The Tenth Cycle: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 1) by JC Ryan

watch a romantic comedy.
    When the movie got to a point where the hero didn’t dare kiss the girl, Daniel said, “Oh, just kiss her already!”
    Sarah turned to him and spoke softly, with an enticing smile, “Why don’t you take your own advice?”
    Daniel didn’t need a second hint. He tilted her chin with a gentle finger, looked into her eyes long enough to see the invitation there, and dipped his head to taste her lips for the first time. It wouldn’t have surprised him if he had heard an angel choir at that moment. In fact, his ears were ringing with some kind of music.
    Sarah’s lips were warm, soft and tasted faintly of the wine they had shared earlier. Kissing her was more intoxicating than the wine and he lost himself for a few minutes as he let the kiss linger. When at last it ended, Sarah put her head on his shoulder and they looked again at the TV, although both of them had lost track of the movie. When the movie was over, Daniel asked, “Would you like to go to bed?”
    Sarah’s expression betrayed surprise at the directness of the question. What should she answer? Actually, she thought she might like that very much; it had been too long since she had been with her ex-fiancé. But would Daniel think she was too forward if she just said ‘yes’? “Um,”
    Daniel realized his mistake when he saw her face. “Oh, hell, Sarah, that came out wrong. I meant, are you ready to turn in? In the guest room?”
    Slightly disappointed, but relieved at not having to decide, she laughed. “Oh. Yes, I’m tired.”
    Daniel walked her to her door, ventured another kiss to say goodnight, and left her there. As he closed his own bedroom door, he mentally kicked himself. The question was already out there, why had he supplied the answer? What if she wanted…? No, a woman like Sarah needed to be courted. He would have to be satisfied that she had kissed him in return, with every evidence of pleasure. He could wait.
    For her part, Sarah was kicking herself for her hesitation. She didn’t get Daniel’s reserve. He gave every evidence of liking her a lot, but he was either the world’s most patient man or he had been raised with the manners of another age. Like Victorian. Maybe her signals weren’t strong enough?
    The next morning, Sarah seemed a little shy with him at first, but Daniel maintained his cheer as he put the coffee on to brew and tried unsuccessfully to get a breakfast of sausage, scrambled eggs and toast all on the table at the same time. Fortunately, Sarah came to his rescue, buttering toast and pouring orange juice, in a sweetly domestic pas de deux that had them both thinking they could get used to this. But, neither said it.

Chapter 7 - Message In A Bottle
    Back at work, Daniel struggled with a sense of unreality. Since the last time he sat at this desk, his world had shifted profoundly. He was having trouble focusing on his next column, and decided to write up his interview with Dr. Zacharias. Dancing around the Atlantis references was proving more difficult than he thought it would be. The lecture was interesting, but the possibilities of the new information were so enticing that it kept creeping into his narrative. He had been at it for four long hours, with only about two thousand words to show for it, when Owen came by his desk and asked if he was going to lunch.
    “Wow, is it noon already?”
    “Yeah, man. What’s got you so out of it? Didn’t you even see Alison from the fashion desk parade down the aisle here in a polka-dot dress that didn’t even cover her ass?”
    “Hmm?” Daniel’s attention had turned back to his story and he hadn’t heard the question.
    “Alison. Ass. And legs down to there.”
    “Owen, grow up. Who cares?”
    “I care. It made my day! I think she wants me.”
    “Good for you. Did you want to get some lunch or not?”
    “Sounds good to me.”
    Daniel liked Owen, a lot really. He was a good friend, but sometimes his blatant sexual references were just over the