“I keep thinking of Marnee at five. How frightened she’d be.” With the palm of her hand, she gently stroked his face. “There’s no way for Emma Whitman to know this, but she’s lucky to have you working on this.”

“You think so?” he said.

“Oh, yeah. I know you won’t give up. I’ve had some personal experience with your tenaciousness. You found me even when I didn’t want to be found.”

“And you cooked Rena and me dinner. Shrimp and pasta as I recall. It was good.”

“No dinner tonight but a little snack.” She led him into her living room. There was a plate of cheese and crackers and some red grapes. Also a bottle of wine and two glasses.

“Is this the fourteen-dollars-a-glass wine?” he asked.

She smiled. “It may end up costing you a great deal more than that,” she said suggestively.

He smiled. “I’ve always been a fool with my money.”

He took off his suit jacket, loosened his tie and sat down. Patted the spot on the couch next to him. She sat and snuggled close. Her skin was soft and she smelled good.

“This was a crappy thing to come home to after a really good week in California,” she said.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell Traci that you were going, too.”

“I’m not asking for an apology, A.L. It’s your decision who you tell what. I only sent the text because I didn’t want you to be blindsided by your daughter.”

“But you were probably curious as to why I failed to mention it.”

She had her head in the crook of his arm. She looked up with a smile. “Didn’t curiosity kill the cat?”

“You have a right to ask,” he said. “I should have told her. But... I couldn’t.”

“Couldn’t,” she repeated.

“This,” he said, waving his hand at the two of them, “is new to me. I haven’t had this for a... Hell, maybe I’ve never had this. I think I’m not ready for questions about the relationship. I want to keep everybody outside the fence right now. It’s so new, so good, that it feels weird to talk about it. Like I’m not protecting it enough.”

She sat up. “Who needs a fourteen-dollar glass of wine when you say things like that?” Then she leaned in and kissed him. Hard. And he felt the response roar through him.

“I want you,” he said.

“Take me,” she answered.

He slipped his hands under her shirt and pulled it over her head. Then her pajama pants and panties came off. She was gloriously naked in his arms.

“You have too many clothes on,” she said. “And I’m not able to help much.”

Yeah, things like buttons and zippers were a challenge with one hand. “No worries,” he said. “Just keep kissing me.”