Hi Folks! I hope you enjoy this chapter of the Boxer Guy. I hope you can feel the push and the pull from Harvey and Donna but also how if they had not been working together how they could become friends. I wanted to illustrate that because of who they were together they would become friends before or during falling in love. Please R & R if so moved. Thank you for the review and the followings. I am always inspired by your comments. Love - Carebearmaxi.

The Boxer Guy

Chapter 8

As they approached the hotel in the car, Donna was surprised that the building was a cut above the Super 8 Motel Motor Lodge she was expecting. The sky was dark at one am but she could tell by the wide windows on the exterior of the building of three floors that maybe Harvey was a man who did not like to settle for accommodations based on one's pocketbook.

They entered the building and the lobby was wide. The clerk at the desk was dressed business casual with a jacket and nameplate. He was young, probably around the same age as Harvey and Donna, and smiled as they approached.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes. Harvey Specter. I have a reservation," Harvey stated as he handed him his credit card.

The clerk looked in his computer for the reservation and said, "Yes. Room 235," Will, the clerk, said as he ran Harvey's credit card and retrieved the key.

"Here is your key. Room service is available for breakfast starting at 6 am as well as a Continental breakfast served in our dining room which is on your left. All other information is in the room. Is there anything else, I can do for you?"

Harvey looked at Donna who shook her head.

"No. Thank you. Good night," Harvey said pleasantly.

"Good night, sir and ma'am."

As they walked away, Donna quipped, "Did he just call me ma'am?"

Harvey smiled because it seemed that oft polite term had perhaps insulted her.

"Do I look old enough to be a ma'am?"

Harvey looked at her and said, "Donna." He thought "Of course not. You're beautiful".

They arrived at Room 235. Harvey acting the gentlemen and carrying her small bag and overstuffed food box along with his bag. He dropped their bags on the floor and carried Donna's food to the round table next to the window.

Donna noticed that there was only one bed in the room.

"Harvey."

"Yes," Harvey replied as he looked at Donna. He had not noticed that there was only one bed in the room. He licked his lip and then looked at Donna hesitantly assured that, however he explained that the hotel made a mistake, Donna would think he went out of his way just to sleep with her.

Donna tilted her head and made a wry mouth.

"As much as I approached you and maybe want to sleep with you, I wasn't planning on it tonight. I didn't think you were the type of man that would try to coerce a woman out of her will."

Harvey laughed.

"Ok, Donna, the first thing is that I don't think anyone could coerce you out of your will. Number 2, I specifically asked for accommodations for two people hence two beds. The hotel made a mistake."

Donna stood there looking at him. She stood on the other side of the one bed in the room. She tilted her head in almost disbelief. She then smiled and shook her head.

"How about we ignore the fact of one bed and you open that bottle of wine you brought? I think in the bathroom there should be a couple of cups," she said as she walked past him into the bathroom.

Harvey watched her as she shook her head in his direction while walking past him to the bathroom. He then took a look behind him, but the bathroom door was half closed. He decided instead to do as she said and open the bottle of wine. Luckily he remembered to borrow a corkscrew from Marcus at the restaurant. He devoutly promised that Marcus would have it when he returned to the apartment.

While Donna was in the bathroom, she purposely half closed the door. Her nerve endings tingled with anticipation. She had told Harvey that she was not planning on having sex with him yet, but she really wanted to. Although she was tired and very hungry she thought if he had made a pass at her she would not have the strength to stop him. His reputation of being a womanizer notwithstanding. Her empathic power just knew there was more to him than what his words conveyed or what other women said about him. She was moving on instinct alone.

She looked in the mirror at herself as she retrieved the plastic covered plastic cups from the sink counter. The harsh fluorescent light showing up her smudged makeup and overly frizzy red hair. She had done her own makeup for the spotlight and it showed up harsh and unbecoming in the bathroom's harsh illumination. She raised her shoulders in a fateful gesture. Picking up the cups, she walked out of the bathroom.

Donna emerged from the bathroom and then stopped dead in her tracks. Harvey had apparently set the small round table near the window and opened the drapes a bit to show some of the stars on this cold February night. She looked at him as he stood proudly next to the prettily set table.

"Uh…where did you get the plates? I'm glad that you have it set for two because I know I cannot finish what Marcus packed me."

"Well, I thought you wouldn't mind. So, I decided I would take you up on your offer and nosh a bit." Harvey smiled a Cheshire Cat smile.

Donna could not help but return the smile. He held the chair out for her as he waited for her to come to the table. She sat down and he pushed the chair in. He took the seat on the other side of the table. Donna watched him as she opened her food box and examined the samples of the varied dishes that were served earlier. As she began to cut into a piece of beef with gravy, she watched as Harvey pulled out an electric guitar. It was not his bass because she could recognize one of those, but it was a regular six string Les Paul model.

"Where was that?" Donna said pointing at it. "I didn't see you carry it in."

"I ran down to the car and got it. It's mine. I play bass in the band, but I use this when I'm in the mood for serenading."

"It usually works better with an amplifier," Donna remarked squinting at him sarcastically.

"Eat your food," Harvey commanded playfully.

Donna and he began to laugh.

"Ok, so why don't you play the saxophone like your dad and why doesn't Marcus play an instrument?"

Harvey and Donna were sitting on the bed noshing on the breads that Marcus packed in with all the dinner dishes. Donna stole the cheese bread as soon as she noticed it slapping Harvey's hand out of the way.

"Hey, I saw it first!" Donna said holding onto the small roll with yummy cheesecake like filling inside.

"No, you didn't! I did!" Harvey protested hanging onto a piece of the bread but holding Donna's hand along with it.

They both played tug-o-war with it when suddenly it ripped in half and Donna went tumbling off the bed with her tiny piece still held tenaciously in her hand.

They both giggled until tears were pouring down their cheeks.

"Ok, I win again!" Harvey claimed as he helped Donna from the floor.

"I don't play saxophone because I don't have the breath or the talent for it. My brother isn't musical at all. He can't even sing! You should hear him in the shower. He easily sounds like a ghoul in a horror picture!" Harvey said through his laughing fits.

As he laughed, his eyes never strayed from Donna. There was something about her that was so different from the other women he had dated. Well, slept with. Scottie was the only other one at the moment that had warranted his other attentions not just his libido.

She's even more different than Scottie he thought.

"Ok, my turn," Harvey said. "You have a sister, right?"

"Yes, but she's about six years older than me. Hates anything to do with show business. She's a real estate agent."

"Has she ever seen you perform?"

"Once, when I played Ophelia in high school. She dismissed me because she thought my acting was too robotic. She never liked my singing either."

"Do you ever talk to her?"

Donna looked into mid-air trying to calculate when was the last time she saw her older sister.

"About six years ago. I was in The Miracle Worker and I was understudying another play. I also was singing with my friend, Samantha, in a band."

Harvey munched thoughtfully on some chips he had found in the "eats" bag as he listened to Donna catalog the events that her sister missed.

"Do you miss her?" Harvey wondered.

"No. Would you miss your brother if he suddenly decided to exit from your life?"

"That's different. I've always taken care of him. I'm the older sibling," Harvey responded.

"That's evasive. Would you?" She asked persistent for an answer.

Harvey looked at her and finishing the last chip stated emphatically with a nod. "Yes, I would."

"Well, that's one thing in your favor. Family seems to be very important to you."

"My dad and my brother. My mom not so much."

Donna stopped munching on the scraps from the bag. She took a sip of her wine and looking at Harvey asked. "Why not your mother?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Harvey said suddenly becoming defensive.

I hit a nerve she thought.

They munched in silence for a couple of seconds. Donna could only see the side of his face. His jaw was set and he deliberately looked at the chips in the bag-very silently.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject," Donna said apologetically.

Harvey shook his head and put his hand on Donna's. He looked at her with sincerity in his brown eyes. "It's ok. You didn't know."

After they smiled at one another, Donna asked. "So, why do you box?"

"Why do you do yoga and get sprained ankles jumping off your spin bike?"

That got him to smile again as she laughed with him that he remembered her sprained ankle of last week when they met face to face.

"You first…no, how about I guess," Donna responded.

Harvey just looked at her from the side of his face and smirked. "Ok, guess," he acquiesced smirking.

"It keeps you in shape and it entices the women in the gym to see how manly you are," Donna quipped.

"Is that what you thought when you saw me?"

She playfully and lightly smacked his shoulder.

"You'll never know what I thought when I looked at you."

"Oh, you recognized me from that stupid commercial I did with the band more than a year ago."

They both continued to laugh and eat. When Harvey returned to his question.

"So. Your turn. Why?"

"Because it keeps me in shape and I don't normally jump off my spin bike or sprain my ankle. I give myself credit for being a bit more athletic." Donna could see the disbelief in his eyes.

"Oh…okay," Harvey said still smiling at her. He could see that she was appalled that he did not believe her. He did but he was only teasing.

"You don't believe that I'm athletic," Donna said insulted.

"No, I truly do. I was just teasing."

He reached over and kissed her.

Donna became flustered and flattered all at once.

She quietly asked. "What was that for?"

"Because I wanted to…"

The atmosphere changed again the jovial environment air of getting acquainted evaporated and changed to something else. Something not ominous but, perhaps, inevitable.

Then Harvey rose from his sitting position on the bed.

"Where are you going?" Donna asked.

He looked at the faux gold watch on his arm. "It's 4:00 am. I have to get some sleep before I drop you off back at your place and begin the trek to Boston."

Donna's head did a quick swivel.

"Boston? Why are you going to Boston?"

"Business."

She noted as he lit the light to the bathroom and stood in the doorway how tired he looked. His big brown eyes were red rimmed and his morning beard was appearing. She had decided from his tone not to pry further into what type of business he had in Boston.

"Well, I have enough for cab fare so I can go back to the apartment. I'm sure Louis and Sheila are sleeping in. You don't have to take me back. Boston can be a long drive if you haven't had any sleep."

"That's why if I sleep for a few hours I can be on my way by 9."

"Harvey, this brings us back to our original problem. There's only one bed," Donna protested.

He came out of the bathroom brushing his teeth. He looked at her and then slid back into the bathroom to spit and rinse. He exited shutting off the light. He looked at Donna with a question raising his eyebrow.

"Look, give me a pillow and a blanket. I've slept on the floor before. You can have the bed."

"You would do that for me?" Donna asked thinking how selfless he was being.

Looking seriously at her, Harvey said, "I would do anything for you, Donna."