel looped around his neck but his chest and abdomen were bare, glistening with sweat, the cut muscles and delicious Adonis vee plainly visible. She felt an ache of pure desire in her core and thought maybe she ought to reconsider her stance on not being intimate this week. After all she was an adult and so was he. Down girl! See how today goes.
“Good morning, beautiful,” Colvin said. “Don’t come any closer—I need the shower.”
“Did you have a good workout?” she asked, distracted by the idea of him naked in the same small space where she’d stood not long ago.
“Yeah, the hotel has a good assortment of weights and machines, and it wasn’t too busy. Despite all our modern tech, a soldier’s body is still his best weapon so I keep mine in fighting condition,” he said seriously.
“Breakfast is on its way so better get that shower.” As soon as Colvin disappeared into the bathroom with his toiletries in his hand, Ivy rushed into her room and shut the door, annoyed to realize she hadn’t called Darien yet.
As soon as her son’s image popped up in the holo, she relaxed. He was eating breakfast, devoting a lot of attention to chasing the tiny floating cereal animals in the milk.
“I already ate the dragon, mommy,” he said. “And I’m gonna catch the turtle next and then the horse and?—”
“Sounds good, don’t forget to drink the milk when you’re done and take your vitamin,” Ivy said. “I miss you.”
“Miss you too but Marisa read me three books at bedtime last night.” Darien loved to be read to.
“He’s doing fine,” the childcare worker said, appearing in the holo field. “We’ll be off to the center soon. Today’s finger painting day so we’ll have a project to show you tonight.”
“Thank you so much for doing this,” Ivy said. I’m sorry about the short notice.”
“All part of the job.” Marisa was cheerful. “And don’t tell anyone but Darien is one of my favorites. He had a tiny meltdown last night at bathtime but otherwise it’s been fine,. You enjoy your vacation.”
“I’ll try. Love you,” she said cheerily to Darien who nodded emphatically and waved his spoon, heedless of the milk he was flinging everywhere in Ivy’s kitchen.
* * *
Colvin took a cold shower after seeing Ivy in her pretty bathing suit and coverup which didn’t cover much. He toweled off and dressed in his swimsuit, pulled a pair of shorts over it and added a tee shirt before emerging into the hall as the door chime sounded. Guessing it was breakfast, he headed toward the door, surprised Ivy was in her room with the door closed. She was already dressed for their day at the beach. As he passed her doorway he heard the low murmur of voices and guessed she was on a com conversation. Colvin hoped it wasn’t her work bothering her when she was supposed to be on vacation but then he heard her tell someone she loved them and a pang of jealousy stabbed him unexpectedly.
A boyfriend? He wouldn’t have thought so, since IDA presented her as his available match. As forthright as Ivy had been so far, he couldn’t imagine she was hiding a boyfriend to go on this date.
