“Until next time, Darkling.”

The line clicked. Zack hung up the phone and looked at his clock. Twenty-three minutes. If this kept up, John might just break his record.

“Until next time,” Zack repeated, grinning like a fool.

He put his head down on his desk and made a frustrated noise. Fuck, he was really turned on. Now that he didn’t have a sexy man moaning in his ear, he realized he shouldn’t have indulged John like that. He might read too much into it. At least Colette would be happy, and Zack would get extra commission for keeping a client on the phone for so long.

Zack kept his head down and thought about everything from baseball to the time Ziggy had vomited all over his bed. After a few minutes, his erection subsided.

“Fuck me,” he said to himself, scrubbing a hand over his eyes. “I’ve got to get it together.” He got turned on while he was working every now and then—he was young and had a healthy sex drive, after all—but John had taken it to a different level. Zack was going to have to watch himself.

He somehow breezed through the rest of his workday, though if asked to repeat what he said to his other clients, he wouldn’t have been able to. A little before midnight, Colette stopped by his cubicle to compliment him on his “hard work” (e.g., a call over ten minutes) and tell him he could go home.

Before he could do more than grab his things, however, Colette asked, “Was this the same client you had last week?”

Zack faltered. He didn’t want to answer her, even though he had no reason not to. He pretended to tidy his desk to avoid looking her in the eye and said, “I’m not sure. He had the same name, but it’s a common one.”

“You didn’t recognize his voice? He didn’t ask if you remembered him?”

“No,” Zack said, finally looking up, “he didn’t.” It wasn’t technically a lie, though his sweaty palms disagreed.

Colette gave him an odd look but didn’t press him further. “Well, enjoy the rest of your weekend.”

“You too.”

Zack had to force himself not to bolt out the door. He made the mistake of glancing toward Alexa’s desk and saw her gathering her things. She caught his eye and waved at him like she wanted him to wait. He mouthed an apology and rushed past. He needed to get home and think about all this, preferably while pounding back a beer or twelve.

Zack made the trek to his place, pulsing with impatience the entire time. When he finally reached his building, he whistled for Ziggy and began the complicated process of getting into his apartment. A few seconds later, the door cracked open. Ziggy darted inside, and Zack reached over to flick on the light.

As soon as he did, he saw a dark figure sitting on his sofa. Zack shrieked in an octave he didn’t know his vocal cords could reach.