Night in Heaven by Reana Malori Page A

ago, but she just won’t let it go.  I need to move on.  She’s the one who couldn’t be faithful and I can’t abide a woman who doesn’t know the meaning of the word commitment.”
    He paused in the conversation, as if listening to the person on the other side of the telephone.  She heard his feet shuffling as if he was pacing along the floor.  Damn, she wondered what he looked like, because if his voice was anything to go by, then he must be gorgeous.
    “Hell yeah, I’m too old to be down here, but this is the last place anyone will expect me to be.  I just need a break for a few days.  So here I am, all by myself.” 
    He paused again and Crystal couldn’t help but creep slowly over toward the separator in order to listen better.  Was it wrong of her to listen?  Yes, it probably was, but she was too damn nosey and she wanted to know what else he was going to say.
    “Well, maybe I can find something to distract me while I’m here.  I needed a break from the office as well.  Things were getting a bit too stressful with all the changes we’re making and Donna told me I needed to leave or else she was going to quit.  So, I took that as my cue.  I’ll be heading back in two days.”
    Crystal knew she had heard enough and should turn around and walk away.  She still needed to shower and change for her night out and sitting here listening to a stranger on the phone, albeit a stranger with a very sexy voice, was not what she needed right now.  As she began to turn away, she heard her next door neighbor end his conversation and hang up the phone.  Damn!  Now it was too late to turn away and she would have to stand here until he left.  If she made a move, he would know that she had been outside listening to his conversation.  So, she was stuck out here for the time being.
    After a few minutes, she realized he hadn’t moved.  He was still outside and she wondered what he was doing.
    “So, do you make it a habit listening in on other people’s conversations?”
    Oh shit!  Was he talking to her?  No, he couldn’t be.  There was no way he could have known she was standing out there.  Is there?  If she stayed quiet and did not respond, maybe he would think it was his imagination that someone was there and he would leave and go back inside.
    “I know you’re there.  I heard you outside when I came out on the balcony and you never left, even when my conversation started.  I know you were listening.  Come on, you can say something, I won’t judge you.”
    It was now or never.  What to do, what to do?  Well, she knew it was just silly to be standing out here like a deer in headlights while the man knew she had been listening in on his conversation.  Plus, he didn’t say anything too incriminating, so she could bluff her way through it.
    “Yeah, I’m here, but I wasn’t listening in on your conversation.  I’m just enjoying the night air and enjoying the view of the people.”
    “If you’re enjoying the view of the people, why can’t I see you?  I’m standing on balcony leaning on the banister and you’re nowhere to be seen.  Are you going to come out from hiding so I can see you?”
    “Why would I do that?  I don’t even know you.”
    “Well, maybe that’s the whole reason.  Come out and talk to me.  Maybe we can get to know each other.”
    “Why?  Aren’t you leaving in two days?”  His low chuckle told her he had caught her slip.  Damn!  Now he knew she had been listening to him. 
    “So, you weren’t listening, huh?  Come on…give.  What’s your name?  Mine is Grant Reed.”
    She worried her bottom lip with her teeth, wondering if she should give her real name or the name she and her friends had created for the weekend.  Hell, since he wasn’t some drunken fool she had met in the street, she would take a chance and jump in with both feet.  She slowly moved toward the banister at the front her balcony and leaned over, his face slowly coming into view as