Love Is Nuts (3 Tales) Read Free

under his breath, he stepped back a pace – wham – and kicked the door in.
    Mona gasped and grabbed for a towel.
    Danny stared in dumb wonder. “You’re naked.”
    Well, she had been before the towel covered all the good parts. Danny hated that towel.
    “I…I was g-going to soak in the tub. It helps me relax,” she stammered.
    Amazing. They’d both been thinking of steamy baths. Except the one he had in mind was a lot larger.
    “How about a soak in a Jacuzzi instead? There’s a huge one here, according to the brochures. Big enough to swim in.” He took off his T-shirt and loafers.
    She backed up a step, looking like a deer bayed by hounds. “What are you doing?”
    “Stripping for the hot tub. It’s in the Skyclad Court. No clothes. You did know there was a nudist park attached to this place, right?” His jeans hit the floor.
    “I didn’t read the brochures,” she strangled out.
    “Mona, why are you blushing? We have been naked together before.”
    “Not in public!”
    “But that’s the beauty of this plan,” he whispered. “C’mon, don’t you want to escape Saturday’s circus?”
    None of their guards would expect them to try an escape in the nude. Well, the disembodied ones might, but as long as he didn’t actively think about his plan he could hopefully throw them off, too. And God knew a naked Mona gave him plenty else to think about. Even dressed, Mona was a powerful distraction, a force to be reckoned with. She was so different from other girls he’d dated, wasn’t she? So straightforward and straight-talking, so open and unpretentious. So real .
    Their past affair had been short, but in the course of it she’d struck chords inside him no one else ever had. In bed they’d made beautiful music together, to use an old cliché – but it fit. No, the sex hadn’t been his usual kinky fare, but maybe that’s why it was so good. Mona hadn’t needed kink to arouse him. She’d offered something better. Honest emotion. And he just hadn’t been able to handle it. Then. But looking back on it, Danny saw the truth now. She’d scared the crap out of him. Hell, that was why he’d ended that affair so soon. Because deep down he’d known she was getting under his skin.
    “Escape?” she mouthed, evidently realizing the need for secrecy. She caught on fast.
    Or maybe not.
    “Yeah, sure.” Her gaze darkened with sad cynicism, wistful and scornful at once. “I should’ve known you’d find a way out, Romeo.”
    “Horse hockey,” Angelica would have said (if she knew) – which she didn’t (he hoped). And neither did Mona. But Danny couldn’t risk explaining the plan now. He wrapped a towel around his hips while Mona re-anchored her towel sarong-style; then he handed her purse to her and steered her through the suite toward freedom – depending on your definition of freedom, that was.
    Did it mean playing the field, having multiple ever-changing choices? Or landing at last on one field, one solid choice, and putting down roots. The first way, he knew from experience, gave you an ephemeral sense of freedom, a temporary rush, like a bird soaring high in the air. But even birds had to land sometime…build nests…
    Maybe it was time for him to land, too? Willingly and without regrets? That way led to freedom of the soul , he’d heard. But from who? Or should that be whom? Grammar had never been his strong suit. Neither was philosophy, for that matter.
    Good God, where were all these concepts coming from anyway? He’d never been a deep thinker before. He suddenly wondered if all the spirit guides hovering about had been surreptitiously guiding him.
    So, okay, maybe he’d inherited some of his grandmother’s abilities; maybe he was a little psychic, too. Angelica said everyone was, but most repressed it. Danny was willing to believe that now. He’d always had fleeting visions, heard whispers in his head. But he’d never listened to them before. Maybe the prospect of fatherhood had shocked