Winners Don't Have Bad Days (Watty 2020 Winner, Romance)

40. #Short, January 2019

In Mike's fantasies, he always cradled Daya after lovemaking. 

In reality, he spent the night afraid to move on his half of the bed. He got most of the blanket, because Daya was a hot sleeper, but his muscles ached from the imposed immobility. He even thought about returning to his own room. 

Nobody is going anywhere tonight.

So he stayed put, closed his eyes, opened them again.

And he stayed.

Whenever he couldn't hear her breathe, he held his own, panicking that he dreamed it all up, and he would wake up in his own hotel room.

But no, he was in Daya's bed, alone with the post-coital fallout. Emptied, because it had happened after so long an obsession and was so short an act in comparison. Getting used to the memory of what it was like replacing the dream of what it might have been like. And fighting the primal need to misbehave, wake her up and not let go till her womb quickens.

How he fell asleep, he didn't notice. Then the woman who kept him afraid to sneeze for hours, woke him up with a minty kiss. "Sleepyhead!"

Her skin was cool, with a lingering smell of soap. She had a black Lulu on... the same Lulu or the new one... who could tell... Her skate suitcase stood by the door, the outfit bag with the costume hanging over it.

"I hated to wake you, but I wanted to tell you that the room key is on the table." She pointed to a plastic rectangle next to his glasses.

"Could I check out of my room now?" he asked, picking up her hand, and threading her fingers through his. This is where the ring will go.

Daya pretended to think. "Hmm, if you're moving to Ontario, you'll need every dollar, so yes. Stop paying for an empty room." She reached for the receiver of the hotel's phone.

Mike folded his arms under his head, playing cool. "It might go better with the front desk if you officially accept my marriage proposal. They might be conservative here, you know."

"Uh-huh." Daya pressed zero by touch, holding his gaze and smiling. "Good morning. It's room 815... yes, everything is great. My boyfriend has just proposed, so I was wondering..."

She paused for the excited noises on the other end of the line. Mike couldn't quite make out the words, but the voice was feminine. 

"Oh, thank you, thank you very much. We were wondering if it's okay for him to get added to my room, if there are any extra charges and ... okay, thank you so much."

"Thank you again." There were more noises before Daya grinned. "My fiance's name is Mike Wilson. He'll be right down."

She hung up the receiver and caressed his cheek, unknowingly bringing him back from the dumbstruck state her words left him in. "Sorry, honey. Now you don't get to sleep in."

"It's perfect..." Mike said after he regained the gift of speech. "Perfect..."

"I don't eat during the competitions, but I texted Shanti to meet you for breakfast. She'd been dying to meet you."

She got up with a regretful sigh. "I must run now, or I will be late for practices. Mike... will you be okay with Pavel this time?"

Mike smiled and stretched. "Me, jealous? After listening to you breathe next to me in the night?" So what if Pavel was tall, handsome and blessed with a ridiculous combination of the athletic and artistic qualities? Every man in the world should be jealous of him, Mike Wilson.

"I'll take it as a yes." She blew him a kiss from the doors and left.

Mike jumped out of bed the moment the rattling of her suitcase died down.