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“Everything okay, boss?” Killian, one of the guards stationed out front, asks.
“Of course. But can you keep an eye on things inside for me?”
“Sure thing.” He ducks into the building, leaving just one guard at the door, but it’s nearly eleven and things are winding down.
I scan the sidewalk, searching the sea of people for Esme, quacking finding her as she’s as she’s about to climb into her car, Archie holding the door open for her.
“Esme!” I shout, my voice echoing in the night air.
She pauses, her shoulders rising and falling. Then she glances my way.
“You forgot this.” I hold up her coat.
Archie looks like he’s about to come grab it, but Esme places a hand on his forearm, stopping him. I jog down the sidewalk, meeting her halfway.
“Thanks.” She extends her arm to take the coat from me.
“Allow me.”
She gives me a subtle nod, and I help her into her coat, the entire time struggling to ignore how my body buzzes to life from being so close to her. It takes everything I possess to resist the temptation to push her hair to the side and drag my lips against her neck.
“Thanks again,” she says when I step back, lips curving into a gentle smile.
She’s about to start back toward Archie when I say, “Hey, Esme?”
“Yes?” She arches a brow, hope and expectation swirling in her emerald eyes.
“Do you want to do something?” I blurt out before I can stop the words from leaving my mouth.
“Do something?” she repeats, just as surprised by my offer as I am.
“Why not?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be running point on Anderson’s detail?”
I shove my hands into my pockets. “The opening is technically over. Chances are he’s not going to want to stay around.” I give her a knowing look.
“But what if someone sees us together?”
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she were just trying to make up excuses not to spend time with me. But Idoknow better. And I know her questions come from a place of concern.
Especially considering our past.
“Look around you.” I gesture to everyone passing us on the sidewalk. “We’re in New York. There are millions of people in this city, yet not once has anyone looked our way in the past several minutes. Hell, most people couldn’t be bothered to even look up from their damn mobiles to realize the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known is standing right in front of them.”
A blush blooms on her cheeks as she averts her gaze.
“This may be the only place in the world you can be invisible in plain sight. It would be a shame to waste such a great opportunity. Plus, the pizza here is to die for.”
She bites her lower lip, hesitating. It makes me want to bite her lip, too.
Finally, a smile teases her mouth.
“I’ll never pass up an offer of food, especially something as bad for me as pizza.”
I playfully waggle my brows. “Then let’s go be bad, princess.”
ChapterThirty-Five
