“Where’s that bowl full of spiked punch when I need it?” I asked, sitting down.

“Here, somebody in my office won a trial today, but I have to drive, so this is for you,” Mark said, pushing a shot glass toward me. I knew that after last week’s little display, I should behave, but I downed the shot anyway. It turned out to be a Kamikaze, incidentally. Why did that seem somehow appropriate?

“So what’s going on between you and Adam now anyway?” Jess asked. “Gab said that the two of you are working and living together? Didn’t you just start dating last week?”

“Yeah, that’s even faster than Gabrielle and Braden,” Cam said with a laugh.

“When we went out last week, I had a strange conversation with a neighbor of mine that may have had something to do with the Moretti trial,” I explained, going into the whole story, starting with neighbor Dan and ending with Mr. O.J. gloves and our plan to keep me in town.

“But won’t it be weird living together when you just started dating?” Cam asked.

“It’s not permanent and Adam and I have known each other since we were four. We spent every day together in school, every Saturday together in Hebrew school, and every summer together at camp.”

“And they’re sleeping together now,” Gab pointed out. “They’ll get along much better, since it was probably sexual frustration fueling their animosity.” Every now and then Gabrielle showed a scary smart flash of insight.

“You should know that I’m jealous,” Mark said and gave me a cute bad boy smile.

“Stop flirting with her,” Adam demanded, sitting down next to me.

“What do you have, radar?” Mark asked.

“I’ve already got to put up with Sachs leering at her from across the room. I don’t need to deal with you, Mr. Grabby Hands,” he shot back.

“And here comes hubby,” Jess smiled at Gab. “You don’t follow me around like that,” she said to Cam.

“Maybe I do and I just don’t let you know.”

“That’s creepy, honey.” She laughed and he leaned down and kissed her.

“Mark, I think you’re going to have to find yourself a girlfriend soon,” Braden teased, glancing at Cam and taking a seat next to Gabrielle.

“I guess so, since Adam won’t lend me his.” He laughed when Adam glared at him.

“Where’s Bruce?” I asked, changing the subject.

“He and Jason had plans,” Adam explained, sounding like he and Bruce were tight now.

“So, one of your neighbors may be involved in the Moretti case,” Braden said.

“I’ve been thinking about it and I have a few ideas…” Gabrielle started.

“Oh no. Here we go,” Cam interrupted. “What will it be this time, garbage cans, UFO conferences or underground sex parties?”

“Why don’t you throw a party, Lily?” Gab went on, ignoring him.

“I’ll be your partner,” Mark offered with a sexy smile. “I’ve infiltrated parties for Gabrielle before. I’ll even wear the costume again if you want me to.”

“That’s it!” Adam growled angrily.

“Cut it out, Mark,” Braden intervened, smiling, but giving him a warning look.

“You’ll never let me live that down, will you?” Gab asked, rolling her eyes. “One time, you ask somebody to dress up like a naughty schoolboy and sneak into and underground sex party and they’ll never let you forget it. For the record, though, I’m not talking about that kind of party. I mean just a regular old party and Lily can tell her neighbors that they should stop by.”

“And why would they want to do that?” I inquired before I could stop myself.

“Curiosity.” I must not have looked convinced. “And free booze – stress the free booze.”

“What are we going to do at the party, Sherlock?” Adam asked with a smile. “Play Beer Pong with the loonies and the hit man?”

“Yeah, why would I want to do that?” I asked.

“So we can observe them,” Gab said with a smile.

“Observe them do what, honey?” Jess asked. “Get drunk?”

“Observe them to see if anyone is acting suspiciously, but first, we’ll get McGuire’s door open and leave it open a little. Then we’ll watch from somewhere. Anyone innocent won’t try to go in, because they’ll think McGuire is there, but the Fox will know he’s not and he’ll probably want to go in and look around.”

“Hang on, get his door open?” Mark chimed in. “I could be wrong, but that sounds a whole lot like, oh, I don’t know, breaking and entering?”

“It’s not breaking and entering. It’s just breaking. We’re not going into his apartment.”

“This sounds like such a fun party,” Adam replied. “Should we vandalize the private citizen’s door and lie in wait for the contract killer, before or after we play Twister?”

“Forget about the legalities for now,” Braden spoke up and then paused. “I don’t believe I just said that.” He shook his head in disbelief.

“Gabrielle’s rubbing off on you, Braden,” Cam said with a laugh.

“What I want to know,” Braden went on, “is why he would want to look around McGuire’s apartment. What’s he looking for, baby?”

“The flash drive,” Gab answered, like that should make perfect sense to all of us.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, completely lost at this point.

“Don’t you remember what he said? Details on drive?”

“Yeah, I figured he meant he wanted a ride home, and he would explain whatever he wanted to tell me then,” I answered.

“That doesn’t make any sense, though. Who talks like that?”

“I guess it’s possible he was talking about a flash drive,” I said pensively. “Come to think of it, that federal agent did ask me if McGuire gave me anything.”

“So, how about next Saturday night?” Gab suggested. “That will give you some time to plan and let the neighbors know about it.”

“Oh that’s so sweet!” Mark laughed. “Adam and Lily are entertaining together.”

“Adam and Lily have always been entertaining together,” Braden joked.

We stayed for a while longer, talking about court that day. I explained a little bit more about my delightful parents and how my failure to practice law had made me a failure in general in their eyes. I pointed out, though, that it didn’t really matter since they had never seemed to like me much anyway. We ordered food and talked a little about my neighbors. Adam assured Mark that he would just love Donna. Somehow, I don’t think Mark believed him.

When it was getting close to eight o’clock, Adam and I said our goodbyes and headed out. I noted as we left that Jacob and his blonde were gone. I guess she was luckier than Adam’s blonde. When we got to the car Adam didn’t pull out immediately, turning to me instead.

“So, how about we go to my place and take a bath?” he said in a sexy voice.

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

“And then I suggest we remain na**d, 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 na**d 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.