“Christ.” He tried to think of a casual way of asking her to sleep with him. For all their talking, they’d hardly touched on romance—or maybe ...there’d been romance in every word. “I’ll walk you to your hotel,” she said. “Hey, that’s really nice of you,” he said. His voice sounded fakey and forced in his ears. All of a sudden, he wasn’t tired at all, instead his heart was hammering in his chest and his blood sang in his ears. There was hardly any talk on the way back to the hotel, just the. This had happened not that many years ago, Pete couldn’t pin down the exact year, but most everyone alive remembered it happening. The grant under the United States could care less and hadn’t helped the grant recover. The de Castillos were not rich and from that year on just got poorer and poorer.Pete wrote to Charley and we learned how Hank had come to know Don Pedro de Castillo and his daughter.Hank and the two vaqueros from Texas had stopped at the Hacienda for water while riding by. Hank. She was a thirty something Financial District secretary by day and a bi-swinger at night. We lured her and two of her girlfriends home with us that Friday with the promise of a hot tub and some grass; and around three AM her two friends drove home without her.The wine and the hot tub, not to mention what we'd had to drink at the club had us mellow and hazy and comfortable with one another, but not quite ready for an orgy. No, the fact is we fell asleep nude on our king-sized bed.I woke around. Put down your stuff and come and sit down."We dropped our bags and she led us to the living room. Sara and I sat onthe couch and Bev took the wing-back. Jim walked in with iced teas inhand. "Here you go." We both grabbed them and he sat in his recliner.There was some nice jazz playing on the hifi. Her parents preferred acertain ambiance."So how are you guys doing?" Bev said, starting the conversation."Pretty good, Mom. Just going to classes. Same old same old," Sara said."And how are your.