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Lori gave alittle huff. “Anyone can write good sex scenes. All you need is some basicknowledge of anatomy, the right vocabulary, and some choice reading material.Experience has nothing to do with it.”

Sabrina cackledagain on the other end of the line.

“Anyway,” Lorisaid, noticing a particularly attractive man enter the coffee shop alone. “Ibetter hang up. He’ll be here in five minutes.”

“Call meimmediately afterwards. Immediately! Do you hear me?”

Afterreassuring her cousin that she’d waste no time on reporting about the infamousmeeting, Lori slid her phone back into her purse. She noticed that theattractive man she’d seen enter had gone directly up the counter withoutlooking around like he was meeting someone.

She droopedslightly in her chair. It would have been nice if he were the man she’darranged to meet. Even with the incongruously bald head, he was one of thehandsomest men she’d ever seen.

Lori glancedaround the shop to make sure another lone man wasn’t looking for her. Seeing noone, Lori turned to discreetly observe the bald man again.

He was far tooyoung to be so completely bald. Mid-thirties at the latest. Maybe he shaved hishead. His tall, lean form moved with both power and grace, and his blacktrousers and gray dress shirt looked expensive. A businessman, maybe, althoughhe didn’t carry a briefcase. There was something about him that appealed to her—beyondhis physical appearance. His eyes roamed the room idly as he waited for hiscoffee, and his expression was coolly confident.

He seemedexperienced,she realized. Like he’d lived a full, complex life before he’d even reachedthirty-five. She wondered what it would be like to marry such a man—to have theweight of that experience at the kitchen table every morning, in bed with youevery night.

She decided thehero of her next novel would be burdened with that sort of deep experience.

And he’d becompletely bald.

Glancing at herwatch, she noticed it was just after three o’clock. Surely this guy wouldn’t belate for a potential new client.

She was lookingat the entrance with a slightly peeved expression when a voice startled her outof her impatience.

“Lori.”

She jerked herhead around and inexplicably saw the compelling, bald man standing next to hertable with his cup of coffee. She blinked up at him, wondering vaguely if he’dnoticed her leering at him.

“Is it Lori?”

She noddedmutely.

The man smiled—anurbane, sensual smile that ignited even his blue-gray eyes. He reached a handout to her in greeting. “I’m Ander.”

Lori’s mouthdropped open and she gaped at him.

While she wasnormally a friendly, outgoing person who handled social situations with ease,she was already insecure about this meeting. And her shock at having the randomman she’d admired turn out to be the one with whom she had this particularappointment left her speechless and completely discombobulated.

Ander’s eleganteyebrows lifted slightly. “Ander Lourdes. We were scheduled to meet, right?”

She had toassume the name was a professional appellation. Surely no loving father wouldhave saddled a little boy with a name like that. The boy would have no choicebut to go into the profession Ander had obviously chosen.

“Yes,” she saidat last, belatedly pulling herself together. She stood up and shook his hand.His grip was warmer than she’d expected. He looked so cool and polished thatshe’d thought his hand would be a cooler temperature. “Sorry. It’s nice to meetyou.”

He noddedpolitely and smiled again. “Do you want to talk here?”

Lori glancednervously at the other seat at her table. She definitely wanted to meet withhim where there were plenty of people around, but the kind of conversationthey’d be having wasn’t one you wanted to carry on with dozens of ears withinrange.

“We could walkover to the park,” he suggested with easy courtesy. “Still a public place, butnot so crowded.”

She agreed andgrabbed her purse and mocha. She’d made a point of not dressing up for thismeeting, so she was wearing her favorite pair of jeans and a dark green vintagejacket of crushed velvet that matched her eyes. She’d pulled hershoulder-length brown hair back in a low ponytail and wore no make-up exceptmascara and lip-gloss. She’d instinctively known that dressing up would makeher even more nervous.

As they crossedthe street, Lori asked her companion, “So what kind of name is Ander?” Shewanted to make casual conversation and she’d genuinely wanted to know theanswer since Sabrina first put this man’s name in front of her as a suitablecandidate.

Ander’s mouthtilted up on one side. “It’s short for Alexander.”

“So it’s yourreal name?” It might be too personal a question for this context, but she’d alwaysbeen overly curious.

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