It was probably 3 minutes after midnight, and Alan was already logged-out of his shift, still printing the paperwork for Karyia, when the reception phone started ringing.
"Can you get that one for me, Atty?"-the female receptionist asked from the employee room, busy scrolling through the posts on her own cellphone since she clocked into her night shift. The male Puma sighed and reluctantly picked-up the phone, while grabbing his car keys from the desk with the other hand. "Hotel West, how can I help you?"-he recited with a tired, yet polite tone in his voice.
"Is Alan still there?"-a quiet female voice inquired.
"Speaking?!-" He answered, when the stranger asked for a toothbrush. An odd hour to ask for a dental hygiene product, but he wasn't paid to question the habits of guests. "No problem- I'd be glad to bring it to your room-" he paused after he noticed the call was coming from a cellphone number, instead of a guest room. He continued- "..my apologies- I failed to notice your room number. May I ask�" The brief answer followed by dropped phone call tone caught him shocked and woefully unprepared. Alan, still confused, walked into the supply room, picked one of the generic white toothbrushes and notified his female colleague on his way through the door. "I'll drop-off this and then I'm outta here."
The female hotelier, now by the desk, although still glued at her phone display, waved in his direction. "Go get'em- and see ya later, Atty". The Tall male hotelier was already pushing the floor number in elevator, completely buried into the thoughts, rolling wild in his mind.
That's her room. Alan knew it the moment the shy voice on the phone told him that number. He could not get her picture out of his mind since that moment when he witnessed that tiny rodent girl was ready to throttle Karyia- the most volatile coworker he ever worked with. And it wasn't just temperament- her looks too. When she was leaving with her brother, he could not stop gazing at her figure as she walked past the lobby, catching that taxi. Although formally dressed, he glimpsed at her legs. Judging by the way how she was pacing towards exit assured him that she was one of those athletic types, likely a runner. And then couple of hours later. She arrived alone. Looked like she swam to Seattle, very upset and pretty toasted.
He felt really bad for her, however in the elevator, could not resist secretly looking at her reflection. He really wanted to catch just one good look at her ankles, but there was no stopping. The more parts of an image his eyes were absorbing, the more intoxicating it was for his brain. And the moment he was about to get himself under control he noticed her blouse and all the secrets the wet fabric revealed. He momentarily lost control over his body and it was undoubtedly the most embarrassing moment when he got made by looking at each other, in the mirror of the same elevator he's right now. That same second it happened, he was convinced it's his turn to get shredded by her squirrel claws, and truthfully, he felt he'd deserve that for how he acted. But to his surprise, she decided to pretend it never happened, and he could swear she blushed, but very likely because she was pretty imbibed.
He was falling head over heels, unable to think clearly, and he was cursing himself for even daring to act in such informal way. Part of his male mind was going wild by sporting a thought that she was like some other female guests, which could get tempted and ...no.. Alan shook his head. She was different, and it was apparent that she can do better than him. Strong on the outside as well as strong within, no matter how much she drank that night, she's an outstanding gal with thick southern accent. He was subduing any crazy ideas for the very rest of his shift, and was ready to drive himself home. And now, after that brief call... from Sandy... his mind was going crazy, he was squeezing that toothbrush for dear life, trying to keep his heartbeat and his mental state in check, as the elevator made it to the floor. Upon leaving the elevator, the male hotelier stopped, straightened his tie ans while walking he tried to rally himself.
It's just a toothbrush, either for her or her brother Randy, it matters not. He'll drop it there, and politely leaves as he's obliged to do. Once he's gonna get home, behind locked door of his small apartment, then his imagination can go wild and to his shame and guilt he's likely going to masturbate in the shower to the image of a small rodent with a bushy tail. But in the meantime, he still has to be Alan- an employee of hotel West. He can do that.
After three knocks, the door opened and he half-coherently handed the toothbrush to the hand of silently-standing female figure in the door. He didn't dare to make contact at first, but he noticed she still was in her wet clothes. He looked at her face while trying to say something about getting cold but she stopped him mid-sentence by pressing her finger to his mouth in order to silence him. Sandy's face was stern, frightened even, but also something different, a feeling that confused the male hotelier was unable to decipher. There was no sultry look, nothing that could suggest what's about to happen. They were both silently looking into each other's eyes, and although it was a brief moment, it felt like a lifetime. Alan finally managed to free his look from those hypnotizing green eyes of hers and was ready to tip his hat and turn into hallway, when all went downhill.
