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“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to get me in the mood, babe,” Palmer spoke.

“Why did you say it like that?” Elizabeth asked, sitting up fully.

“Like what?” Palmer asked.

“Like Iwouldn’twant that,” Elizabeth replied.

“It was just a comment. I didn’t mean it like that, though.”

“Idowant that, Palmer.”

“Want what?” Palmer asked. “Me in the mood?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Right now?” Palmer asked.

“Yes,” Elizabeth replied assertively.

Palmer stood and asked, “You want thatnow?”

“Yes. Is it that hard to believe that I’d want you?”

“No, it’s not, but we’ve been waiting.”

“Do you still want to wait?” Elizabeth asked, gulping and hoping the sound from the movie still playing loudly in the room would drown it out.

“No, I don’t want to wait. I wantyou. I don’t mind waiting as long as you need me to.”

“I don’t need to wait anymore,” she said softly.

“Lizzy, today is a big day.”

“I know that.”

Palmer looked down at the dark carpet and said, “Babe, I don’t want our first time to happen because you’re tryingnotto think about what’s going on out there. I want you to be thinking about us and what we’d be doing inhere.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes, realizing how she’d made Palmer feel.

“Love, that’s not what this is,” she said, standing up. “I’m not trying to drown out what’s going on out there. I’m trying to show you how much I love you.”

“You don’t have to show me; I know.” Palmer stood.

“No, you don’t,” Elizabeth replied, placing her hand in the middle of Palmer’s chest. “I don’t know that you evercanknow how much I love you, but I want to try to show you if you’re ready, too. Do you want to know something cool about this place?”

“What?” Palmer asked.

“This room has a secret lift. Well, you’d call it an elevator.”

“Elizabeth, what–”

“It runs from upstairs where my room is, down here, and then into a tunnel. It was built during World War II in case we needed an escape route. No one ever came to St.Rais, so it goes virtually unused. When my family built the theater here, they left the lift there.”

“Why are we talking about an elevator right now?”

“Because I want to take it up to my room, Palmer,” Elizabeth replied, running her hand down the center of her girlfriend’s chest. “I’m ready. I don’t know why I’m ready right now, specifically, but I am. It’s not because of what’s going onoutthere. It’s because of what’s going on inside me. I woke up next to you this morning, and you were holding me. I could feel your breath on my neck, and I so badly wanted to roll over and make love to you.”

“You did?”