I pull on silk boxers, instead of my usual cotton boxer briefs, welcoming the cool, tight fit. In the living room, I find a note from my housekeeper reminding me of her vacation next week. I note it without concern, Mrs. Espinoza has been my housekeeper for nine years. She runs my home so smoothly it would only be a concern if she were retiring. She sees to it my bills are paid, my home is clean, my suits are cleaned and ordered all without ever disturbing me. The note even details how she scheduled others to fill in while she is away. She is the perfect employee.

I pull out the report I was reviewing before Alexa interrupted me. I turn on the television, already on its usual channel, BBC news. The American twenty-four-hour news stopped being endurable to watch almost a decade ago. The report doesn’t hold my attention for long, slowly my mind drifts to Alexa.

As soon as I think of her, the hunger begins again. This is unusual for me, I am not used to need hounding me. Once sex was over, I rarely desired it again for at least a few days. Then again, I usually take my time. Often luxuriating in a woman’s body for hours, not the five minutes I could barely last in the shower. That has to be the reason need still lingers, it has to be. No other explanation is plausible.

Rolling my neck, tension sends me outside. I open the door to my terrace and step out into the cool April night air. I am on the fifty-sixth floor, in the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Chicago. This high the view of the city is invigorating, it’s something I have taken pleasure in countless times. Tonight, the peace I usually find does not come. If I am still here in six months, I will have been here for four years, the longest of any home I have owned and lived in since the home I grew up in.

Of the nine properties, I have purchased and lived in over the last sixteen years this place has been the most comfortable. The condo comprises the entire floor, yet almost daily it is becoming claustrophobic which is why I am often out on the terrace.

I consider checking out the realty website again to see if anything appeals. However, more time in front of a computer does not interest me. A run does though. While there is a workout room in the building, I never use it. One of the bedrooms was made into a home gym before I moved in. There is a treadmill, two different weight machines, a rowing machine, and a heavy bag.