Free Reaching First by Mindy Klasky

She’d spaced them out over the evening. She could have one more, just another drop of courage. Tyler could get there any time.
    She held onto the bannister as she made her way down the stairs. The hallway swayed a bit as she headed back to the kitchen. Fresh ice cubes clinked into her glass. Vodka, a finger’s worth. Two. What the hell? Three. She added a splash of tonic water and squeezed in a generous wedge of lime.
    There. That was better. She sipped again, letting the icy fire sooth her.
    Her feet were freezing on the linoleum floor. Of course her feet were cold. She was wearing the skimpiest of camisoles, a froth of ecru lace and spaghetti straps. The matching panties certainly weren’t going to stave off any chill.
    Looking at her outfit, she felt astonishment all over again. She’d bought these clothes that afternoon, bought them for Tyler. She’d bought them so he could see her like this—not in any of the other panties and bras she owned, not in anything she’d ever worn for herself, for anyone else.
    This was different.
    Tyler was different.
    The logical part of her brain—the part that made her graduate magna cum laude from Michigan, that made her interview for and get a rare job in a crowded field—that mechanical voice told her she’d only known Tyler for a short time. Less than three weeks . And she’d only seen him for half of that, because he’d been on the road.
    But for the first time in her life, Emily was listening to the other part of her brain. She was listening to the voice that said there was something special with Tyler. She’d felt it from the moment he walked into Anna’s office—the sheer magnetism that made her feel like an iron needle spinning toward him as he moved across the room.  
    That was the voice that had urged her to take on monitoring his community service, because otherwise she’d walk away from him and never see him again. That was the voice that had whispered for her to accept his dinner invitation to Artie’s. That was the voice that had mewed from the back of her throat when he walked away from her front door, when she sent him away after dinner. And that was the voice that had ratcheted higher and higher, controlling her breathing, controlling her thoughts as they talked on the phone.  
    Tyler knew her. Tyler understood her. She found herself telling him things she’d never told another living soul—doubts about her job, about her abilities. Dreams for her future. Desires for the way she wanted to live her life, for who she wanted to be.
    And every outrageous thing she told him, he accepted. She loved the simple confidence in his voice. He believed in her. He trusted her. And his faith gave her permission to trust herself.  
    She hadn’t felt that permission in weeks. Months . Since she’d been called into her boss’s office, blindsided by his announcement that he was letting her go. It wasn’t until the past week—when this funny, sexy man told her so—that she realized she’d been thinking the wrong things for ages. She wasn’t to blame. She hadn’t failed. She was the same overachiever she’d always been, and getting laid off didn’t change that.
    Sure, there were a million conversations she and Tyler had not yet had. But they could have them. They would have them. Especially after she got rid of the one barrier between them. The Virgin Technicality.
    She gritted her teeth and downed the rest of her drink. The vodka shimmered through her like water over silk, hot then cold. Before she could decide whether to make herself another, there was a knock at the front door.
    This was it.  
    This was her chance to redeem the embarrassment of that night two years ago when One False Love had fled like she had some sort of plague. This was her chance to undo the decisions she’d made in high school, in college, all the nights of her life.
    All she had to do was answer the door.
    Her heart hammered as loud as the deadbolt as she flipped the lock open. She