“My sister is going to flip when she finds out that we had sex on her kitchen table.” Annie giggled.

“She doesn’t have to know. Hey, do you want to get out of here? We can go back to your place. Or any place.”

“Yes,” she agreed, tilting her face up toward him. He was still just a silhouette in the dark, a suggestion of a man. The intimacy of their act coupled with what might still be revealed tonight settled in her belly with a force that left her feeling uneasy and troubled. “Hey, I need to find my panties. Will you turn on the light?”

“They’re right here.” He dug into his front pocket and slipped them into her hand. She fingered them in the darkness. The crotch was still damp.

“Come on, let’s turn on the light and end the suspense,” Annie suggested.

“I don’t care what you look like. I mean, obviously. We just had mind-blowing sex!

Well, at least it was for me…”

“Me, too,” he agreed, hugging her hips.

“Eric, I have to see you.”

“If it doesn’t matter, why do you need to see me?”

“I…don’t know. But, sweetie, unless you’re a vampire or something, we have to go out in the daylight eventually,” she teased.

“One thing I’ve learned, doing what I do…women often say they want something, but that isn’t really what they want at all. You’re telling me you want to turn on the light and end the mystery, but that isn’t what you really want,” he murmured, kissing her temple, her cheek, her jaw line.

“That is the most sexist statement I’ve ever heard.” She snorted.

“It’s true, isn’t it?”

“Maybe.” She shrugged.

He kissed her temple. “Annie, will you promise me something?” She looked up at him and marveled at how different she felt now than when she had stormed into the kitchen. Yet no more than an hour had passed.

“What?”

“A promise is a commitment,” he said, his voice low. “I would never promise someone something I couldn’t do, and I expect the same from others.