After all this man was a complete stranger. The only link between him and I was Mr. Piedmont and I was more than certain that if something went wrong ...Mr. Piedmont would side with him. Never the less I opened the door and greeted him with a smile. He was very handsome, older, probably in his 40’s, dressed really nice and smelled amazing.“Sara?” his eyes scanned me from head to toe and there was a certain excitement in the air. It was like I could sense not only his approval but also his. She was thirty-one, just two years younger than Maddy--damn, did he always have to compare the women he met to his ex-wife? The executive PA had already shown Carl over the past seven months just how well she handled the activities here at the Pearl Foundation.Yvonne deconflicted schedules, made any and all travel reservations and accommodations for Carl and the other senior board members, and kept everything going like clockwork. She also advised Carl on the personal agendas and the weaknesses. When she stepped into her house, she looked around and noticed that almost all the traces of Korie were gone. Too tired to cook she ordered out, took her much needed shower, and as soon as she was done sleep came and took over. She woke up herself up from her moans, her body sweaty and hot and breathing hard as if she ran a 5k in an hour. She lay back down to relax her body and closed her eyes to go back to sleep but sleep wouldn’t come. His face appeared in her mind smiling and laughing at her. He'd urged that they push on, though already the afternoon sun was casting long shadows among the rocks."We'll be better able to handle anything we run into in the morning when we're fresh," Darrick had argued, and the others had agreed with him. "No telling what we might find, or what might find us."Baysil took the first sentry watch, unable to sleep now that they were so close. Not far off the monastery loomed against the night sky, a rectangular block of gray stone with squared off towers at.