“Entertainment Premiere.”
“Oh, it’s on right now. Shall I go and turn it on?”
“God, no,” he groaned.
She laughed as she walked back to her bedroom. “I’m sure it’s not that bad.”
“It’s not. It’s worse. I have an idea. Let’s watch TV together—just not Entertainment Premiere.”
“Okay. What?” she asked, finding her remote control on her dresser and flipping on the television.
“Um . . . Hogan’s Heroes? Nah. CNN? Maybe. The Adult Channel?”
“I’m afraid I don’t have it.”
“Too bad. How about the Food Network? It’s like golf. We can watch and talk at the same time.”
“Okay,” she said, flipping the channel, setting her water down on the bedside table and climbing onto her bed.
“Things are progressing really fast for us, aren’t
they?” Everett said.
She froze in the action of fluffing her pillow.
“What do you mean?” she asked warily.
“First dinner, tonight watching TV together; by tomorrow night we’ll be having sex.”
“Hah,” she scoffed, finishing her fluffing. “We’ve already had sex.”
“You don’t have to remind me,” he said quietly. “I think about it pretty much every minute I’m not sleeping.”
She pressed her hand against her palpitating heart as if to muffle the pounding. “If you ask me what I’m wearing right now, I’m going to hang up.”
She smiled when she heard him burst into uninhibited laughter. He had a great laugh.
“Black pepper–crusted pork tenderloin with a black cherry reduction. Yum,” she murmured.
“I thought you said we weren’t going to talk dirty to each other.”
“Everett, watch the show,” she scolded, smiling.
* * *
On Thursday night, she turned out the light for bed, admonishing herself the whole time for being disappointed that Everett hadn’t called again. She’d see him tomorrow evening, after all, and she could hardly expect that he’d call her every day. She’d just drifted off to sleep when her phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Did I wake you up?” Everett asked. His voice sounded rough. Tired.
“No.”
“Yes, I did. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she murmured, rubbing her eyes. “How was your day?”
“Nuts. Busy. I can’t wait to get out of this town tomorrow.”