Friend? Enemy? Alien?
“My acquaintance, Nathaniel Knox,” I finish.
Acquaintance. See? I’m so diplomatic.
I can feel Nate staring at me; I studiously ignore him.
Bill nods politely in greeting.
“Is the old man in?” I ask, jerking my thumb toward the ceiling.
“Should be.”
“Cool.” I grin and waggle my fingers. “Bye, Bill.”
“Until next time, Miss West.”
We glide past the desk, I scan my company badge, and we head for the elevator bank. Boo follows grudgingly, casting adoring puppy-dog looks back at Bill on regular intervals. We’re almost there when a thought pops into my head and I turn back.
“Hey!” I call.
Bill looks up from his paper.
“Did Sadie have her puppies yet?”
He smiles, gray mustache twitching. “Sure did. Six little German Shepard runts, running around like miniature tornados. They’re driving my wife crazy.”
“I’ll bet.” I laugh.
“Any chance you want to take one off our hands?”
I glance down at Boo dubiously. “This little guy gives me enough trouble. But if I think of anyone in need of a fur-baby, I’ll send them your way!”
He nods and goes back to his paper.
The elevator doors slide open a second after I hit the button. When I turn, I find Parker and Nate both watching me, identical expressions on their faces.
“What?” I ask, walking inside.
“How long have you been friends with the lobby guy?” Parker asks under his breath.
I shrug. “A few months. Why?”
“You always befriend total strangers and let them into your life without question?”
“No,” I lie.
“Uh huh.” His hazel eyes, so similar to my own, move over my face. “And you wonder why you were so easy to kidnap?”
“That was totally different.”
“How?” Parker asks, finger jabbing into the 27 button.
“Cormack was an anomaly. I usually don’t trust just anyone off the street.”
Nate snorts and glances at Parker. “She splits her lunch with a homeless guy at the park every time she works from the office.”
I gasp. “How do you know that?!”
Nate ignores me. “She let two guys who live in the building next to hers use her kitchen last Thanksgiving, just ‘cause they said theirs wasn’t working.”
“They couldn’t cook their turkey!” My voice is defensive. “What was I supposed to do, let them starve on a national holiday?”
“She also made dinner for the guy fixing her cable last month, when the job took him longer than expected.” Nate shakes his head.
“That was one time,” I point out.
He makes a frustrated noise. “Frankly, it’s a miracle she hasn’t been kidnapped long before this.”
“Christ,” Parker mutters, looking up at the elevator ceiling as we ascend.
“How do you know all that?” I squeak, narrowing my eyes at Nate. “Have you been spying on me?”
He doesn’t answer. He just watches me with those steady brown eyes, and I can’t help but notice they’re crinkly and warm as they move over my face.
“You’re an odd duck, Sweet P.” Parker hooks one arm around my neck and pulls me in for a half-hug. “But I still love you.”
“Gee, thanks,” I mutter sarcastically. “I feel so cherished.”
My eyes catch Nate’s as the words leave my mouth and the sarcasm in them seems to float away.
He’s as far from me as possible, on the exact opposite side of the elevator, but as the moment stretches on, I hold my breath and marvel at the power of this man who can touch me so deeply without even using his hands.
The blush never leaves my cheeks the entire ride up to the twenty-seventh floor.
Chapter Twenty-Three
If I were a better man, I’d be able
to stop picturing her naked.
Nathaniel Knox, keeping his eyes
carefully averted at all times.
“Phoebe.”