Tyler threw caution to the wind, and wrapped strong arms around Serena.
She smiled down at him, triumphant. Tyler sent an apology to wherever Joe might be, as he was clearly a lesser man but the woman in his arms, enemy or not, was beautiful.
He slid into her with a moan, and she cried out above him, riding him as he reached up to slide his hands over her full breasts -
"Tyler! Tyler. Wake up!"
Tyler opened one groggy eye to see Paco grinning at him knowingly.
"Now. I hate to be the man who interrupts another man getting some, whether asleep or awake, but we must get to the hotel."
"Hotel?"
"Yes. You have those in your time?"
Tyler sat up, groaning at the soreness of his side. Falling asleep on a bench was apparently not cool even when you were as cool a guy as Joe Mulcahy.
"Yes, we have hotels in my time," groused Tyler.
"You might, ah, want to look more presentable when The Professor comes back," said Paco, averting his eyes.
"Yeah yeah gimme a minute," complained Tyler, and rearranged his clothes as he waited things out until he was pretty damned calm, although Paco's interruption had done a great deal to douse the flames. "Where did the old prof put us up, anyway?"
"Best hotel in Aguascalientes," beamed Paco.
"Don't tell me," he said.
"Why wouldn't I tell you? How would you know where to go?"
"Figure of speech."
"The Palm Hotel," Paco told him proudly. "First five star establishment here, and one of the first of its kind in all of Ecuador!"
"I thought so," said Tyler. "Can we go to Guatemala instead?"
"Guatemala? Why the hell would you want to go to Guatemala?"
Tyler told him.
The way Paco's expression turned into a stormcloud was impressive, really.
"That bitch is staying at the Palm?!" demanded Paco.
"I'd be real careful what you call her," said Tyler. "She doesn't take kindly to that word."
"Oh, is that so."
"Yeah. It's how I got this shiner," said Tyler, indicating where his face was now tender and swollen. "Hell of an adventurer I am, probably get myself and therefore Joe killed at the first opportunity. You may as well decapitate me with the machete now."
Paco gave him a long look, and then sighed and sat down beside him on the bench.
"Look, Tyler," he said. "Joe is many things, but an elegant and talented adventurer, he is not. He gets us into more scrapes than I care to count, and then needs me to get us out of them. He is clumsy, klutzy, something of a drunk, and he likes women so much they constantly double-cross him. Honestly this day with you has been one of the most uneventful of my career with him, and believe me, that is a compliment."
Paco looked up at the jungle, where the light was fading fast, and making the palm fronds glow a deep and vibrant green.
"When I was a boy here, I dreamed of adventure. I went to America to make my way. I met Joe, and found myself right back where I began. As it turned out, the adventure was at home anyway."
"Is this your way of telling me not to dream of adventure?"
"No! On the contrary. If I hadn't gone, I wouldn't have met Joe. I wouldn't have known the adventure, and spent all my life thinking I was missing something, all the while the adventure was right here. But I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't done that first, and gone through all these crazy things, learned the supernatural was real, found ancient artifacts, everything up to and including meeting you. I think you are a good man, Tyler, and you have a good head on your shoulders, maybe the making of an adventurer yourself. Careful of the women, though, in dreams or otherwise."
Then he chuckled, and Tyler smiled.
"Thanks for the pep talk, Paco," he said. "I appreciate it. I really do. And, y'know. The fact that I still have a head on my shoulders - yeah it's Joe's head, I know, but you get my drift."
"I do indeed get your drift. Ah, The Professor returns. Now, let's get to the hotel, and some well deserved R and R. No women!" Paco warned, and Tyler laughed.
The Palm Hotel was opulent, just as promised, and although lacking in many of the modern amenities Tyler was accustomed to, simply due to the fact that most of them did not yet exist, the place was pretty swank. Tyler was really impressed. There were also things that even his modern age did not have, partly due to cost cutting measures, partly because people had gotten so accustomed to the lack of luxury nobody thought it mattered and so never went to the effort at all.
His room was enormous, with a wraparound balcony that had wooden Venetian doors he could open or close as he liked. A wooden ceiling fan shaped like leaves turned slowly on the ceiling. There was a four-poster bed complete with mosquito netting, and a basin to wash his hands and face, complete with a bar of soap and some towels. The sheets on the bed were high-quality cotton, and the blankets soft in the way only luxury items could be.
He stood out on the balcony in the evening heat, still sweating through the fabric of his shirt despite the swim he had taken earlier in the day. The hotel had its own gardens and a swimming pool, personal butlers, and room service day or night. Even more astounding, especially for the time and location, was the fact that every room had an ensuite bathroom, as indoor plumbing was so brand-new and cutting-edge, only the wealthiest of people could even entertain the possibility in their country houses or otherwise.
Tyler looked out at everyone in the streets, as Aguascalientes seemed even more alive after the sun went down, and the heat was not so oppressive. Children played in the streets while their parents patronized the bars and restaurants of the town, an almighty racket of music and laughter and conversation that thrilled him. For the first time, he soaked in the sensation that he was somewhere else, in a different country, having an adventure.
Still, his earlier inadvertent nap told him that he was probably better off going to sleep, and examined the possibilities of a shower or bath. However, it seemed that if he wanted to freshen up in that way, it would be a grand production. Baths were available, but they needed to be prepared in advance. He ordered one for the following day, hoping that Paco and The Professor would allow him the indulgence, as it seemed they were content to wander around however they were, Paco dirty because it made him appear tough, The Professor somehow completely pristine and not even sweating despite his white outfit and the fact that he was overweight nearing obese. Tyler wondered how he managed it, but figured it must have something to do with rich people magic.
So he cleaned himself off as best he could using the cold water in the basin, more refreshing than he'd expected due to the heat, and crawled into bed without a stitch on him, fearing that he would get the sheets dirty and then also fearing that he'd dream again and get the sheets dirty in another way. He'd never been in a fancy hotel before and it was already difficult enough for him living with his family for all the above reasons.
He figured Joe Mulcahy would not care and just get into bed in the clean fancy sheets without caring if he got them dirty or not, and fall asleep with a whisky hangover or whatever tough guys did who didn't have emotions.
But he must have had some emotions or he wouldn't keep falling for the wrong kind of women, although Tyler supposed that horny might qualify as an emotion of some kind. Unless he genuinely fell in love with all these women who then broke his heart in the end, which seemed more realistic to Tyler because he couldn't really fathom someone being led around by their dick to the point they would end up trapped in an Egyptian tomb, but he'd seen enough of these serials on television to know that such people must exist somewhere, since somebody had to be writing those scripts.
All these thoughts in his head, and all the efforts of the day, not least in the sense that he'd woken up in the body of another man, meant that Tyler fell fast asleep very quickly and his last conscious thought was a vague hope that he would wake up in his own bed at home, with him mom calling him for breakfast and Trixie telling him that if his lazy ass didn't get out of bed she was going to eat all his Pop Tarts.
And since Tyler was a man who had emotions with impunity, the little snuffle he gave voice to as he fell asleep was one he would own up to anytime.