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there are probably shards all over the floor.”
    “What makes you think I’m barefoot?”
    She heard his laugh. “Because I am.”
    Great,
she thought. What else didn’t he have on? She heard a rustling noise and then a soft thump before something brushed her feet.
    “Okay, walk toward the sound of my voice. It’s safe now.”
    Oh no it isn’t,
she thought, hoping she hadn’t said it out loud. “What do you mean?”
    “I pulled the blanket off the bed and tossed it on the floor.”
    “Pretty creative of you.” She heard a rumble of thunder, or was it his laugh? For her, both were equally deep and exciting.
    “I am in marketing and PR. I have to be creative. Using my imagination is among my best qualities.”
    “Along with humility,” she said with a laugh.
    “Yep. Imagination is second, humility is third.”
    “Then what is…” She stopped. “Never mind. Where are you?” Her hand patted the air in front of her, searching for something solid as she moved toward his voice.
    “Right here.”
    She bumped into him, and he steadied her by slipping his arm around her waist, his hand near her hip. The contact sent a zing of excitement up her spine. Could he see her? Was infrared vision his first best quality? She took in a breath as the heat from his palm snaked up her spine and spread through her body.
    Carpe diem,
her mind screamed. Seize the day. If she took just one step, she could wrap her arms around him. Another small step and she could touch her lips to his and finally get the kiss she’d imagined about a million times since the eighth grade. Carpe diem. Smart, those ancient Romans and their Latin wisdom. It was now or never.
    In anticipation, she tilted her head and started to lean toward him with parted lips when light flashed again. In the finite moment in which they were suspended in the illumination, she could see Logan’s gaze lowering to her mouth, which she managed to placeonly about an inch from his. He looked back into her eyes and his arm tightened around her.
    And then the blackness came again.
    She expected the explosion of thunder to come, but not the long, slow breath she heard Logan let out as if to steady himself. Quickly, she pulled back. “I guess I misjudged where you were,” she said as the thunder silenced.
    “Did you?” he whispered.
    The warmth coming from his body enveloped her along with his earthy, male scent that mixed perfectly with the smell of summer rain. She inhaled deeply to capture it. “Yes. It’s dark in here.”
    In the ensuing flashes of lightning, she memorized the way he looked in the muted light. The angles of his jaw, the shape of his mouth, the way his hair framed his face—she committed each to memory like frames on film so she could fantasize later, after she explained away the idiotic look she probably had on her face.
    “We should light some candles,” she muttered, not knowing what else to say.
    In the next flash of light, she saw his gaze still on her mouth. Her chest nearly burst as the breath she had trapped there begged for release.
    His lips parted. “Lighting candles could be dangerous. Something could catch fire.”
    Something already had. She already felt that kind of heat from his very warm hand on her back. “Maybe we should get a flashlight,” she whispered.
    “We could.”
    She lifted her face toward the sound of his voice, still aching to kiss him. But he released her from his arms. She could feel the warmth fade when he stepped back.
    “Wait here. There has to be a flashlight or two in that oversized kitchen.”
    She could hear him moving toward the door, and her heart sank. She didn’t know if she would get another opportunity to be alone with him like this once the other women arrived tomorrow. She hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. She’d make a horrible Roman. Carpe diem. She’d seized nothing. Then she heard him stop at the door.
    “You know something, for a minute there, I thought you were going to kiss