She brushed her teeth almost savagely and headed into the shower, forgetting at first that she wanted it cold and standing in the steam. But the steam made her think of him...

No, no, she told herself, just his body. He had an enticing body, strong, lean, muscled. It had been a long, long time since she’d even accepted a date for coffee or a drink. She was busy. She was...awkward.

She kept too much inside, and she’d always been afraid of getting too close...

Well, she wasn’t thinking marriage proposal.

She was just thinking sex.

She shouldn’t be. She should be trying to solve the puzzle of her parents, Orlando, New Orleans, Jennie, Dr. Neil Browne, the Axeman...

But thinking like that was making her anxious.

Maybe it was better to think about sex.

She turned off the shower, stepped out and dried off. She knew she was exhausted, but she felt she was too keyed-up to sleep. She thought she would just lie down, turn on something completely diverting to watch...

A ridiculous comedy. But not a romantic one!

Nothing about criminals...

Not the news, which would be about murder...

She was standing by her television, holding the remote before a blank screen and wearing nothing but a towel, when she heard something downstairs. Like a door or a drawer closing.

Pure terror seized her.

While telling herself it was the stupidest thing to do, she raced out into the second-story hallway, ready to bang on Dan’s door or go flying down the stairs to meet the danger head-on.

She froze.

Dan was coming up the stairs with a pack of cookies from her cupboard and a bottle of iced tea.

He met her eyes.

He’d showered, too. His hair was dark and slick against his head. He was shirtless, barefoot and in jeans.

He looked at her, frowning.

“Hey, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I wasn’t sleeping. I just...”

She stopped talking; she just stood there.

He came up the rest of the stairs, setting his tea and cookies on the hardwood floor by his door, then came over to her. He started to put an assuring arm around her shoulders and seemed to realize she was wearing only a towel. He stepped back awkwardly. “Sorry. I, um, just couldn’t sleep. I hope you don’t mind. I figured I’d watch what they were saying on the news and snack on some sugar.”

“No, no, of course not,” she said.

Neither one of them moved for a moment.

And then it seemed they moved together, started to speak together, but didn’t. They were all but touching. His face hovered close to hers.