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"Hi yourself."

I tipped her chin up and kissed her. Softly. Just an introduction. The kind of kiss that asked a question instead of assuming an answer.

She kissed me back, and the answer was yes.

I kept it there, warm, unhurried, her hands fisted lightly in my shirt like she was anchoring herself. When I finally lifted my head, her eyes stayed closed for a moment longer than necessary.

I counted that as a win.

"Verdict?" I asked.

She opened her eyes. "Orange."

“In that case.”

I dipped down again and stroked my lips against hers. Knowing that she wanted what I did to her spurred me on. Urged me to go close to where I had been wanting to be all night. When I parted her lips with my tongue, she made a needy sound and welcomed me.

I didn’t rush, what was the fun in that? I stroked my tongue against hers, in languid brushes, until she was chasing mine and we were soon tangled in a fevered kiss that defied all expectation. She smiled against my lips, then slowly pulled away.

“Red. Definitely red.”

I smiled and she smiled back, and for a moment we just stood there on her porch in the April dark, my arm still around her waist, her hands now twined around my neck, neither one of us in any particular hurry to break the connection.

“Dammit Zoe, I don’t want to leave.”

“Then my job here is done.” She attempted to smirk, but there was a small tremble. It made me feel ten feet tall.

"I'll call you tomorrow."

"You don't have to."

"I know I don't have to."

Something moved through her expression, that same flash I'd caught in the truck, gone before I could name it. She nodded once, then reached back and opened her front door.

"Goodnight, Adam."

"Goodnight, Zoe."

I waited until I heard the lock turn before I went back down the stairs. I sat in the truck for a moment before I started it, hands loose on the wheel this time, no white-knuckling required.

She was the one who made things red.

It wasn’t like my boy to be quiet. I looked down at him for the third time since we walked into the empty house.

“Well, what do you think?”

“It’s awfully big.” James walked over to the fireplace that was as tall as he was.

“I thought you liked that.”

“It had furniture and a dog before.”

“That’s because people were living in it.”

“Where did they go?”

“They went to a new house in Kansas.” I watched as he moved over to the bay windows that overlooked a big magnolia tree in the front yard.