For once, Annie did as told when it came to holding onto something in bed. Normally, that was a terrific cue for some flirtatious defiance or an excuse to get her hands in his hair rather than keeping them wherever he'd told her to put them. But given that there was a goal here, and that beyond pants lay even better things, she obediently grabbed the edge of the mattress.

"I promise not to be mad if you pull me off the bed." But she would laugh.