LITMIR.BIZ

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had already left. He’d been reluctant at first but a professional massage was a gift impossible to refuse. The girl had marvelous hands and she spent well over an hour working out every single knot of tension in his entire body. His muscles felt as loose as a sea anemone. He owed Nora a huge thank-you for arranging the massage. Since she wasn’t quite allowed to put her hands on him yet, she’d obviously gone looking for a loophole and found one.

      Zach stretched his arms and enjoyed how calm he felt, how peaceful. It had been over a year and a half at least since he’d felt even remotely this relaxed. His marriage to Grace had begun as a nightmare but had turned quickly into his best dream. But like any dream, it couldn’t be trusted. Something dark always lurked around the corner in dreams. And one day that something dark started showing itself even while he was wide-awake. Grace started conversations with him, terrifying conversations he refused to finish. And then something had happened with her, or maybe it had happened with him. All he knew was Grace had started to fade out on him and there’d been nothing he could do. She just slowly shut down on him like a watch someone forgot to wind.

      Having Robin’s hands on him had been such a strange revelation. He’d shared with Nora an incredible sexual intimacy the night they’d gotten drunk in her office and then last night in her Aston Martin. But just to be touched by another woman, to have his back touched, his arms and legs…to be touched in a way that was sensual but not sexual felt as foreign to him as that night with Nora. Foreign but not frightening. He wondered if he saw Grace again, would he be able to be more open to her than before? He’d love to touch her the way Robin had touched him. He’d love to teach her a few of the things he’d learned from Nora.

      The phone rang and Zach smiled. He had one guess who would be calling his office this late in the evening.

      “Nora, you’re the very devil,” he said as he put the phone to his ear. “But I’m not complaining.”

      Zach heard a slight intake of breath on the other end of the line followed by a static-filled pause.

      “Zachary?” came a voice he would recognize a thousand miles or a thousand years away.

      Zach sat up ramrod straight; his heart raced. Everything that had been relaxed a moment ago became a live wire of tension again.

      “Grace…” he breathed. “I’m sorry. I thought you were one of my writers. Nora Sutherlin—she’s a loony. I think you’d like her. But I’m rambling like an idiot. How are you?”

      He lived and died through another terrible pause.

      “You’ve never rambled like an idiot in your life,” Grace said in her lilting Welsh accent, and Zach could picture the smile on her face as she said it. “I’ve never heard you so friendly with one of your writers before. You’re usually telling them what berks and idiots they are. This one must be special.”

      “She’s stark raving mad, and I’m terrified of her. How are you?” he asked again and winced. He really was making an idiot of himself.

      “I’m in the dark, quite literally, I’m afraid. I just walked in the door and all the lights are out. I can’t find the torch anywhere. I’m just glad I had my mobile with me.”

      “Is it a blackout or just our house?” Zach winced again. Was he even allowed to say “our house” anymore?

      “Blackout, I think. The whole street is dark. I called the power company. Should be on again by morning, but until I find the bloody torch, I’m afraid to move.”

      Zach imagined Grace sitting at the kitchen table in the dark debating whether or not it was enough of an emergency to call him. She said she’d just gotten home. But it was nearly midnight in London. He didn’t want to imagine where she’d come from.

      “Let me think. Did you try the drawer?”

      “By the stove? Yes, I looked there first. Found everything but the light.”

      “No, it isn’t there. You’re right. It’s in the cupboard in the utility room. I remember stashing it there now.”

      “I’ll check.”

      “Be careful.”

      Zach heard Grace’s tentative footsteps and the sound of a door opening.

      “Found it. Second shelf near the back.”

      “Good,” Zach said, desperate to find a way to keep her on the line a little longer. “Be careful if you light any candles.”

      “I will be,” Grace replied, a faint note of amusement in her voice.

      “If the lights don’t come on soon, stay the night at—” Zach stopped and swallowed. “Stay with a friend. If the lights are off, the alarm might be, as well.”

      “I’m sure I’ll survive the night.” He heard the smile in her voice. “If I need more help, I’ll ring you again.”

      “Please do.” Zach rubbed his face. “Did you need me? Need anything else?”

      Zach heard that pause again. He needed her. He needed her to say she loved him, or that she hated him, or that she wanted a divorce or wanted him back or wanted him dead or wanted him home right now rescuing her from the dark like any good husband would. He needed something from her because he could not and would not go on like this anymore.

      “No,” Grace finally said. “I have the torch now. Thanks again.”

      “Sure. Right then,” Zach said, his stomach falling and taking his heart with it. “Of course.”

      Zach didn’t hang up the phone. He held his breath and listened, waiting for that awful little click. When it came he flinched as if he’d heard a gunshot. He held the buzzing receiver until the line died and then finally hung it up.

      25

      Nora woke up on Thursday morning with a smile on her face. She dressed in her favorite suit—her business kink black skirt, her knee-high black boots and a white blouse with a black tie. She heard a whistle as she walked past Wesley’s door.

      “Did you just whistle at me, young man?” Nora asked, pausing in Wesley’s doorway.

      “I did,” he said as he stuffed his laptop into his backpack. “Where are you going today looking so nice?”

      Nora came close to blushing. She knew Wesley was attracted to her. He was nineteen, after all, and she wasn’t hideous. But he always tried to treat her as just a friend and roommate. But since their intimate encounter Monday night, he’d been more playful with her, more flirtatious. She was starting to like it.

      “I’m going to Kingsley’s.” Wesley’s smile faded. “To tell him I’m quitting.”

      The smile came back.

      “Zach signed the contract?” Wesley looked so happy and hopeful it broke her heart.

      “Not yet. But he will.”

      Wesley came over to her with his backpack slung over his shoulder. He looked so cute and young right now with his baseball cap on his shaggy hair that she wanted to throw him down on his bed and put her tie to better use.

      “I’ve gotta get to class. But maybe we can hang out later today. We should celebrate you quitting your job.”

      “What did you have in mind?” Nora stepped closer to him. In her heels she was tall enough to kiss him.

      Wesley leaned close and put his mouth to her ear. “I was thinking…we could…”

      Nora held her breath.

      “…rent a movie.” Wesley slapped her playfully on her bottom and brushed past her.

      “Sadist!” she yelled out and took a breath, her heart racing. The door opened and closed and Wesley’s

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