Page 20 of In Bed with the Enemy

"Why?"

I hesitated, wondering whether or not I wanted to share intimate details with her. But, something deep down made me want to open up to this woman. "My mother used to take my brother and me here when we were very young anytime we were in the city. She was born here."

"Oh," she replied, clearly taken aback by my confession. "Well, thank you for sharing that with me," she said, her defenses starting to come down.

"You're welcome," I said with a smile, looking out over the sea of people below us, as well.

The two of us sat in silence until the waitress brought over our pot of coffee. I poured Amy a cup and she took it with a quiet, "thanks."

"So, Ms. Reid," I said, turning to her. "When and where were you scheduled to travel today?"

"Back to San Francisco," she said. "I'm not used to all this snow."

I chuckled. "Yeah, it can certainly be a shock for many. Although, San Francisco gets pretty cold."

"It can," she nodded. "And the weather patterns are only getting worse and more severe."

"Yes, I'm aware," I replied.

More moments of silence passed between the two of us, but they weren't uncomfortable. Our food arrived and neither of us said much as we ate. In a way, it was all very refreshing. Amy and I had been at one another's throats the entire conference. Just sitting here in comfortable silence with her was rather nice.

We both polished off our rather large plates of pancakes. I turned to look at her and smiled, and for the first time, she smiled back.

"Ready to head back?"

"Yeah," she said.

I left enough cash to cover the bill and then some before rounding the table and wrapping my arm around her shoulders. This time, she didn't fight me.

13

AMY

It was all very bizarre. Ethan coming to save me from a situation for which I had no solution, taking me out for breakfast and being an absolute gentleman, then opening up to me a bit about a memory from his childhood. It had my defenses lowering faster than I could work to put them back up.

I trudged through the snow that was piling up on the sidewalk, the light powder moving easily with each of my strides. It was so funny how something so pure and light could cause such problems for the heavy things of the world.

Ethan's arm stayed wrapped around my shoulder.

It felt warm against all the cold of the world.

I couldn't force myself away from him this time, and I didn't even know why.

There were children playing across the street, throwing snowballs at one another. One of them came careening our way and landed squarely on Ethan's shoulder, the white ball bursting into flakes of powder all over what was, no doubt, an extremely expensive coat.

We both froze for a moment and I looked at him uncertainly. What would he do? Was he going to ignore it? Scream at the kids? Go find their parents?

"Be right back," he said, his arm slipping around me, leaving me feeling colder than ever. I watched him run across the street, which wasn't a big deal because there were no cars on the road in the storm.

And then, I watched him do something I hadn't expected at all. He leaned down and packed a bit of snow between his leather gloves and lobbed a snowball gently at one of the young boys that had thrown one his way.

The kids all laughed in excitement that he had joined in and a flurry of snowballs started flying this way and that. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. At one point, Ethan turned around and gestured for me to come over. I laughed and shook my head, but when he did it a second time, I felt compelled to join in on the fun.

I made my way across the street and upon arriving, Ethan jogged over to me and gave me one of the snowballs he had just made. "Come on, Ms. Reid," he said. "I'd love to see that smile of yours again."

The corners of my lips threatened to give him just what he wanted, and I turned away just at the last minute and threw the snowball so he couldn't see. I didn't know just how long we stayed out there, but by the time the kids ran off, the sun was in a significantly different position than it had been when we started.

Ethan ran over to me, his cheeks flushed and his breathing heavy. "That was fun," he said and I couldn't help but smile.

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