Rumour Has It
Chapter: 1
Rating: PG
They had come to Washington on a press junket and Lou had promised Mary that they were going to have a great time. And after an entire day of being in seminars Mary was ready for something a little more stimulating. She got ready for the evening and made her away to Lou's room. She found him relaxing on his bed.
"I thought we were going out?"
"We are." he said. "There's no reason to be in a rush."
Mary sat down on the edge of the bed next to him. "But I've never been in Washington before." she said. "And you promised we were going to have a great time."
"And we will." he assured her. "I was hoping that some of my old contacts would get in touch."
"I don't want to sit in this hotel room all evening waiting for the phone to ring." she told him. "Don't you want to take me out to dinner? Doesn't that sound like more fun?"
"Well." he sighed. "I don't know..."
"Maybe we can meet new contacts." she said. "And what do you mean you don't know?"
Lou smirked. "I guess since you're all dressed up we should go out." he said. "I can always check my messages when we get back."
"That's more like it." she said, standing up. "You are going to change aren't you?"
He got up off the bed. "What's wrong with what I have on?"
"Your shirt is all wrinkled."
"Okay, I'll change my shirt." he agreed. "I'll even put on a tie."
"Thank you."
He crossed the room and took a freshly pressed shirt out of the closet. "Where would you like to go?" he asked. "There's a lot of great bars in town."
"I'm not going to a bar for dinner." she told him. "I want a nice, sit down, restaurant."
"Okay, okay." he said. "If you want to be wined and dined tonight then your wish is my command."
After a nice, relaxing dinner they returned to his hotel room where he promptly checked his messages. And to surprise, not hers, there were none. He hung up the phone and turned around to face her. "We'll just have to wait a little longer."
"Can't we go back out?" she asked. "We...well, I was having a pretty good time."
"I'm having a good time, Mary." he told her. "I just think we can have an even better time, that's all."
"I'm really surprised at you, Mr. Grant." she said, sitting down on the end of the bed. "I never expected you to be the kind of man that just sits back and waits for things to happen. Did you ever stop to think that all your old contacts are no longer in the game?"
"Nonsense." he waived her off. "Things like this take time."
"We're only going to be here a few days." she reminded him. "Let's not waste them, okay?"
"Look, Mary, I promised you we were going to have a good time and we will." he tried to assure her. "Just have a little faith in me."
"It's not you that I don't have faith in." she said, getting up off the bed. "But I suppose that if we're going to be here all evening waiting for the phone to ring we might as well make the best of it." she picked up the room service menu and looked over the wine list. "Red or white?"
"Scotch."
Mary ignored his comment. "Red or white?"
"Red." he replied. "Something with a little age on it."
She selected a wine and then called room service and ordered it. "Well now what are we going to do?" she asked, hanging up the phone. "And I don't want to watch television."
"You're not in a very good mood, Mary." he said. "What happened to making the best of the situation?"
She could see that he was hurting, just a bit. And she decided that the best thing to do in a situation like this was to stroke his ego a little. Even if that meant she had to pretend like she was having a good time cooped up in a hotel room instead of seeing the sights of Washington. "You're absolutely right." she told him. "What would you like to do?"
"Well...how about a little dancing?"
"Dancing?"
He sat down on the side of the bed and pulled the alarm clock toward him. "Yeah." he breathed out as he started scanning for a good station. "You like to dance, don't you, Mary? I mean you did take ballet as a kid, right?"
Mary smiled. "You want to ballet dance?"
"Of course not." he laughed. "Unless you want to. Then I would be a willing audience."
"I think I'm a little out of practice."
He had finally found something decent on the radio. "Then I guess we'll just have to stick to ballroom dancing."
"I'm afraid we don't have quite enough space for that." she said. "We'll have to stick to something with a little less movement."
Lou turned the radio up a bit. "I just have one request." he got up off the bed and walked toward her. "Could you take off your heels? If we're going to dance I'd like to be taller than you."
Mary laughed. "Sure." she said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "But it's not like I'm towering over you." she slipped her shoes off and placed them beside the bed. "You should take yours off too, I don't want you stepping on my toes in shoes."
"I would never step on your toes." he slipped off his shoes. "I'm an excellent dancer."
"I'll be the judge of that."
There was a knock on the door. "Just you wait and see." he headed for the door. "I guess that's our wine." he tipped the young man and closed the door behind him. "I'm a regular Fred Astaire."
"Just pour the wine." she said. "Hopefully it'll make you lighter on your feet."
Lou uncorked the wine and poured two glasses. "You know I think we've danced before." he said, handing her a glass. "At the Teddy Awards."
"I think you're right." she took a sip of wine. "I need a refresher course though to see if you're as good as you claim."
He took a sip of wine and then sat it down on the table. "Okay." he said, holding out his hand to her. "Prepare to be dazzled."
Mary placed her hand in his and got up off the edge of the bed. "Intend to sweep me off my feet, huh?"
"Something like that." he replied. "I'm just trying to make sure you have a good time this evening."
She took another sip of wine and then sat it down on the table. "Well so far this evening hasn't been all that bad." she moved forward into his awaiting arms. "I mean it could be a lot worse."
Lou wrapped his arm around her waist. "See I told you we would have a good time." they slowly started to sway to the soft music. "And we're just getting started."
"I guess you're right." she relaxed a bit in his arms. "After hearing people talk not stop all day it's kind of nice to be here with you where it's quiet."
They danced together rather slowly for several songs. And they really were having a good time. A much better time than they would be having out and about even if they couldn't admit it. They danced together well, almost as if they were the perfect fit. He seemed to be holding her closer than when they first started dancing. But then again she had pressed tighter against him, her hand comfortably resting in his while her other arm was draped over his shoulder holding an almost empty glass of wine.
"I think this is much better than some stuffy party." he said.
Mary pulled back a bit so that she could look at him. "Better than meeting up with your old contacts?"
"Yes." he answered without hesitation. "I'd much rather be here with you."
She took the last sip of wine out of her glass. "You should be careful saying things like that." she sat her glass down on the nearby table. "You wouldn't want me to get the wrong idea."
"No, I wouldn't." he replied. "But something tells me it may be a little too late for that now."
He didn't know when they had stopped dancing, but they had. They were standing perfectly still and completely focused on each other. And it seemed as though nothing but trouble was waiting to happen.
Mary watched intently as he inched closer and closer to her, her eyes finally settling on his lips. She knew what was going to happen and she had no intentions of stopping it. For some reason it felt right. And in that moment she wanted him to kiss her. More than anything in the entire world.
She closed her eyes in anticipation and suddenly his mouth was covering hers. Her lips immediately parted under his allowing him to deepen their kiss. He pulled her closer to him as his tongue expertly plundered her warm mouth. As their kiss grew more intense they found themselves gravitating toward the bed.
He broke their kiss. "What are we doing?"
"Well, we were kissing."
Lou smirked. "Yeah." he said. "We don't usually do this."
"No." she agreed. "But we seem to be very good at it though."
tbc...
Feedback is welcomed and appreciated :) Thanks for reading!