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“You’re fond of that place.”
“Yes. It belonged to my grandmother. My whole family loves it, but selling is the best option. We’ll probably throw it a proper goodbye party right before we hand over the keys.”
I liked the warmth in her voice when she spoke about her family.
“I’ll look on Amazon for an alarm, see if they can ship something quickly.”
“It’s easier and quicker if you go to a specialty store.” I pulled a Post-it from the stack next to my computer, intending to write down the address, and then I had a better idea.
“I’ll go to a store with you. There’s one a few blocks away from here.”
“You don’t have to do that, but I’ll take you up on the offer, otherwise I’ll procrastinate and never get around to doing it.”
“Do you have time to go now?” It was six o’clock. The store was open until eight. I could take her to dinner after.
“No, I have dinner plans.”
I nodded tightly. Were those plans with a guy? The thought annoyed me more than I wanted to admit.
“Tomorrow?” I pressed.
Paige laughed. “You think I need protection that badly?”
“Judging by your speeding tickets, the city needs protection from you.”
“Touché, as the French like to say. Tomorrow works. Six?”
“I’ll meet you out front.” I wrote down the address of the shop on a Post-it, then handed it to her together with another business card. “Don’t lose this one.”
Paige opened her bag and retrieved her wallet. “See? I’m putting it here for safekeeping. I had the other one in my pocket, and it must have fallen out.”
“You have me at a disadvantage. I don’t have your number,” I said as we both stood up.
“Oh, of course. You should have it in case something comes up and you can’t make it.”
Yeah, that isn’t going to happen, I thought as she jotted down her number. She hunched over the desk, giving me a direct view of her cleavage. Christ, she was magnificent. My mouth was almost watering at the thought of tasting the skin between her breasts, stroking my tongue against her nipples.
I shook her hand afterward and kept my gaze on her until she was out of the room. Judging by her easygoing nature, I could tell she wasn’t taking the need for the alarm seriously. But that was why people like me existed: to protect people like her.
Chapter Three
Paige
As I was getting ready for work the next morning, I fussed way too much about my appearance. I put my hair up in a ponytail, then pulled the elastic out, letting the wild waves free. Yep, definitely down. Oh, what did it matter? I was going to buy an alarm. I had no idea why I was fussing so much. Well, I did... sort of. I wanted to make a good impression when I saw Will in the afternoon. I couldn’t shake the feeling that he thought I was some kind of a ditz. I wanted to rectify that. My dad used to be an Army man, and I’d been around plenty of his peers, so the whole badge/uniform thing didn’t hold a special appeal to me. Quite the contrary. But I couldn’t get Will out of my mind.
I yawned, despite already having had two coffees. I hadn’t been able to sleep a wink the last two nights. Damned jet lag.
It was a good thing that my first two days back in the LA office were mostly filled with paperwork and setting up my desk. Not much had changed in the years I’d been in Paris. We still rented the same office space on the ground floor of a high-rise. Even the team was the same.
“I can’t believe you gave up Paris,” Ashley said for the millionth time.
“I didn’t give it up. We just weren’t a good fit.”
“Girl, if I didn’t have a husband and two kids, I’d move in the blink of an eye.”
“Trust me, Ashley. Paris isn’t all they make it out to be. Sure, the touristy stuff is nice. The Eiffel Tower and the macaroons. But it’s also crowded, and rents are ridiculous. I was paying half my salary to live in a matchbox outside the city. Commutes took up so long that I didn’t have time to do anything more than work and sleep.”
Ashley sighed. “Don’t ruin my buzz with practicalities.”
