He grinned. "Come on. You'd trade this place for a dishwasher and in-unit laundry in a second."

She tilted her head, her tone sliding into something silkier. "And take you away from that big cock you're so obsessed with?"

He nearly choked on the champagne, then burst out laughing. Loud, open, unguarded.

"I'm serious," she said, half-laughing herself, but not backing off -- her voice lower now, more intimate. "You bring him up more than I do."

Craig leaned in, playful but tense beneath it. "Only because you won't stop teasing me about it."

Shannon took another slow sip, her smile lazy and confident, the kind that curled rather than...