Tied Up at a Party

We headed for the bedroom door just as the hostess briskly opened it, three newly arrived guests in tow, clearly receiving the grand tour. She seemed startled at first, but luckily Ethan filled the silence with an effortless explanation, charmingly smooth as usual.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said with a cutely innocent grin. "We'll get out of your way; I can see you're trying to show off your gorgeous home."

"That's ok," the hostess replied, her awkward chuckle only half concealing her suspicion. "We've been wondering where you two disappeared off to."

Ethan smiled back genuinely, easing the tension and making up for what the hostess' reaction lacked. "We just needed somewhere private to talk. Something came up at home and I had to steal her away for a moment to figure things out. Sorry for keeping her so long." He slid an arm around my waist and gently led me from the bedroom.

As we escaped down the hall, we had to contain our giggling, half from the anxiety of coming so close to being caught, and half from the excitement of it all. However, it wasn't until we had rejoined the party and Ethan pulled me in to whisper something in my ear when I really couldn't hide my laughter anymore; he had forgotten his silk tie, still lying in a prominently crumpled heap on the bed, no doubt discovered by our hostess and her guests, a tell-tale sign of the wonderfully dirty things we had done in that room only seconds before.