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“Obviously, Ididn’t say it at first.” When she glared at him, he admitted, “Yes, it’s what Isaid. For a long time.”

“You loved me?”she breathed, washed with a wave of awe. “Even back then? Before there was any...anyhope?”

Ander swallowedhard. “I knew I felt for you in a way I’d never felt for anyone before. Sex hadnever meant anything to me—except for business—before you. I’ve never had sexwith any feeling. Never had sex without a condom before today. Not once in allmy life. And you were awakening emotions I’d never experienced. I wanted to bewith you, please you, protect you, take care of you. I don’t know if it waslove back then, but I didn’t know what else to call it.”

To hermortification, Lori’s eyes burned with tears. She sniffed a little and tried tosuppress the ridiculous urge to cry.

Ander gazed ather for several moments. Then he leaned down to murmur in her ear. “Try tofight it, Lori. We mustn’t turn into saps.”

So she laughedinstead, squeezing him in her arms and wondering how she’d ever written romancenovels without really understanding what love was.

They stayed inbed all night and all the following day, dozing a little and waking up to makelove or to chat or to just lie in an intimate embrace.

It was all new.To both of them. No matter what experiences they brought with them to theirlove.

At one pointthe next day, Ander asked, his tone a little diffident, “When did you know youloved me?”

Lori could seenow a path leading out from this moment—filled with day after day of newexperiences to look forward to, ones they could live through together.

So she smiledand told him the truth. “When I fired you.”

Epilogue

“Don’t you dare,” Lori grittedout through her teeth as she fluffed her hair in the mirror of the women’srestroom at a trendy restaurant.

Sabrina gaveher a wink before she applied a new coat of lipstick to her full lips. “Iwasn’t going to say a word.”

“Yes, you were.I can just see you brimming over with the urge to make sarcastic comments aboutPretty WomanorThe Wedding Date.”

With a longsigh and a sparkling look, Sabrina murmured, “Dermot Mulroney ishot.”

Lori couldn’thelp but snicker.

Recognizing hercousin as off-guard, Sabrina went in for the kill. “But you have to admit youtwo are the sweetest thing,” she gushed with exaggerated saccharine. “Youshould write a novel about it. The Virgin and the Gigolo.”

Her cheekswarming despite her best efforts, Lori shushed Sabrina and ducked down to checkunder the stalls to make sure no one else had heard. “Stop it. We’re not likethat. I’m not a virgin any more. And he’s not a gigolo.”

“I know. But itis kind of funny. And it proves I was right all along.” Before Lori could doanything more than growl, Sabrina went on, “And don’t think I didn’t notice howyou two couldn’t keep your hands off each other tonight. He was groping yourthigh under the table.”

Lori’s blushdeepened and she pretended to hunt through her purse for lip gloss. “He wasn’tgroping,” she insisted with indignation if not entire honesty. “We just haven’tseen each other much lately.”

“You livetogether.”

“I know.” Sixmonths ago, Lori had moved into Ander’s apartment. While her old apartment waslarger, Ander was really attached to his place. And Lori had grown to love itas well. Plus, it was in walking distance of the university, which made iteasier for Ander to get to classes. And Lori could write from anywhere.

Lori went on toexplain, “But he’s been buried in studying for his qualifying exams for months,and for the last two weeks he’s been at the library almost constantly. Now thatthey’re over, he can actually relax and we can spend some more time together.”

Sabrina gaveher a dubious look. “Are you trying to convince me the two of you haven’tfucked in months?”

“Not months. Acouple of weeks. But he’s done like three years of graduate coursework in lessthan two. He’s been obsessed with studying. So in these last couple of monthsbefore the exams we haven’t spent as much time together as normal.”

The closer Lorigot to Ander, the more she learned about the obsessive streak in his nature.She’d known he was meticulous, determined, and assiduous in his commitment tohis job before. But now that he was doing something he could pour his wholeheart into, he was extraordinarily driven. Sometimes, she had trouble gettinghim to eat, sleep and relax. She had decided that taking care of him was herspecial duty and prerogative, and she’d found various strategies to distracthim from his work.

Only in thelast two weeks had these strategies failed.

She knew nowthat he’d successfully passed his qualifying exams for his degree and wasstarting on his dissertation, he would return to a more normal schedule.

“So tonight’sthe big night?” Sabrina asked with a tart smile. “Is non-stop sex on thedocket?”

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