Remember When

It doesn't have to mean undying love or lifetime commitment. It can just be lust and respect and affection and... lust. There's a whole lot of lust going on here, and there's nothing wrong with that.
    "And I'm going to shut up before I find a way to talk myself out of this."
    It was nearly ten by the time she pulled up in Jenny's driveway. Late, she thought. Sort of late to go knocking on a guy's hotel room door.
    But just what was the proper time to go knocking on a guy's hotel room door?
    Jenny was already coming out of the front door and down the walk. Laine released Henry's seat belt and waited for her friend to open the passenger door.
    "Hi, Henry! There's my best guy, there he is. Vince is waiting for you."
    "I owe you," Laine said as Henry raced madly for the house.
    "Do not. Late date, huh?"
    "Don't ask, don't tell."
    Jenny leaned in as far as her belly would allow. "Are you kidding me?"
    "Yes. I'll tell you everything tomorrow. Just do me one more favor?"
    "Sure, what?"
    "Pray, really hard, that there's something to tell."
    "You got it, but the fabulous way you look, those prayers are already answered."
    "Okay. Here goes."
    "Go get 'em, honey." Jenny closed the door and stepped back, rubbing her belly as Laine drove away. "The guy's toast," she murmured, and went inside to play with Henry.

6
    It occurred to Laine that she looked like a woman on her way to an assignation. The little black dress, the sexy shoes, the bottle of wine tucked into the crook of her arm.
    But that was okay. She was a woman on her way, she hoped, to an assignation. The man involved just didn't know it yet. And if she ran into someone she knew, so what? She was an adult, she was single and unencumbered. She was entitled to a night of healthy, no-strings sex.
    But she was relieved when she crossed the lobby of the Wayfarer without seeing a familiar face.
    She pressed the Up button on the elevator and caught herself doing a relaxation breathing technique she'd learned in a yoga class.
    She stopped.
    She didn't want to relax. She could relax tomorrow. Tonight she wanted that live-wire sizzle in the blood, the tingling stomach muscles, the dance of chills and heat along the skin.
    She stepped into the car when the doors opened and pressed the button for Max's floor. As her elevator doors closed, the doors on the one beside hers opened.
    Alex Crew stepped out.
    ***
    At his desk, with the TV muttering in the background for company, Max reviewed his notes and wrote up his daily report. He left out a few things, it was true. There was no point in documenting that he'd played with the dog, kissed Laine, or that he'd tucked a blanket over her then stood watching her sleep.
    None of that was salient information.
    He did detail the extent of the damage to her property, her actions and reactions and his opinions on what he observed to be her current lifestyle.
    Simple, small-town, successful. Knowledgeable about her profession, cozily dug into her hillside home and the community.
    But where had she gotten the funds to buy that home, to start up her business? The business loan and the mortgage he'd accessed-not in a strictly legal manner-didn't quite add up. She'd put down sizable deposits-more than it logically seemed possible for a young woman who'd earned a steady but unremarkable salary since college.
    And still not an exorbitant amount, he reflected. Nothing showy. Nothing that hinted there was a great big money tree somewhere dripping with millions.
    She drove a good, middle-of-the-road car. American made and three years old. She had some nice pieces of art and furnishings in her home, but she was in the business, so it wasn't remarkable.
    Her wardrobe, what he'd seen, showed good classic taste. But it, too, wasn't exorbitant, and fit very neatly into the image of the single, successful antique merchant.
    Everything about her fit that image, down to the ground.
    She didn't live rich. She didn't look like an operator, and he could usually spot one. What was the point of buying a house in the woods, getting an ugly dog, opening a Main Street, U.S.A., business if it wasn't what you wanted?
    A woman with her attributes could be anywhere, doing anything. Therefore, it followed that she was doing exactly what she wanted to do.
    And that just didn't add up either.
    He was messed up about her, that was the problem. He tipped back in his chair, stared up at the ceiling. Every time he looked at her, his brain went soft on him. There was something about