She grinned. "Sure. A married couple. And the whole of their relationship is a Boston cream pie."

"Sounds good so far." He raised an eyebrow.

"Okay." Charlotte took a deep breath for courage. "Just how important is sex to them? How many pieces of the pie would have to be made up of good sex for them to be happy?"

Kurt frowned and folded the Sporting News in his lap. "Are you talking about our pies, Charlotte?"

Her heart beat fast. She licked her lips in nervousness. "Yes. My pie. Your pie. Let's say each has eight pieces. How many pieces of your pie would have to be dedicated to sex?"

"Okay." She'd watched Kurt's eyes travel over to the glass wall overlooking the taxiway. He turned to her. "Probably one slice."

Charlotte remembered that her mouth had opened and a sharp bolt of fear shot up her spine. Because, though she could never say it out loud, she'd just pictured five slices of sex. Okay, six-six big, sweet, creamy, melt-in-your-mouth pieces of sex.

But she'd smiled at Kurt and said, "That sounds about right." Then he'd boarded his flight to Cincinnati.

It had been the first time she'd ever lied to him.

Charlotte jumped from her bed and tucked the journal into her nightstand, locking the drawer, placing the key under the base of the reading lamp like she always did, thinking about what had happened three days later, when she went back to the airport to pick up Kurt. The day she met Joe.

Charlotte walked toward her bedroom windows. She could see the tiniest slice of pink on the horizon. Another day was coming. Another day when she'd be mommy and business owner and widow. Another day that she would feel the undertow of loneliness and need, so strong lately she feared it would eat her alive.

She dragged her fingertips along the cool pane of glass, remembering the miracle of letting go in Joe's arms, how perfect it felt to release all the wildness and curiosity hiding inside her. She'd allowed a stranger to see how much passion lived in her, how hot she really was, and she'd felt real for the first time in her life. Free. Alive.