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8
She was stillsecond-guessing her decision when she turned the corner and saw the man leaning against the stoop in front of her apartment. She didn’t have time to figure out what it meant before he turned his head, as if he’d felt hercoming.
He was wearing a midnight blue suit with a subtle pinstripe, a navy tie set against a crisp white shirt. Nina had probably seen ten thousand men in dark blue suits in her lifetime, but not one of them had caused a hitch in her breath like the man who had picked her up off the slippery pavement inJanuary.
JackMorgan.
He straightened without a flicker of emotion on his face, his dark eyesunreadable.
“Hello,” she said as she approached. She could hear the surprise in her own voice, the unspokenquestions.
How did you find me? Why are you here? Have I crossed your mind the same way you’ve crossedmine?
“Nina. I was beginning to wonder if you’d skippedtown.”
His voice was as deep and smooth as she remembered. It was a Bourbon and libraryvoice.
An I’m in Chargevoice.
Her gaze skipped to the car at the curb, the driver who’d delivered her to the subway station behind thewheel.
“Should I have?” sheasked.
He stepped closer, stopping when he was just the slightest bit inside her comfort zone. Except instead of alarm bells ringing, her body wassinging.
“I promise I would never harm a hair on your head.” He ducked until his mouth was near her cheek. “Unless you’d like me to thatis.”
She sucked in a breath and shuffled back a couple steps, trying to make it look natural. Like she was resetting her boundaries instead of trying to calm the rapid beat of her heart, the knowledge that her cheeks felthot.
Like she was some kind of blushing teenager, for god’ssake.
The thought snapped her back into her right mind. “What are you doinghere?”
He studied her a beat too long, his mouth turning up into the knowing half smile that had haunted her in the six weeks since she’d methim.
He reached into his pocket. “I think this belongs toyou."
She looked down and saw that he was holding a monogrammedenvelope.
“What’s this?” sheasked.
“Take alook.”
She took the envelope from his hand and registered that it was unusually thick and heavy for an envelope. When she opened the flap, she saw her driver’s licenseinside.
“How did you getthis?”
“Reggie found it on the floor of the car,” Jack said. “I would have delivered it sooner, but I was out of the country when he found it, and I wanted to return itmyself.”
She opened her bag and pulled out her wallet. Sure enough, when she opened it, her license wasmissing.
She shook her head. “How could I not have missedit?”
“One rarely needs an ID in the city,” he said, humor dancing in his eyes. “Something you now knowfirsthand.”
She laughed. “I’m glad you find thisfunny.”
“Not so much funny as fortuitous,” hesaid.
