"Asher? Where are you? There's somebody in the house," she said, hearing the quaver in her voice.

"It's me." he said.

"But—what are you doing?" she asked clearly confused.

"Sitting on the living room sofa," he answered, the simple sentence sounding provocative.

She stared down the hall, still unable to see him. "If you're in the living room, why are you calling me?" she asked.

"Ermmm, sometimes people can communicate better on the phone than they can in person." he said.

She felt the ...