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The silence stretched between them for a couple of moments.
Nick knew how to wait. Though he wasn’t great at it, it was a learned skill he employed. |
He watched as the thoughts flickered across her expression.
She glanced at him and shook her head. “It’s been quiet. I haven’t noticed anything unusual lately. I haven’t had fan mail like I did right after it happened, men who wanted me to re-enact what happened to me in some warped fantasy.”
His blood heated. “Seriously?”
“Uh yeah, people suck.”
Staring at her grey-blue eyes, he leaned forward. “What happened that day at Growing Threads?”
She glanced away from him. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I know. But remember that thing about keeping you safe? Giving me info helps” he stared at her, urging her to talk.
“We had just finished filming the video for the commercial. The designer of the bag, who wasn’t informed of the agreement I had made, started asking me questions about the kidnapping, saying that I looked well, but it was the tone they said it in. As if I couldn’t be in one piece because of what happened.” She pushed the heel of her hands into her eyes, and he wanted to reach out and touch her, wrap her in his arms and hold her tight.
“The organization’s director stepped in and redirected the conversation, but I was too raw then. You were the first person I saw, and I just… freaked out.”
“Okay, I get that.”
“So when Emma asked me if I wanted to go to the concert, I said yes, even though I was supposed to fly home to L.A. that night.”
He couldn’t help but smile.
“What’s so funny?” Mulberry crossed her arms over her chest.
“My younger sister, Colette, was in town to help our father set up the satellite offices of Laurent Industries. She’s a huge Ina Grott fan. I went with her to the concert.”
Nick tried to stop the idiotic smile from spreading across his face but couldn’t.
Xander couldn’t have planned this better if he had tried.
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah.” From his pocket, he pulled out his phone and spoke into it. “Grott concert, photos.”
And passed the phone to Mulberry.
“Wow, you had better seats than I did.”
“Yeah. For our background story, we can say we met there, and we’ve dated on and off ever since. Now we’re on.” This time he did reach out and take her hand in his, her small delicate hand.
He remembered how cold her hand was when he and the other members of Team Stealth rescued her from that tent, how scared she was, and how she couldn’t speak for hours.
“Okay, we have an origin story, great.” Mulberry snatched her hand away. “I need a nap before I meet Emma.”
“Be my guest,” Nick spread his arms out wide, indicating the space.
“You can go,” she made a shooing gesture with her hands. It made him grind his molars.
“That’s not how this works, Mulberry. But because this building is so secure, I can take care of a couple things, but outside of here, we’ll be together. For future reference, I don’t like being told what to do.”
He put some steel in his tone, trying to figure her out. Her quick mood swings threw him. One moment she was haughty and snobby, the next open and vulnerable.
She bit her lip. “But you work for me. We hired you.”
