"If you were here, I think I would turn all the lights off and make you talk to me."

"About what?"

I took another deep drink and poured more wine into my glass. "It doesn't matter. Your work. The crab fleets in Half Moon Bay. The rise and fall of the stock market this afternoon. You could read to me from that environmental impact report you've been slogging through. That's what I loved about you first -- your voice."

"This voice?" Jack purred. This time, his delivery seemed more deliberate. My spine melted, just a fraction.

"That voice."

"Well. You don't need me in the room with you to hear this voice," Jack said. "Why don't we see what it can do?"