Lanie “Y-yes,” I sputtered. “Come right in. Mr. Marx, I assume?” “That’s right.” “Have a seat.” He walked over to the chairs opposite my desk, tight shoulders and sculpted rear-end moving with controlled precision. Realizing I was staring, I quickly took my own seat. If I’d hoped meeting Mr. Marx face-to-face would help ease my anxiety, I was sorely wrong. The man sitting across from me was perfection, in possession of the kind of face that could give any professional male model a run for their money. Now, not only was I worried about how well I would perform during the meeting, I was once again worrying about how I looked. Was my makeup still holding up? How was my hair doing? I resisted the urge to touch it and see. Remember the steps. One at a time. Placing my palms on the desk, I smiled. “Thank you for coming to meet with me. I know you’re well aware of Raven’s recent, um, acts.” I checked a cringe. This wasn’t the speech I’d prepared at all. Mr. Marx’s face darkened, an

Lanie“I knew the second I saw you that you were the one for me,” Andrew Marx breathed, his hot exhale kissing my cheek.I closed my eyes, absorbing his scent, anticipating his taste on my tongue. His lips grazed against mine ever so softly, his tongue darting out to nudge my mouth open.“Ow!” I shrieked, dropping the knife onto the cutting board. Bright red blood spilled from the cut on the side of my finger.“Here.” Erica took my hand and inspected it. “It’s just a little nick. Press this against it, and I’ll get a Band-Aid.”I leaned against the counter and wrapped the paper towel around my finger as she rooted through her first aid kit.“What had you distracted?” she asked.My face grew hot. “Nothing.”Luckily, she didn’t look up at me. “Here we go.”I tossed the paper towel and carefully wrapped the Band-Aid around my finger.“Maybe I should take care of cutting the veggies,” Erica said.“Knock yourself out. I’ll take care of drinking the wine.” Plopping down at the table, I dug

Andrew When my cell phone’s alarm went off, I was ready to go. Jumping up from my chair, I killed the screen on the desktop. All day long, I’d been running on anxious energy. An evening spent with Raven. A possible run-in with the sexy guidance counselor. Both of these opportunities were strange and uncertain.At the door of my office, I paused, hand on the knob. Something inside me wanted to go right back to my desk, back to work. The world there was comfortable, and I knew it inside and out. A foreign land lay ahead of me. How long had it been since I explored the world outside of the normal day-to-day?I let out a long sigh. No running back to the computer. Tonight wasn’t about me. This was Raven’s night. Going into the open-style main section downstairs, I crossed the living room and grabbed a glass of water. A noise made me turn around, and Karen popped out of the pantry. “Just getting rid of expired goods.” She waved a can of sweet potatoes at me. I couldn’t remember the last

Lanie “Lanie Jacobs?”The knock on my open office door drew my attention away from the computer screen, where I’d been looking up resources to help a student applying for weekend classes at community college. “Yes?” My jaw dropped at the sight of the giant package the delivery man had leaning against the wall opposite the door. “I’m sorry. Who is this for?”“For you. Sign here.” He handed me the little device, and I quickly signed my name. With him gone, I stood in the hall and gaped at the long, thin package. Who would send something to me at school? And what could it possibly be?Nearly shaking with excitement, I carefully ripped a corner of the brown paper. The edge of a black frame came into view. More delicate ripping and pink appeared.“No,” I gasped. But, yes. It was the painting from Saturday night. The one Andrew had also said he liked. Noticing the little envelope taped to the far end of the frame, I ripped it open, unable to read fast enough. Dear Lanie,Thank you for

Andrew In the Maserati’s center console, my phone blared with an incoming call. Slowing down at a yellow light, I shot it a glance. Kyle. Instinctively, I went to pick it up, then thought better of it, and silenced the phone instead. From the passenger’s seat, Raven watched me with interest.“I’ve already left work for the day,” I explained. She just turned to look back out the window. Kyle’s call went to voice mail. Whatever the issue, it couldn’t be that pressing. The matter of the missing twenty thousand in the Houghton Graham account had been resolved. I’d gone to work earlier than usual that morning, cutting my predawn laps in the swimming pool by half, so I could get more shit done and leave the office sooner. There would be work to do later, but at that moment, I was right where I needed to be. “I should have gotten tan instead of khaki,” Raven sighed. “What? No. Khaki is a perfect base coat.”“I don’t know,” she mumbled. “Trust me.” I pulled into the edge of the drive an