She clung to him, her hands smoothing the big shoulders, fingers tangling in the thick hair curling against his collar. She had not realized she could feel this way anymore. She was young and giddy and hopeful again, filled with the knowledge that she was, finally, in the right place with the right man.

He stood and drew her up with him, holding her by the upper arms and gazing intently down into her face. “Just so you know,” he whispered, “I don’t do one-night stands.”

“That’s not what this is,” she said.

“So what is it?”

Oh, she needed him. Not just in her arms, but in her life. Not just for tonight, but forever. She needed soft searching kisses and warm flesh against warm flesh. Endless conversations about things only they understood. The simple joy of building a life together, moment by moment. It was amazing, the way she and Tony seemed to know and crave each other. They were intimate strangers who had been dreaming of this meeting for years, moving toward it without knowing it.

“It’s what should have happened years ago.”

He smiled. “That’s what I thought, too.” He kissed her again, keeping their mouths joined even as he walked her slowly backward. The hardwood floor changed to carpet under her feet, and she pulled back briefly to gather fleeting impressions of his bedroom. King-size bed. Old-fashioned dresser with a framed photo of his family. A shoeshine kit left out. Several neckties draped over the back of a chair.

He grinned sheepishly. “I wasn’t sure what to wear tonight. I was a little nervous.”

She took his hand, held it over her thumping heart. She was so glad he’d admitted it. “I’m nervous now.”

“Yeah,” he said, his thumb tracing the line of her collarbone. “Me, too. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time.” He plucked ineffectually at her dress. “I didn’t picture you wearing chain mail, though. Geez, Elaine, you got a chastity belt under this?”

She laughed softly and reached back to unclasp the mesh overdress, letting it slide down her torso and pool like fallen coins around her feet. She stepped toward him, into his arms, and when she looked into his eyes, she saw herself reflected there, and the love and wonder on her face was startling.

After that, there were no more awkward moments between them, not even as they undressed. She felt only a searing anticipation and breath-held awe at the realization that finally, unexpectedly, she had rediscovered something real, something to give depth and resonance to her life, to fill the empty spaces where cold loneliness had taken up residence, to make her matter in a way she had never mattered before.