Key of Light (Key 1)

“It doesn’t have anything to do with him, not directly. And no, I’m not writing a story. Do you know Flynn?”

“Only in my dreams. He’s very hot.”

“Well . . . I think I might be dating him. I wasn’t going to, but I seem to be.”

“Lip lock?”

“Several of them.”

“Rating?”

“Top of the scale.”

“Sex?”

“Almost, but cooler heads prevailed.”

“Damn.”

“Plus he’s funny and interesting and sweet. Pretty bossy in a really clever way so you barely notice until you’ve been bossed. Smart, and I think tenacious.”

“Sounds perfect. Can I have him?”

“Sorry, pal, but I may have to keep him.” She snatched out the disk, then carefully closed documents and shut down. “Mission accomplished with no loss of life. Thanks, Tod.” She threw her arms around him, gave him a big, noisy kiss. “I’ve got to get to work on this.”

SHE hunkered down in her apartment, systematically going through the data, cross-referencing, eliminating, until she had a workable list. By the time she left for Flynn’s, she’d winnowed The Gallery’s client list by seventy percent.

Dana was already there when she arrived.

“Had dinner?”

“No.” Malory looked, cautiously, for Moe. “I forgot.”

“Good. We’ve got pizza coming. Flynn’s out back with Moe for their daily romp. You’re okay that I told him about your dream?”

“Yeah. We seem to have brought him into this.”

“Okay. Go in and flop. We’ll have some wine.”

She’d barely done so when Zoe arrived with Simon in tow. “I hope it’s all right. I couldn’t get a sitter.”

“I don’t need a sitter,” Simon declared.

“I need a sitter.” Zoe hooked an arm around his neck. “He’s got homework, so if there’s a corner he can use. I brought the shackles.”

Dana winked at him. “We’ll use the dungeon. Can we torture him, then feed him pizza?”

“We’ve already had—”

“I could eat pizza,” Simon interrupted. Then he let out a whoop as Moe charged in from the back of the house. “Wow! That’s some dog!”

“Simon, don’t—”

But boy and dog were already rushing together, caught in the throes of mutual love at first sight.

“Hey, Flynn, look what Zoe brought us. We get to make him do homework.”

“I’ve always wanted to do that with somebody. You must be Simon.”