“Ready for the big test?”

“If I have to smell it without eating it much longer, it could get ugly.”

“Fingers crossed. Why don’t you put the dogs out back, light the candles on the table? I’ll get the rest.”

Easier than he’d thought, he admitted when he let the dogs out. She was, always had been, easy to talk to, to be around. And if you couldn’t relax in that house, you had issues.

She brought out the lasagna, soft, fat breadsticks—a Rizzo’s staple—and a dish of roasted cherry tomatoes in oil and herbs.

“I’m going to plate it if that’s okay with you.”

“Don’t be stingy.”

“May you not regret that.”

She plated generous squares of lasagna with the sides while Raylan topped off the wine.

She sat, took up the first forkful. “Here goes.”

They sampled the first bite together. Adrian’s smile spread slowly before she added an eyebrow wiggle.

“The Rizzo legacy lives on,” Raylan said as he took another bite.

“Whew. I’m never going to be the passionate and consistent cook my grandparents were, but it feels good knowing I haven’t let them down. Now that my performance anxiety’s over, I should tell you I read your book. Twice.”

“I’m too busy eating to have my own performance anxiety.”

“Good, because you’d waste it, and now you can save it for a more appropriate time. I admit to personal distraction on the first read. Seeing myself on the page, in the story. That was weird and wonderful. The second read, it wasn’t me, it was her, but I still felt her struggle. She’s so tormented. Her attraction and repulsion for Grievous. Her admiration and her envy of True Angel.”

Picking up her wine, she gestured with it before she sipped.

“And even though I’d read it, and I knew, that moment in the underground under the nightclub, under Styx, where Angel’s wounded, defenseless, and Grievous is pushing Flame to finish Angel off, to light the spark that will destroy the city, it’s a heart-thumper. Kill True Angel, deliver her soul to Grievous, and she’ll be free of him. Damned to the dark, but she understands the dark.

“So when she turns her power, her fire on Grievous, to save Angel, to save people who fear and loathe her, it’s thrilling.”

“I’m starting to wonder how my ego survived without you.”

“I’m not shining you on. It could’ve gone the other way, because Flame’s a little bit crazy. She runs on emotion, and Angel’s everything she’s convinced herself she can’t be, so envies, darkly.”

She speared up a tomato. “Destroying True Angel would’ve given her everything she thought she wanted—thought she deserved.”

“Cutting herself off from the human part of herself, finally and completely.”

“And instead, she chose the human. Do your kids get a kick out of what Daddy does?”

“Mostly it’s just what I do, and Bradley continues his obsession with Batman.”

Amused, Adrian sipped some wine. “I’m sure it’s a phase.”

“When we dyed eggs for Easter, he drew a Batman cowl on one. Pretty good cowl. I live with it, and cover for him when I can with my partner Jonah, who takes it personally.”

“Do you miss it?” she wondered. “Being right there with the people you work with?”

“Some of it, yeah. There’s a vibe, an energy, and you lose some of that with teleconferencing. I probably get more uninterrupted work done this way, but you gotta miss the daily bull sessions. Do you? Miss New York?”

“I thought I would, but I really don’t. Most of my work I do alone anyway. Now having Teesha and Monroe right here, that’s huge for me, but work-wise, mine’s not collaborative like yours, at least not until it’s heading into the final stages.”

“Monroe.” Raylan dipped the last of a breadstick in the little dish of oil. “I had no idea when we moved in next door that he’d written about ten percent of the songs on my playlist.”

“He’s an understated guy.”

“Yeah, he’s that. Sometimes he sits out in the yard, plays the guitar or the keyboard. Or the sax. I asked him once why he didn’t perform his own songs.”

“He said: I like the quiet.”

“Exactly. Adrian, this was an amazing meal. Seriously amazing.”

“Not done yet. We have zabaglione. I’m confident going there because my nonna taught me her secret years ago. I’ll just clear. Cappuccino?”

“Sure. I’ll give you a hand.”

They both rose, gathered dishes.

“Oh, I saw Maya today,” Adrian began as they carried dishes to the kitchen. “She’d just gotten back from her weekly checkup, and all’s well there.”

“I heard that. Mom’s going a little crazy about having a girl. Joe’s happy about it. Collin, not so much, and has confided to me he thinks they’re making a big mistake because girls are dopey.”

“And your response?”

“I expressed some sympathy to establish a foundation of trust. Then crossed the streams in many universes to point out nondopey girls. Pink Power Ranger, Wonder Woman, Princess Leia, Storm, Violet Queen, his mother, his nana. I didn’t mention his cousin because right now Mariah epitomizes his definition of dopey.”

“Wise.”

She turned toward the cappuccino machine as he stepped up to set down dishes. And bumped straight into him.

She looked up. Green eyes. Why did he have to have green eyes? She leaned in, to him, to that yearning.

And catching herself, jerked back.

“I’m sorry. God! Raylan, I’m so sorry. That was just—”

He closed a hand lightly around her arm to hold her in place. “Do you have to be?”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

She couldn’t line up her thoughts. She couldn’t find a coherent one to start the line.

“It’s just that I didn’t mean to … I didn’t set this up to—set you up to … Oh well.”

“Let’s see if we’re both sorry, or not.”

It would change things, big moments changed things. So he took his time drawing her in, took more drawing her up just a little before he closed the rest of the distance, closed his mouth over hers.

Slow, soft, sweet. Just a taste, a test either could pull away from without damaging a long, important friendship.

Drawn to the slow, the soft, the sweet, she again leaned in.

Like a key turned in a lock. She felt the click that had eluded her for so long, and let herself sink into the kiss, into the moment.

It changed things. She laid a hand on his cheek, then slid her fingers up and through his hair, and changed things.

Did he deepen the kiss or did she? She didn’t know, only knew everything inside her wanted more.

He eased back, his eyes still on hers. “Sorry?”

“No. No, not even a little.”

“Me either.”

This time she linked her arms around his neck, and the hum in her body sounded in her throat as he gripped her hips.

“The smart thing,” she managed before she kissed him again. “The smart thing would be to give this a few days.”