“It would be fabulous if I were going for a round of golf, a tennis match, and a facial,” Madeline grumbled, using her wooden chopsicks to pick up a stir-fried shrimp. “Unfortunately, it’s going to be all work and no play.”

“Surely you’ll have some downtime.”

“I guess. But not much. Maybe I can squeeze in a massage.” Yes, a massage would be great. God knows she’d been tense lately.

Emma leaned closer and said in a low voice, “I think you should squeeze in some S-E-X.”

Madeline laughed. “Oh, sure. Like that’s going to happen at a corporate team building. I know it’s been a long time since I’ve actually had sex, so my memory’s a little fuzzy, but if I recall correctly, one requires a partner. A living, breathing partner, as opposed to a battery-operated one.” Still chuckling, she popped her shrimp into her mouth.

“And that’s what I’m suggesting you find.” Emma waggled her brows. “Just like I did.”

Madeline paused midchew, then swallowed. “What did you find?”

“A living, breathing partner.” Emma heaved out a gushy sigh.

“And I can sum him up in one word: yummy. He was all action, no talk, and just what the doctor ordered. I highly recommend a good old-fashioned one-night stand.”

“When did this happen? Where? How? I thought we were on a man sabbatical.” After suffering through one too many disastrous dates with men who were either boring or arrogant or commitment-phobes interested only in sex, she and Emma had decided to take a break from the singles scene and concentrate on themselves. They’d taken up jogging and signed up for a cooking class, and for a while things had gone well. She’d lost three pounds-which she gained back during the cooking class-but it was such a relief not to have to deal with dating.