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There was music when she woke The same steady drureeted her when she stirred He’d held on to her, she thought-a little dreamily- when she’d asked Just held on to her while the rain played and sleep took her under

Though she had a di down on top of the bed, she found herself cozily tucked in

And alone

The part of her that didn’t want to face it, didn’t want those ain, to just let the rain and the watery gloom stroke her back to sleep

Come too far for that, Cilla, she reminded herself You’ve come too far for the slide and stroke Pull it up, face the facts Decide Then deal

As she pushed herself up to sit, she thought that nagging, practical voice in her head a coldhearted bitch

Then she saw the coffee

Her insulated travel ainst it, one of her notepads sported asketch depicting exactly how she iined she looked at that preciseBeneath, in bold block letters, the caption read:

I AM COFFEE!!

DRINK ME!

(THEN TURN THE PAGE)

"Funny guy," she grumbled She picked up the pad, tossed it on the bed before lifting the rees above lukewar and sweet And just what the doctor ordered She indulged, sitting, sipping, letting the coffee give her systee in the notebook

She hadn’t expected to laugh, wouldn’t have believed anything could cut through the fog of depression to pull a quick, surprised chuckle out of her

He’d drawn her vivid, wide-eyed, exaggerated breasts and biceps bulging out of her sleep tank, hair strea, a hint of stearipped in her hand

"Yeah, you’re a funny guy"

Laying the notepad back down, she went to find hi sound when she opened the bedrooainst plastic She wended her way to the master bedroom, pushed open that door, then crossed to the doorway of the bath

He’d dug up work gloves, she noted, and a small spade, several empty drywall compound buckets Two of them were filled with tile shards It struck her alht before, to stand there and see theyour status as a htened He scanned her face "You may have ruined me for life How’s the coffee?"

"Welcome Thanks You don’t have to do this, Ford"

"I don’t know anything about building, but I know a lot about cleaning up"

"We’re going to need a lot ured But I also figured Iin bed with you on a rainy Sunday ized"

"Is that what you call it?"

His face remained very solemn "In polite company"

She nodded, stepped over to stare at the cracks and breaks in her glass-block wall She’d loved the look of that, the patterns in the glass, the way the light stole through She’d i the walls a sheer, subtly lints of chrome Her classy oasis, and yes, maybe a personal salute to old Hollywood

The roots of her roots

"I don’t knohat I’ to do yet I honestly don’t know if I want to put this back together If I’ve got it in ht this war soht wars I wanted to build so for myself fros keep falling down"

"It didn’t fall down, Cilla, it was knocked down That’s a different thing" He tipped his head to one side, then the other,a deliberate study of her face So she saw he understood she meant herself as much as-maybe more than-the room "I don’t see any cracks"

"She was a junkie, a drunk Maybe she was made into one, exploited, used Pampered and abused I knohat that’s like Not on her level, but enough to have a glimmer of what it was for her I could have tried to build anywhere, but I made a deliberate choice to come here She’s part of the reason This place is part of the reason My oounded psyche and need to prove my oorth on ood reasons" He shrugged in that easy way of his "So you stay, you clean it up And you build it On your terms"

She shook her head "You have no idea how screwed up I aot a few clues How about you? Any idea how strong you are?"

How could she argue against that straight-line, stubborn conviction? "It vacillates I’ht now"

"Maybe you just need a boost"

"More coffee?"

"A hearty Sunday breakfast" He pulled off the work gloves, tossed them on the lid of the john "You don’t have to decide the rest of your life this ive yourself a break? Take a little tiet Spock froe ourselves at The Pancake House, go to the zoo"

"It’s raining"

"It can’t rain forever"

She stared at him a moment, at that relaxed smile, the warht He’d left her coffee, andup her

He believed in her, in a way, on a level no one, not even she, had believed in before

"No, it really can’t, can it? It really can’t rain forever"

"So, get dressed and we’ll go overload on carbs, then go check out the ood After"

"After what?"

She laughed, and this ti She took hold of the front of his shirt, watched the awareness come into his eyes "Co hiot nothing else on my mind And I really could use that boost"

"Okay" He scooped her up, closed his , she s it out Change in venue and basic approach," he said as he carried her to the bedroo, low purr "So a as she hooked her arht his ht as they tu else was later Just theht, on the rumpled bed, she let herself sink into the here and now She drew his shirt up, away, hooked her legs around hiered on her mouth, the taste, the shape, the movement of it, endlessly That wonderful deep dip in her top lip held a world of fascination for hiainst his could have held hiraceful stem of her neck allured him, the curve of her cheek, the smooth skin just under her jaw offered him countless pleasures as he roaain

The flavors there had becoun this dance, and only the more desirable to hilide his lips down her, learn the tastes and textures, madden himself with the subtle swell above si there even as she arched up in invitation He found warainst his lips And when his tongue slid under the cotton, when she moaned in approval, he found ers gliding light as s as he lifted his head to look into her eyes

Her heart stuttered Her body siood at this"

"If so I’ve looked at you a lot In an artistic capacity" His gaze shifted down as his fingers brushed over her breasts "I’ve thought about you a lot"

Thuined touching you Watching you while I did Feeling you tre for"

He lowered histhe kiss deep Lowered his body to hers Heat spread where flesh met flesh, sent her pulse to pound Now her body quivered as he journeyed down it, slow and easy, hands and lips

She thought she’d let go when they tu That had been acquiescence This, what he seduced from here, was surrender

He touched with a care, a curiosity, as if she were the first woman he’d touched And made her feel as if she’d never been touched before Sensations swam and coiled inside her, shiht And the light blooled sheets to anchor herself in the glow

He guided her up, up where the light flashed, where in the quick, stunning blindness pleasure turned on its edge and shot through her

He steeped himself in the shape of her, even as she quaked under him The slender line of her torso that curved into her waist enchanted hi up as she peaked, thrilled Long, lovely thighs led hiht nip of his teeth

She moaned, and the sound of it seeped into hi center She said his naers raked through his hair, then down his back on the coil and release Damp flesh slid over damp flesh until he looked back down into her eyes

She touched his face, held the look, tre as he slipped into her And as those icy blue eyes glazed, he took her with long, slow thrusts

She ached, every part of her She rose to hiht Swamped in needs he ain, iuid, she lay under hiain, felt the hot twisted sheet under her back When the hts to wind through, she wondered if the fact that she’d just had the best sex of her life meant it was all downhill froainst her shoulder, and she swore she felt her skin glow

He lifted his head, brushed her hair away from her cheek as he smiled sleepily down at her "Okay?"

"Okay?" She let out a h "Ford, you seriously deserve a medal, or at least a certificate of excellence I feel like every inch of me has been tended," she decided

"I’d say my job is done, but I really like the work" He dipped his head, and the kiss sent sparkles dancing in her brain to go with the glow "Probably need, ah, a coffee break though"

Deciding she’d never been more relaxed or content in her life, she hooked her arms around his neck "Understandable When my bones resolidify, I could use a shower And it just occurs to me we can’t shower here"

He saw the worry co away, pulled her up to sitting "We’ll go over toher in the face, he thought "Toss sorab what you want It turns out I’ve also iined you wet and slippery Now I’ll find out how close I was to right"

"All right There was a mention of pancakes, too, as I recall"

"Stacks of theh the rest of the day"

THEY DIDN’T MAKE it to The Pancake House After a long, steaetic shower, the idea struck to stay in and make pancakes The result was messy but reasonably edible

"They just need a lot of syrup" Sitting at the kitchen counter in Ford’s T-shirt, Cilla drowned the oddly shaped stack on her plate