"Which side of the bed will be mine?" he said to her. (The Ibis Apocalypse)

An archaeologist and theorist just can't help speculating

Afterwards, they climbed aboard an antique elevator to ride up to their room on the second floor. He closed the wooden and glass doors and then clanged a metal concertina gate shut. She pressed the button for their floor.

The lift cage gave a judder and started creeping up, the machinery humming busily, like his mind at that moment. This was going to be their first night together.

She caught him staring and wondering.

“What?” she said.

“Speculating is my business. Just speculating."

“I’ll bet you are.”

“I’m wondering which side of the bed will be mine.”

“The side of caution, I’d advise.”

“Really?”

“Unless you want to re-enact Death on the Nile.”

“Now you’re scaring me.”

“Good.”

“This was not in the brochure, Zara. False advertising.

“False something.”

Hopes? Oh well, he thought, shrugging. Best to establish the ground rules so there’d be no misunderstandings. It was early days. And nights. They were going to be cabin mates for a whole Lake Nasser cruise.

Was Zara Margolin going to be all business, all of the time?

He’d acted as a consultant for Intelligence before, but he’d never exactly jumped into bed with them. What was the best way to go about this?

She’d been in the Israeli military before and so she was probably inured to the situation of living with men at close quarters.

From The Ibis Apocalypse - 3rd in the Egypt archaeological adventure trilogy, available in Kindle format