PART CHAPTER THE DOVETAILS HOTEL by MICHAEL WALSH. After meeting online, novelist Gareth and Felicity take a blind date flight to Geneva airport to enjoy a car tour through the Alps.

After grabbing her almost forgotten bag from their parked car, an out-of-breath Felicity re-joined Gareth just as he reached reception. Booking their room was cheerily done and without complications. Gareth’s passport was all that was needed.

‘My mum told me there was a time you would need a visa to travel to countries in Europe.’

Gareth grinned, ‘MasterCard does me but I sometimes use American Express.’

Felicity rolled her eyes heavenwards. ‘Can’t you be serious occasionally, Gareth?’

You said something, Felicity?’

‘At least your photograph looks good,’ she smiled as the helpful receptionist completed the booking. ‘Mine looks like I am too ill to travel.’

‘I just got lucky,’ her friend smiled. ‘I took one thousand photos and I found one that looked like me.’

Nonchalantly, the couple thanked the receptionist. Smiling nervously, an apprehensive Felicity accompanied her fellow traveller across the small lobby to the small hotel’s elevator.

Felicity thought is it seemed weird to be trotting along an upstairs hotel corridor with a man who let’s face it was a complete stranger to her. Once inside their hotel room, she could only trust that he was a genuine guy. Had her date decided to take advantage of her then she wouldn’t have a very strong case. It might reasonably be asked, what did you expect after meeting a guy in another country after only exchanging a few emails?

Physically, the hotel part-owner was vulnerable. Such was her light frame; Felicity was occasionally asked if she had once been a ballerina. On the other hand, Gareth was tall and athletic and he was a guy who liked working out.

The experience of going into a hotel suite with someone she hardly knew and wasn’t in a relationship with was daunting, to say the least.

After all, if a bedroom isn’t an invasion of personal space what on earth is? In a futile effort to bolster her self-confidence, Felicity kept going through her mind the conditions they had agreed on. They were travelling companions like brother and sister or two company reps; end of.

After using the bathroom, Felicity set to unpacking. With an outward appearance of calm, she then placed the contents of her travelling bags in drawers and hung her outfits on the rails in her side of the wardrobe.

Throughout their settling in, little was said. What passed between the two was typical of small talk. She couldn’t help but wonder what Gareth thought as they organised their first night’s stay together at the hotel stopover.

As she neatly placed her smalls in the bedside table drawer, Felicity became aware that her travelling buddy had finished putting his stuff away. Now, whilst standing at the side of the bed, she realised that her new friend was undressing as casually as he might if they were in a conventional relationship. Trying to stay calm was difficult, to say the least. Felicity by way of distraction focused on putting the room’s television on.

‘I should have asked reception if they had an iron,’ she supposed in a strained voice.

Felicity wasn’t very good at staying calm in a stressful situation. It was with some relief when from the corner of her eye she saw her roommate wrap a towel around his midriff and disappear into the bathroom.

By the time her roomie had showered, Felicity’s nerves had calmed a little. It did cross her mind that she was overreacting. Everything that was happening could easily have been presumed long before she had packed her bags at the Dovetails Hotel and accepted Leonora’s offer to drop her off at their local airport

Deciding that the best strategy was to relax and quit worrying, she paid little attention as her newfound friend afterwards dressed out of sight behind the opened wardrobe door.

One of their promises was that when on the road and at their hotels and restaurants their phones would rarely be used. Felicity recalled an email exchanged before travel arrangements had been made in which Gareth had made matters clear.

‘There is no way I am going to tour Europe with anyone who is going to give her friends and family back home a running commentary of the trip while I am driving.’

‘That suits me fine,’ Felicity had messaged back. ‘I am very negative about mobile phones. They’re a conversation killer and I use mine very sparingly.’

It had been agreed that Felicity could take the wheel but only when she felt comfortable doing so. Gareth reminded her that he too needed a relaxing break.

‘If you’re nervous about driving abroad, dear, you can leave the driving to me.’

Her travelling companion added that he wasn’t considering doing much driving after darkness. It had been decided that they would either dine at the hotels and guesthouses they stayed in. Otherwise, they would have their hotel call a cab.

Felicity would get to choose whichever table they would sit at when visiting restaurants or at each hotel’s dining room. Choice of the TV channel was open.

She would also get to choose the bed and she would get priority use of the bathroom. The itinerary would be decided by Gareth but he would be open to suggestions.

‘This one’s mine, Gareth,’ Felicity smiled as she nodded in the direction of the almost double-sized single bed placed nearest the bathroom and room door.’

‘Do you snore?’

‘My ex never complained,’ Felicity smiled as she carefully paid attention to her appearance in the dressing table mirror.

‘I like the bathroom, do you,’ he asked.

‘I do too, especially if you remember to close the door.’

Felicity was under no illusions. The night ahead or rather the sleeping arrangements agreed upon were her only cause for unease. To say it would be a weird experience to undress for bed and to sleep in the next bed to a virtual stranger was an experience she had never anticipated doing.

‘People just don’t do that sort of thing or maybe they do that sort of thing,’ she had thought to herself.

THE DOVETAILS HOTEL A charming romantic and risqué comedy that dares to discover the taboo pleasures of a ménage a trois relationship. Michael Walsh award-winning novelist amusingly reveals the amorous love lives of Gareth and his two attractive lady friends who are happy to share more than just friendship with the debonair novelist.   BUYFROM AMAZON, LULU or BOOKSTORES. Click the Link or Picture for more information. https://michaelwalshbooks.wordpress.com/