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DELILAH

On the second Friday after Valentine’s Day, I send Kane a text at 9:30 at night.

ME: Meet me at the bakery’s back door at ten.

His reply arrives before I set down the phone.

KANE: Naked?

ME: As if I’d let you in any other way.

This is our life now.

I ask for him when I want him. He comes to Sheepshead Bay and leaves before my 3:30 A.M. alarm, or I sleep at his brownstone and wake beneath sheets that have no business feeling that good against bare skin.

One afternoon, I meet him in the back of the sedan between supplier meetings.

Technically speaking, they’re not “holidays.”

But there are plenty of fireworks nonetheless.

The first unscheduled invitation took me an eternity to send. I typed Are you busy? and deleted it because that’s how you talk to colleagues, not fuck buddies.

I tried Want to come over? and decided that was too forward.

In the end, I figured clarity was the best option.

ME: I want you tonight. This is separate from the debt. Come at nine if you want me, too.

Kane arrived at 8:58 with no gift and asked what I wanted. I pointed upstairs and he proceeded to make me incapable of walking for a few days.

After that, asking became easier.

Tonight, I want him in my bakery.

By 9:45, every employee is gone. I finish the deposit, check the ovens, set the alarm for the front, and lock both entrances. The workday is complete before I turn off the kitchen lights and leave one lamp burning in the office.

I also move tomorrow’s croissant dough into the refrigerator, verify the flour delivery, and leave Priya a note on the dry-erase board about the new wholesale order.

There will be no frantic cleanup after Kane arrives. If I lose awareness of time or get fucked into oblivion, the bakery can still open without disaster.

On the desk, I put two glasses of water, condoms, and a clean towel. Kane knocks right as I finish setting everything out.

I let him in through the rear entrance.

“You’re overdressed,” I tell him.

He wears black trousers and a dark sweater beneath his coat. “You are fully dressed.”

“I own the building. The rules are different for management.”

I lock the door behind him. Kane removes his coat and reaches for me.

“Hands to yourself.”

He stops.

“You summoned me here to stand by the dishwasher?”