d me off at the n

the car, and walked insid

ka.

down my throat, but I welcomed the sensation. At least it gave me someth

deep voice said somewhere behind my shoulder. "I

d. "I'm just not go

reaked. "I spent my afternoon at an obl

o dull what the evening had sharpened. Lexie lay curled up and silent inside me, licking at the bond Der

making myself smaller for him, and he couldn't wait a

k," I told the stranger

ric ripped. The floor tilted up to meet me,

ever

me and lifted me clean off the ground.

orner as if he found the world mildly amusing. He held me as though I w

omen wait for the second dr

. "You're a funny

pped to my sleeve and the smile vanished. "That blouse

ipped. "You

tel like that." He glanced at the bar

s,

out. I told myself

to rest against his chest. Lexie, silent all night, lifted her head. She had b

he suite door had closed behind us. He

use

e into something

," I b

turned with a shirt in his hand and stopped dead. His eyes moved over me once, slowly. I was too busy star

n that face once, across a ballroom,

whispered, s

w rose. "Y

ow of

toward me slowly, like a man in no hur

ame out thinner than I wanted. "You're ruthless. You're th

coming.

k's

ll I could see was Derek on that bed, with the champagne and the black tie hung

met th

" he asked, close enough n

"That when you look at someon

nd

ink I bel

th. "Last chance to walk o

r the rest.

ry thought I owned went white. His hands closed around my waist and lifted me against the wall.

, low, between kisses. "

id. "We're both

ght and the sound

e else to bed on the day we buried my father. I had taken his uncle. The score was settled. One night, nothing more, with a man who had never asked my name

n't accept it. Come back. Where are you? Pick up. I scrolled with a thin smile. Of course. The man who had never been refused couldn'

mbulance herself, then collapsed. She's in the ER at City Hospital. They phoned me because