ply against the marble, her

shoulders blocking the hallway light. Rain dripped from his hair and pooled around his shoes. He did no

alfway on her lip

hs of longing and emptiness collapsing into that singl

d slightly, dod

y air. He stepped around her and into the apartment, leaving a trail of wet foot

said softly to hi

ercoat and tossed it carelessly onto an antique armchair. The wet thud of the fabric carried suc

ng useles

ightly into her palm until her nails dug crescent marks into her skin. She watched him walk toward t

had learned to speak to him when he came home tense from board meetings. "T

The open wine bottle. The wine stain on her dress

pain, might have been memory. Then it was gone, replaced by the cold, sharp mask she

his." Not a question, but tota

l she could barely speak. "I wa

othing to

r liquid and drank it down in one swallow. His hand was perfectly steady. Everything about him was contro

n, there was something else-a fragrance that made the old her, the woman who

f a niche Parisian perfume house, the kind

is

turned, his gray-green eyes-the color of the winter Atlantic-sweepin

use

ated it. "Three months of nothing, and you

ler than silence. "You'r

expl

e cut her off lightly, as if her wo

ck until her spine

do you

her will. Through her blurred vision, she searched for the man who had onc

see the tension in the fabric, the tigh

"Don't make m