Why Not Tonight?

Jacquie D’Alessandro Why Not Tonight?

A book in the 24 Hours Blackout series, 2005

Dear Reader,

We don’t often think of twenty-four hours as being a long period of time. After all, it’s just one day. But if we consider how drastically things can change in the mere blink of an eye, in a single heartbeat, it brings home the fact that the events that can occur during a twenty-four-hour period have the power to transform our lives. Especially if those events include the unexpected reappearance of The One Who Got Away. And even more so if those events are aided by a sudden blackout.

When former lovers Adam Clayton and Mallory Altman run into each other years later, neither initially believes that spending a mere twenty-four hours together will change the individual paths they’ve chosen for themselves. But throw in a heat wave, a blackout and a heap of overwhelming, sensually charged memories, and you have a recipe for a hot, dark excuse to relive some of those unforgettable, scorching past times. After all, it’s only for twenty-four hours-what could be the harm? Adam and Mallory are about to find out.

I hope you enjoy their journey, and that it inspires you to turn out the lights and make some romantic memories of your own.

Enjoy,

Jacquie D’Alessandro

This book is dedicated with my love and gratitude to my incredible husband, Joe,

whose unfailing support humbles me and who never tires of saying,

“You can do it”-no matter how many times a day I need to hear it.

And to my wonderful son Chris, for being so much like his dad.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the following people for their help and support: Brenda Chin, Damaris Rowland, Ernie Sigismondi, JoBeth Beard, Wendy Etherington, Jenni Grizzle, Kay and Jim Johnson, and Lea and Art D’Alessandro.

1

One week before the blackout

ADAM CLAYTON LOOKED around the photo studio and asked himself what the devil he was doing. It was one thing to help out Nick with paperwork while his buddy was at the hospital about to become a new dad, but there was no way Adam could actually take the photos for the appointments booked into Nick’s studio today. He was a stockbroker, not a photographer. Or at least he used to be a stockbroker. Now he was a…

He dragged his hands through his hair. What exactly was he? Career-wise, he didn’t know, and it had become increasingly clear to him every day since leaving Wall Street two months ago that, while he’d accomplished his goal of minimizing the health-threatening stress in his life, he didn’t like not knowing what he was. Who he was. Where his life was heading. For a guy who’d always defined himself by his career, he now felt like a ship without a port.

He frowned. Surely this disquiet was only temporary. He just needed more time to get used to being out of the rat race. Still, it was difficult for him not to have a grasp on things. He’d always been so disciplined, his schedule so regimented, his time so consumed with work, that he was finding it a real challenge to take it easy.

He missed the passion and energy his hectic, frenetic work had inspired. He needed to find another outlet for that energy and passion-something that would bring him the same sense of satisfaction but wouldn’t make him face another health scare like the one he’d recently experienced. Nothing quite as sobering as a grim-faced cardiologist asking him if he wanted to end up like his father. Which he sure as hell did not. Lying on that gurney, with all those monitors beeping around him, had been a major wake-up call. He’d realized then and there that he needed to change his life-now. Not at some nebulous point in the future. So, two weeks after those chest pains had landed him in the emergency room, one month after his thirtieth birthday, he’d officially “retired” from Wall Street. He had no intention of becoming a statistic and leaving behind a young wife and family like his workaholic, stockbroker father had.

Now, with nothing and no one to worry about except himself, he was finally free to do some of the things he’d always wanted. Things he’d never had the time to do. Top of the list-three months in Europe. During college, he’d twice planned to spend the summer trekking around Europe, but on both occasions his plans had been thwarted. First time courtesy of illness. Talk about a lousy time to catch mono. Second time…

He blew out a deep breath and forced back the barrage of memories that threatened to sneak out of the place where he kept them carefully locked away. Second time he’d cancelled because he’d fallen wildly, passionately in love and hadn’t wanted to spend one minute, let alone the entire summer, away from her.

He shook his head to dispel the image that rose in his mind’s eye of the laughing, smiling girl who’d so thoroughly captured his heart that long-ago summer. His gaze fell upon the photo on Nick’s desk-an eight-by-ten of a smiling Nick and Annie on their wedding day two years ago-and a wave of undeniable envy washed through Adam. Maybe he didn’t know what sort of new career he wanted, but one thing he definitely did know-he wanted the kind of loving, happy relationship Nick and Annie shared. The same kind his parents had shared…until his father’s death.

But not just yet.

No, first he planned to enjoy this time off-the first he’d had in years, and indulge in his lifelong dream of seeing the world-at something less than warp speed. Except for the Caribbean, he’d never traveled outside the United States. And he’d never been anywhere for more than three days at a time. Growing up, his family’s vacations had consisted of quick jaunts over two-or three-day weekends when the stock exchange was closed. Due to the Clayton family vacation time constraints, the rule was their destination couldn’t require more than a three-hour flight or a four-hour drive.

Since he was a kid, he’d always wanted to go somewhere far away and stay there for more than thirty-six hours. Bask in the culture, take his time to explore the intricacies of a single city. As of yet, it hadn’t happened. With his crazy work schedule, he hadn’t taken a vacation of any length in more than five years. Now he had his chance and nothing was going to stop him from snatching the brass ring he’d waited so long to grab.

Yet, except for his travel plans, he hadn’t made any definite decisions about what direction he now wished to head. The answer was out there, yet it frustratingly remained just beyond his reach, whispering that if he just stretched a little bit farther, the solution would come to him. At some point he’d have to make a decision, but thanks to careful financial planning, that point wasn’t right now. And with six months left on the lease on his Manhattan apartment, he didn’t need to worry about moving just yet. Which was good as he had no idea where he