I love hotel sheets because they are always clean, a blank canvas waiting for you to wrap your day into. When I woke up that morning I curled up in these sheets and was able to smell him. There was no hint of dog/cat/laundry detergent, just him and us from last night.
The curtains were closed, hiding reality from us. I rolled over to look at him and caught him watching me. I smiled a shy smile.
"What?" he asked.
"I love you," I breathed out.
"You're beautiful," he whispered back.
I wasn't that morning and I knew it, but I also knew that he believed it. I snuggled into his arms, breathing in the safety. For a while we lay there, ignoring the world. I memorized little parts of him. My fingers traced his ear lobe, my lips brushed his eye lids, my cheek felt the warmth of his chest. I felt him smell my hair and oh so softly kiss the top of my head.
Time stood still.
Eventually housekeeping knocked on our door, unlocked it, and broke the spell. She asked when we were leaving and I wanted to scream Never! but instead I said "Soon".
Slowly we got dressed and prepared ourselves for the weeks that lay ahead. Our work schedules meant that we would hardly see each other for a while. But that's why we had this night. So that when I was dealing with a difficult customer or when he worked his 2nd 12 hour day we would be able to look back at this night and smile.
And remember what it was like when we made the world stand still.