After about four bottles of wine, both were tipsy and enjoying each other's company. Rosalie had kicked off her shoes and taken her hair down. Alan had removed his jacket, undone his bowtie and was lounging in his chair.

"I have never met anyone who could talk about Greek philosophy with such passion," Rosalie said as she sipped her wine. "There were a few good ones for sure, but most of them are terribly dry."

"I think you're the only person I know who can name more than two. What exactly is it you're a professor of?"

"Philosophy," she replied with a wry smile.

"You're joking."

"Of course I am. I lecture on classical civilisations, but my specialism is the European expansion of the Roman Empire."

"In vino veritas." Alan sipped his wine, tipping it towards her in a miniature toast. Rosalie copied him, gently tapping the stem of her wine glass with a painted fingernail. Reaching into her purse, she produced a packet of cigarettes and a lighter.

"You certainly know your Latin, Mr Shore. All those years of law school I suppose. Do you mind if I…?"

"No, not at all. In fact I think I'll join you, if you'd like to join me outside?" Alan went and found a cigar, lighting it and opening the balcony doors. Rosalie slipped herself from the chair and held up the train of her dress over her arm gracefully. Stepping out into the cold night air, she shivered slightly.

"It's a beautiful view you have from up here, you know."

"It's perfect," Alan said as he stared at her. He touched her curls gently, and she turned to face him, her brown eyes deep as the ocean. He ran the back of his hand across her cheek, and she breathed out her cigarette smoke. As he let his hand drift down along her arm and onto her waist, he murmured, "I want you." Rosalie took another drag on her cigarette and her face twisted into a wry smile.

"It's probably not a good idea given your friendship with my father."

"Does he need to know?"

"He's Denny Crane, if there's one thing he's good at it's knowing when someone else is having sex. Besides, you can't lie to him."

"Then what do you propose we do? You're in my room, you look…" He gestured at her, looking for the right words.

"I get the impression you're a man who's used to women falling into bed with him with little resistance, Alan." Rosalie stepped away from him, and stubbed her cigarette out in the ash tray. She shivered again and rubbed her upper arms as Alan pensively puffed his cigar. "I am not one of those women."

"In which case, I apologise if I made you feel uncomfortable." He leant onto the balcony rail and gazed down at the late night traffic below. "I am often told I can be inappropriately forward."

"The issue isn't you knowing what you want, Alan. It's the assumption that you need to be the one in control."

"I thought you taught classics, not psychology." He suddenly felt her presence tantalisingly close behind him.

"I took a few electives," she whispered in his ear and gently kissed the side of his neck. Alan tipped his head back slightly and closed his eyes as Rosalie stepped away and pulled open the balcony doors. "Aren't you coming?"

Turning around, Alan looked at her just as she slipped the straps of her dress from her shoulders and let the dress fall in a silk puddle on the floor around her. She smiled, and walked towards his bed. Rosalie found that perhaps letting herself go like this was not such a bad thing. She needed to relax more, and with Alan kissing her neck like that she was finding it very hard not to. She began to gently caress the back of his neck with her fingers – a weak spot of his. Unbuttoning his shirt and sliding it gently off his shoulders, she was surprised to find how toned he was underneath, and slowly ran her hands down his chest. Another thing that Alan found pleasing was the presence of stockings – one of the most underrated pieces of lingerie. Why didn't women understand how sexy a pair of stockings were, and how much fun could be had by rolling them down?

He pushed her back onto the bed and slid his finger into the lace garter of one of her stockings, gently rolling it down towards her knee. She suddenly wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him over onto his back, asserting her dominance once again.

"What did I tell you about your need for control," she murmured with humour in her tone. "Don't make me wish I'd gone home with Brad after all."