Shay shuddered with desire, still held close to solid proof of his masculinity by the dishtowel. His fingers were plucking gently at her nipple and she couldn’t reason, let alone argue. “B-bastard,” she said, and that was the extent of her rebellion.

Mitch slid the top of her blouse aside and bent his head to taste her now-throbbing nipple with an utterly brazen lack of haste. In fact, he satisfied himself at leisure before tugging her bra back into place and straightening her blouse. And then he left.

Shay finished the dishes and then, hating herself, tapped at the door of Hank’s room. “Alice?”

The answer was a sleepy, “Yes, dear?”

“Mitch forgot something here, and I’ve got to take it to him. I’ll be back soon.”

Two hours later Shay returned, hair and clothes slightly rumpled, lips swollen with Mitch’s kisses. Alice was knitting, the television tuned to a mystery program, and even in the dim light of the living room, Shay could see the sparkle in her grandmother’s eyes. The lady was clearly nobody’s fool.

“Did you have a nice time, dear?”

Every part of Shay was pulsing with the “nice time” she’d had in Mitch Prescott’s arms. “Yes,” she said, in classic understatement, and then she excused herself to take a bath and get ready for bed.

Because the last commercial was being taped the next morning and Alice wanted to watch, Shay arrived at work with her grandmother in tow.

The enormous hairy hand towered in the middle of the main showroom, and Shay shook her head as she looked at it. She was given a flowing white dress to put on in the restroom, and Richard’s assistant applied her makeup.

At least the showroom had been closed for whatever length of time it would take to get the spot on videotape, Shay noted with relief. Using a stepladder, she climbed into the palm of that hand and stretched out on her side, trying to keep the dress from riding up. Richard followed her up and carefully closed the huge fingers of the hand around her.

Before going back down the stepladder he winked at Shay and told her again that Marvin was going to be proud of her.

“This is really the way Fay Wray got her start, huh?” Shay muttered, trying to be a good sport about the whole thing. After all, this was the last commercial she would ever appear in.

Looking down, Shay saw her grandmother talking with Ivy, but there was no sign of Mitch. Her feelings about that were mixed. On the one hand, she hated to have him see her in such a ridiculous position. On the other, it was always comforting to know that he was there somewhere.

This time the cameras were above her, on the mezzanine, along with an enormous fan. A microphone had been hidden in the neckline of Shay’s chiffon dress.

“Ready?” Richard called from his place between the two cameramen.

Shay nodded; she was as ready as she was ever going to get.