By Alice Clayton
Release Date: September 2, 2014
“So what the hell did you call me for? Sounds like you’ve got it
all worked out already, Clark,” I said, rolling over on my back. “You sure that’s the only reason you called?”
It was silent on the other end of the phone. Except for the almost imperceptible sound of him taking a sip of what I assumed was Scotch. Water. Neat. An image rose in my mind: Clark, sit- ting low in a leather armchair, one hand on the phone, the other on his glass. Hair, un-parted and messy. Eyeglasses, abandoned for the evening next to a book on the side table. Jeans. White button- down, untucked and the top two buttons undone. Blue tie, loosened but not untied. A five o’clock shadow that had progressed to scruffy goodness.
I pulled my pillow from behind my head and covered my face to muffle my giggle. What in the world had gotten into me?
Then I heard him take a breath. Deep, prolonged, and al- most . . . shaky? Almost a . . . shudder?
My own breath? Caught. Held hostage by a librarian three thousand miles away who called me in the middle of the night to ask me about a bisected suit of armor.
I held so very tight to my pillow.
“You want to know if that’s the only reason I called, Vivian?” he asked finally, his voice octaves and octaves lower than Daytime Clark. Raspy, gruff, rough and tumble.
“Uh-huh?” I squeaked.
“That’s the only reason,” he said. “Have a good night. Sweet dreams.”
He hung up.
I buried my head into the pillow, kicking my legs into the air. Eventually, I slept.
But sweet dreams? Not in the slightest. Salty? Hell, yes.
Alice Clayton Website
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Other Books in the Cocktail Series:
Wallbanger
Rusty Nailed
Thanks for the excerpt. I loved Wallbanger and planned to read the rest of the series when all of the books are out. Christmastime sounds perfect to me.
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