Mark fumbled to shove his phone back into his pocket, fighting the urge to race out of the restaurant. He felt so electrified he could have run all the way to Coconut Grove.

The moment he heard her voice on the phone, he had an irresistible urge to race to Liz’s apartment, sweep her into his arms, and kiss her for real this time. To hell with Gwen, to hell with his job, to hell with keeping up with the Sloans of the world. Liz was the one he wanted.

He returned to the table, barely able to think. While he saw Gwen, he really didn't see her at all. It was as if she had shifted to some other dimension he could no longer relate to.

"Is there a problem?" Gwen asked.

"Yes. Something's come up. I have to go to the office."

"The office? At eight o'clock on a Saturday night?"

"I phoned an associate, and it was just as I suspected. A crisis with one of my clients. I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut our evening short."

He was surprised at how easily the lie rolled off his tongue. But then again, Gwen hadn't exactly been up front with him, either.

She smiled seductively. "But we were having such a nice time."

"It can't be helped."

She gave him another one of her long-suffering sighs. "Well, I suppose with the level of responsibility you're getting ready to assume, this could become a common occurrence." She gave him a phony smile. "I guess I'll just have to get used to it, won't I?"

No you won't, because we're never seeing each other again.

All at once Mark realized just how misguided he'd been. He didn't need to bring the right woman to his company function to show the management he was partner material. His new wardrobe and his new attitude around the office had already worked wonders. In just the last week, Edwin had consulted with him personally on a few management issues he never would have discussed before, and Mark noticed co-workers deferring to him more often. And Tina had become self-appointed personal publicist, using the company grapevine to boost his image every chance she got. This is a new Mark McAlister you're dealing with, she'd said in so many words. So look out.

But it was Liz who'd given him the confidence to look like a sharp professional and to act like a man who expected to win, and when it came right down to it, that was all he'd ever really needed.

---

Fortunately, Gwen's apartment was on the way to Liz's, and Mark made good time. He could tell Gwen hated being brushed off, but he couldn't have cared less. He walked her quickly to her door. She angled for a kiss, so he relented and leaned in to give her a quick peck on the cheek. She shifted at the last moment, though, and turned his quick kiss into a lengthy mouth-to-mouth experience that he wouldn't have thought Miss Prim and Proper capable of. But it did nothing for him. Absolutely nothing.

He couldn't believe this was the same woman he'd have once sold his soul to go out with. All he could think about now was checking himself in his rear-view mirror to make sure he didn't walk into Liz's apartment with lipstick where it didn't belong.

"Call me," Gwen said in a breathy voice, then slipped inside her apartment and closed the door behind her.

Not a chance.

Mark ran back to his car, pulling off his suit coat at the same time. He opened the driver's door, tossed it into the backseat, then got into the driver's seat. He yanked off his tie, threw it mindlessly on top of his coat, and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt.

There. Now he could breathe.

He pulled out of the parking lot as quickly as he could without burning rubber. He swung his car onto Porter Avenue and proceeded to run three yellow lights in a row. After nearly rear-ending a mini-van, he stepped on the brake until he was going only ten miles per hour over the speed limit instead of twenty. In just a few minutes he was going to be with Liz again. Where things might go from there, he didn't have a clue. He only knew where he wanted things to go. In his mind he saw himself taking her in his arms, kissing her softly and sweetly at first, then more passionately, and then…

The thought of what might come next made his palms sweat. Could it actually happen?

Tonight?

Minutes later he was driving through Coconut Grove, growing more and more obsessed with the thought of discovering if his mental image of Liz naked bore any resemblance to the real thing.

Then he had a terrible thought.

What if it did happen tonight? He wasn't prepared. And there was no sense going through his wallet, glove compartment or console. His ID, money, proof of car insurance and a box of Tic-Tacs weren't going to do him any good.

He swung his car into a beauty salon parking lot, hit the brake, and jammed his gearshift into park. He grabbed his phone and asked Siri where the nearest drugstore was. Two seconds later he heard her perky digital voice.

"Okay, Mark. Here is what I found." A map popped up. Walgreens. Yes!

Wait a minute. It was 5.7 miles away?

"No!" Mark said, as if Siri hadn't quite heard him right.

"The closest drugstore.”

”Okay, check this out," Siri said, and gave him Walgreens. Again. Five point seven miles away. Again. Apparently her hearing was just fine.

Wait a minute. Drugstores weren't the only places that carried condoms. "Give me the closest grocery store," he told Siri.

Two endless seconds later, she said, "Here’s what I found," and another map popped up showing a grocery store only a mile and a half away. He started to celebrate, only to realize it was Healthwise Grocer. He wanted condoms, not tofu, organic beets, and free-range bison. Coconut Grove was such a weird place. You could buy a lava lamp or a Fair Trade batik scarf, but something that was actually useful?

"Condoms!" he shouted into the phone. "I want condoms!"

"Okay, here you go," Siri said.

Mark looked at his phone. Dildeaux? What the hell was that? It sounded like a French restaur—

Oh.

He tapped the link to take him to the store's website, only to discover it was even worse that he'd imagined.

It was bad enough to buy condoms at a drugstore. He always felt as if there was a big, neon sign on his forehead: MARK'S FINALLY GETTING SOME. If he went to Dildeaux, he'd also have the joy of standing at the register and pretending not to stare at a point-of purchase selection of vibrators and a fortieth anniversary edition of Debbie Does Dallas.

Then again, it had something the drugstore and grocery store didn't have. Proximity. It was only a tenth of a mile away.

Mark looked out the side window of his car, and sure enough he was practically on top of it. There it sat, almost right across the street, in all its tacky glory.

For a moment he thought about driving that five-point-whatever miles to the drugstore. Then he thought about how Liz was waiting for him. Liz, who made him smile every time she walked into the room. Who kissed like an angel. Who had a body that would make a cloistered priest renounce his vows. Then, for the hundredth time in the past twenty minutes, he pictured her naked.

That did it.

He shoved his car in gear, swung it around, and hit the gas to cross the street. He came a little too close to an oncoming car, which earned him a punitive honk and a middle finger. He pulled up in front of the store and turned into a parking space. Dead ahead was a picture window displaying a mannequin modeling a black leather bra, panties and thigh-high boots, carrying some wicked-looking iron thing he couldn't have identified if his life depended on it.

He got out of the car and went inside, wincing when the bells on the glass door announced his arrival. A short, balding guy behind the counter gave him a cheery hello.

"Can I help you find something?" he asked.

"Nope," Mark said, still walking. "Just browsing."

"Be sure to check out that rack over there," the guy said. "There's some lingerie on sale. And all lubes and lotions are twenty percent off."

Keep moving. Just find the condoms, grab a box, and go.

Mark passed one aisle after another. Porn movies…bondage accessories…sex toys…

There! Condoms.

He turned down the aisle and stopped short. No, not just condoms. A gazillion different kinds of condoms. He stood there in awe, his gaze panning over the display. He saw ribbed condoms. Studded condoms. Flavored condoms. Colored condoms. Extra-strength condoms. Textured. Contoured. Extra large. Extra small. An eco-friendly condom with zero carbon footprint, which would allow him to have safe sex and be a responsible steward of the planet, all at the same time.

A condom with extra head room? Good Lord. He wasn't buying a Buick.

Finally he just grabbed the most generic ones he could find. Who needed all those bells and whistles, anyway?

Then he imagined what Liz might think. He'd already acted boring enough around her. Did he really want her to yawn all the way through the experience?

He picked up one of the other boxes. Brand name: Night Lights. Evidently they had a phosphorescent layer that glowed in the dark. Crazy, yeah, but this was Liz he was talking about. She might actually like condoms that made his penis look like a light saber.

Then another one caught his eye. Her Pleasure Sensations?

He tucked the generic ones under his arm and picked those up, too. Evidently they had few more features than the average condom and were supposed to make her shiver with ecstasy. That could only be a good thing, right?

He looked at the three boxes he held, trying to decide which one to buy—the boring but efficient one, the Vegas one, or the one that sent her to heaven in a single thrust. After a few more seconds of indecision, he decided it was better to be safe than sorry. He'd take all three and sort it out later.

He made an about face to go to the cash register, only to run head-on into someone who'd been standing behind him. The collision caused him to drop the boxes. As they clunked to the floor, he grabbed her upper arms to steady her. Then he looked at whose arms he was holding, and embarrassment hit him like a concrete block dropped from a third-story window.

Liz?

Mark felt his mouth hanging open and tried to shut it, but his whole face felt frozen. She looked at the three boxes on the floor, then back up at him. A tiny smile crossed her lips.

"Ambitious, aren't you?"

Mark wanted to crawl into a hole and die. With luck, somebody would cover up his dumb dead body and he could simply pass away to dust.

"No," he said, picking up the boxes. "I think you've misunderstood." He laughed a little. "I was just…you know…"

"Stocking up?"

"No!"

"Comparison shopping?"

He shoved all three boxes back on the shelf. "I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I'm not presuming anything."

"You're not?"

"Of course not! Just because I'm coming to your apartment, I don't want you to think that I think…"

"Think what?"

"You know. That I'm going to need…" He waved weakly in the direction of the massive condom display.

"Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think I'm doing here?"

"Uh…" And then his brain flatlined.

"I know guys usually handle that detail," Liz went on, "but I didn't want to chance it. I figured I had time to make a run before you showed up, but you must have set a new land speed record getting here."

Mark blinked with surprise. "So you assumed we were going to…?"

She glanced at the condoms he'd stuck back on the shelf. "Glow in the dark?" She smiled. "Yeah. I hoped so, anyway."

As much as he liked Liz before, he was positively head over heels for her now. After all the subterfuge Gwen had subjected him to that evening, Liz's cheerful straightforwardness made him feel as if he'd landed in paradise.

"Did you look around at all?" Liz said. She picked up a box next to the condom display that read Kama Sutra Chocolate Body Paint. "Hmm. It says it won't stain your sheets, but I bet it does. Might as well just use real chocolate." She put that box back and grabbed another one. "Oooh. These might be kind of fun!"

"Edible panties?"

"Says here they're strawberry flavored." She turned her gaze up to meet his. "How about it? Do you like strawberries?"

She tilted her head as she said it, wearing that tiny smile again, and the skin on the back of his neck tingled and his face grew hot.

"As a matter of fact…yeah. I do."

"My lip gloss is strawberry."

"It is?"

"I can see you don't believe me. Maybe you should find out for yourself."

She took a step forward and leaned into him, and he automatically slid his arm around her back. She pressed her hands to his chest, looking up at him with a kiss-me expression.

So he did.

Before he met Liz, if somebody had told him he'd be standing in the condom aisle of a sex shop kissing a beautiful woman who was holding a box of edible underwear, he'd have sworn they'd lost their mind. Instead he was the one who was losing his. The moment his lips landed on Liz's, he became oblivious to everything around them. An orgy could have broken out in aisle three and he never would have known it.

He whispered against her lips. "I'm not tasting strawberry."

"Sorry. I lied. Here. I'll give you the kiss back." She put her hands on his cheeks and pressed her lips to his again. He was gone over this woman. Completely and totally gone.

"My place," she whispered. "Now."

Mark grabbed the glow-in-the-dark condoms from the shelf, Liz carried the edible panties, and they hurried to the register. Mark paid as quickly as he could, and they raced out of the shop. He gave Liz a quick kiss and told her he'd meet her at her place. Thank God it was just around the corner.

They arrived at her apartment at the same time and parked next to each other. He grabbed the sack from Dildeaux and leaped out of his car. To his surprise, Liz ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I missed you," she whispered, and gave him a kiss so hot he nearly melted into the pavement. Mark had never been a public display of affection kind of guy, but when Liz was the object of his affection, he didn't mind displaying it for the whole world to see.

All at once, Mark felt sprinkles of rain and realized the thunderstorm he'd seen moving in earlier had arrived. He took Liz's hand and they ran into the building and up the stairs. When they reached her apartment door, she unlocked it, but far too many seconds had passed since he'd felt her lips on his, so he pulled her around and kissed her again, tucking her head into the crook of his elbow and sliding his other hand along her back right down to her ass. Ever since he'd seen it inside those tight little jeans for the first time, he'd been dying to get his hands on it, and it was every bit as spectacular as he'd expected.

She groaned against his lips. Just knowing that Liz was his tonight—all his—gave him a crazy sense of exhilaration. He already had a hard-on that felt like concrete, so he was thankful it wouldn't be long before it was glowing in the dark. Without a doubt, this was going to be one of the best nights of his life.

Her lips never leaving his, she fumbled for the knob behind her and opened the door, stumbling backward into the apartment. Her keys clattered to the floor, along with the sack he held. Mark closed the door behind them, then turned Liz around and pressed her against it and kissed her all over again. She squirmed a little, and he realized she was reaching for the tail of her T-shirt. When she yanked it over her head, tossed it down, and reached for his shirt, it was as if the heavens had opened up and angels began to sing.

"Excuse me! What is going on here?"

Mark whipped around. A woman's voice? An old woman?

Oh, God. They weren't alone.