A half hour later, I was in my underwear, staring at the ceiling, ignoring the talking heads on CNN, and trying to ignore the feeling that I'd badly blown the dinner just past.

Deciding to apologize once again, I grabbed my cell off the nightstand and started looking up the number, but was interrupted by a knock at the door.

I rolled from the bed to standing, and loped to my door, wincing as I caught my toe on the second double bed in the room. A quick glance through the peephole had me scrabbling at the locks to get the door open.

"Wha-" I started, before the door caught...