“That sounds nice,” I said, practically purring with delight.

“And then I suggest we remain naked, grab the quilt from my bed, hit the sofa and watch a movie,” he continued, reaching up and rubbing the pad of his thumb along my lower lip. “I’m thinking maybe we should go for a classic this time, 9 ½ Weeks, Body Heat, Eyes Wide Shut, something like that.” My heart started to beat faster and my tummy started fluttering with anticipation.

“I think I see a common theme in those movies,” I noted in a breathy voice.

“Yeah, there are no musical numbers,” he said with a smile, leaning in and lightly kissing my neck. I was practically panting already. “So, what do you say?” he asked, nuzzling me.

“I say that sounds like a fun Friday night.”

“I was hoping you would say that.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

“There’s a bottle of wine in the cupboard, why don’t you go open it and pour us some while I run a bath,” he said as soon as we got to his place. I was more than happy to oblige. I heard the water flowing a minute later. Luckily, Adam had a nice big tub. I found the wine, the corkscrew and the wine glasses and just got them filled when he came back out.

“Well, hello,” I said as he came up behind me and put his arms around my waist.

“Bring the bottle.” He turned and headed for the bathroom as I practically skipped after him. He had, after all promised me some phenomenal sexing. When we got to the bathroom I saw that he had lit candles and I smelled nice rose-scented bath oil.

“You had this stuff lying around?” I teased.

“I bought it just for you,” he answered, shutting off the water. “Now put that wine down and come over here and let me undress you. I had taken exactly one step when my phone started ringing. Who would be calling me now? I took it out of my pocket and answered.

“Lily! It’s Gab. We were talking after you left and I thought of something! What purse did you have with you the night of the author party?”

“I had a little dressy black clutch, why?” I mouthed “Gabrielle” to Adam.

“Have you actually gone through it since then?”

“Just to grab my wallet out of it.” Adam was starting to look impatient.

“Because, McGuire was in the room with your purse alone.”

“So?” I was starting to feel impatient.

“So, if he was talking about a flash drive maybe he put it in there.”

“Um, I guess it’s possible.” I couldn’t believe that I was having this conversation right now, when I should be naked in a warm rose-scented bath with Adam.

“Are you guys at your place?”

“No, at Adam’s.” I was tempted to tell her where at Adam’s and what we were doing when she called. Adam shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

“Well, you have to go check.”

“Tonight?” She didn’t just suggest that, right?

“Lily, it’s very important. It could be a matter of life and death.”

“Yeah, but we don’t even know there was a flash drive, Gabrielle.” I saw Adam roll his eyes and begin undressing himself.

“Lily, it just makes sense. I know it’s a pain but you need to go look.”

“First thing in the morning, Gab. I promise.”

“But …”

“I’ll call you tomorrow.” I said and clicked off. I put my phone down on the sink and turned to Adam.

“Sorry. Gab thinks maybe if there was a flash drive, that McGuire could have put it in my purse when he was in the room alone with it. She thought I should go look tonight. Do you think …?”

“Like you said, you don’t even know there was a flash drive, let alone that McGuire knew that was your purse and put it in there for you to find. We can check tomorrow.” He came toward me, and was just about to start undressing me, when my phone rang again. This time Adam grabbed it.

“Just so you understand what you’re interrupting, Lily and I are about to take a bath together, after which I promised her some phenomenal sexing.” There was a pause as Adam’s face registered a look of pure horror. “Mom?!” he sputtered. “Why are you calling Lily?! Oh … I … I know. But … Oh, come on. Do I really…? Yeah, sure, um … what I said when I answered … Okay, yeah. I love you too.” Adam handed me the phone, grabbed the wine bottle and walked out.

“Mrs. Roth?” I asked, feeling more than a little embarrassed.

“Lily, dear, I’m sorry to disturb your, uh,” she said hesitantly, “on a Friday night, but I left Adam a couple messages this week, and he didn’t return my calls. I suspect he was pretending he didn’t get them, because they were about the bris tomorrow.”

“The bris?”

“Yes, Adam’s cousin, Rebekah, had a baby boy and he’s being circumcised tomorrow at sundown. Adam really should be there, but he’s a bit squeamish. Do you think you could come along and keep him calm and distracted?”

“Sure. No problem.”

“I also wanted to mention that Rabbi Stein will be there tomorrow. You know, if you and Adam wanted to chat with him a little.”

“Uh …” I walked into the living room, where Adam sat looking traumatized and drinking wine straight from the bottle. “Rabbi Stein? What would we want to discuss with …?”

“And of course, Hannah will have her little Josh there. He’s a darling, and I’m not just saying that because I’m his grandmother. You do like children, don’t you, Lily?”

“Uh, children, um yeah sure …” Adam rescued me by grabbing the phone.

“Okay then, mom. We’ll talk to you tomorrow. Tell dad I said ‘hi.’ Love you!” He hung up. And looked at me dejectedly.

“I guess you’re not in the mood anymore, huh?”

“I have all day tomorrow to stress out about watching a helpless infant get circumcised by a rabbi in somebody’s living room, and I just told my mother that we were about to take a bath together and then I had promised you phenomenal sexing. What do you think?”

“You want to borrow Gab’s cow jammies?”

We decided just to cuddle, clothed, and watch old episodes of the X-Files, which we both loved. Adam laid in my arms and I massaged his scalp and ran my fingers through his hair. We stopped after three episodes and talked about books for a while. A long while, as it turned out. Adam loved to read as much as I did, and confessed that he had sometimes even thought about trying to write himself. Eventually, we realized that it had gotten quite late, and we got up and got ready for bed. I found a very nice surprise waiting for me when I came out of the bathroom, wearing his Georgetown T-Shirt. He was sitting up in bed, holding a leather-bound copy of The Arabian Nights.