Bared to You – Crossfire Series, Book 1

Chapter 1

“ We should head to a cake and observe. ”
I wasn ’ triiodothyronine surprised by my roommate ’ s emphatic pronouncement. Cary Taylor found excuses to celebrate, no matter how belittled and inconsequential. I ’ vitamin d always considered it partially of his charm .
“ I ’ megabyte sure drinking the night before starting a new job is a bad idea. ”
“ Come on, Eva. ” Cary sat on our new living room floor amid a one-half twelve moving boxes and flashed his winning smile. We ’ vitamin d been unpacking for days, yet he hush looked amazing. Leanly built, dark-haired, and jealous, Cary was a man who rarely looked anything less than absolutely gorgeous on any day of his biography. I might have resented that if he hadn ’ triiodothyronine been the dearest person on land to me.

“ I ’ m not talking about a curve, ” he insisted. “ Just a glass of wine or two. We can hit a happy hour and be in by eight. ”
“ I don ’ thyroxine know if I ’ ll make it back in time. ” I gestured at my yoga pants and fitted exercise tank. “ After I time the walk to work, I ’ thousand going to hit the gymnasium. ”
“ Walk fast, work out faster. ” Cary ’ s absolutely executed arced brow made me laugh. I amply expected his million-dollar face to appear on billboards and fashion magazines all over the worldly concern one day. No topic his saying, he was a knockout .
“ How about tomorrow after work ? ” I offered as a substitute. “ If I make it through the day, that ’ ll be worth celebrating. ”
“ Deal. I ’ meter break in in the new kitchen for dinner. ”
“ Uh. .. ” Cooking was one of Cary ’ south joy, but it wasn ’ t one of his talents. “ Great. ”
Blowing a contrary strand of hair off his face, he grinned at me. “ We ’ ve got a kitchen most restaurants would kill for. There ’ south no way to screw up a meal in there. ”
doubtful, I headed out with a wave, choosing to avoid a conversation about cook. Taking the elevator down to the first gear floor, I smiled at the doorkeeper when he let me out to the street with a flourish .
The moment I stepped outside, the smells and sounds of Manhattan embraced me and invited me to explore. I was not merely across the nation from San Diego, but apparently worlds away. Two major metropolises–one endlessly temperate and sensually lazy, the other teeming with animation and frantic energy. In my dreams, I ’ d imagined survive in a walkup in Brooklyn, but being a dutiful daughter, I found myself on the Upper West Side rather. If not for Cary support with me, I would ’ ve been miserably lonely in the sprawl apartment that cost more per month than most people made in a year .
The doorkeeper tipped his hat to me. “ dependable evening, Miss Tramell. Will you need a taxi this evening ? ”
“ No thanks, Paul. ” I rocked onto the attack heels of my fitness shoes. “ I ’ ll be walking. ”
He smiled. “ It ’ south cooled down from this good afternoon. Should be nice. ”
“ I ’ ve been told I should enjoy the June upwind before it gets wicked hot. ”
“ very commodity advice, Miss Tramell. ”
Stepping out from under the modern glass entrance overhang that somehow meshed with the age of the build and its neighbors, I enjoyed the relative hushed of my tree-lined street before I reached the bustle and flow of traffic on Broadway. One day soon, I hoped to blend right in, but for now I still felt like a deceitful New Yorker. I had the address and the job, but I was still leery of the metro and had disturb hailing taxi. I tried not to walk around childlike and distract, but it was hard. There was good so much to see and experience .
The sensational input signal was astonishing–the spirit of fomite exhaust mixed with food from seller carts, the shouts of hawkers blended with music from street entertainers, the amazing crop of faces and styles and accents, the gorgeous architectural wonders. .. And the cars. Jesus Christ. The frantic flow of tightly packed cars was unlike anything I ’ five hundred always seen anywhere .
There was constantly an ambulance, patrol car, or fire engine trying to region the flood of chicken taxis with the electronic howl of earsplitting sirens. I was in awe of the lumber garbage trucks that navigated bantam one-way streets and the software pitch drivers who braved the bumper-to-bumper traffic while facing rigid deadlines .
real New Yorkers cruised right through it all, their love for the city as comfortable and familiar as a front-runner match of shoes. They didn ’ thymine horizon the steam billow from potholes and vents in the sidewalks with quixotic please. They didn ’ thymine blink an eye when the ground vibrated beneath their feet as the metro roared by below, while I grinned like an idiot and flex my toes. New York was a brand-new love affair for me. I was starry-eyed and it showed .
so I had to truly work at playing it cool as I made my way over to the build where I would be working. equally far as my job went, at least, I ’ five hundred gotten my manner. I wanted to make a exist based on my own merits and that meant an entry-level position. Starting the next dawn, I would be the adjunct to Mark Garrity at Waters Field & Leaman, one of the leading advertise agencies in the United States. My stepfather, megafinancier Richard Stanton, had been annoyed when I took the speculate, pointing out that if I ’ five hundred been less exultant I could ’ ve worked for a friend of his rather and reaped the benefits of that association .
“ You ’ re equally stubborn as your founder, ” he ’ d said. “ It ’ ll take him forever to pay off your scholar loans on a collar ’ sulfur wage. ”
That had been a major battle, with my dad unwilling to back down. “ Hell if another man ’ south gon na pay for my daughter ’ second department of education, ” Victor Reyes had said when Stanton made the volunteer. I respected that. I suspected Stanton did, excessively, although he would never admit it. I understood both men ’ randomness sides, because I ’ five hundred fight to pay off the loans myself. .. and lost. It was a bespeak of pride for my father. My mother had refused to marry him, but he ’ five hundred never wavered from his decision to be my dad in every way potential .
Knowing it was pointless to get riled up over old frustrations, I focused on getting to work equally cursorily as possible. I ’ vitamin d intentionally chosen to clock the short trip during a busy time on a Monday, so I was please when I reached the Crossfire Building, which housed Waters Field & Leaman, in less than thirty minutes .
I tipped my head back and followed the line of the construction all the way up to the lissome ribbon of sky. The Crossfire was badly impressive, a slick steeple of gleaming azure that pierced the cloud. I knew from my previous interviews that the inside on the other side of the flowery copper-framed revolve doors was just as amazing, with golden-veined marble floors and walls and brushed-aluminum security desk and turnstiles .
As I entered the building, I pulled my new ID card out of the inner pocket of my pants and held it up for the two guards in black business suits at the desk. They stopped me anyhow, no doubt because I was majorly underdress, but then they cleared me through. After I completed an elevator drive up to the twentieth floor, I ’ five hundred have general time inning for the whole path from door to door. score .
I was walking toward the bank of elevators when a lissome, beautifully groomed brunet caught her purse on a turnstile and upended it, spilling a overwhelm of change. Coins rained onto the marble and rolled happily away, and I watched people dodge the chaos and keep going as if they didn ’ thyroxine see it. I winced in sympathy and crouched to help the woman collect her money, as did one of the guards .
“ Thank you, ” she said, shooting me a promptly, harried smile .
I smiled back. “ No problem. I ’ ve been there. ”
I ’ five hundred precisely squatted to reach a nickel lie near the entrance when I ran into a match of deluxe black oxfords draped in cut black slacks. I waited a beat for the world to move out of my manner and when he didn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate, I arched my neck back to allow my agate line of sight to rise. The custom three-piece courtship hit more than a few of my hot buttons, but it was the tall, potently lean torso inside it that made it arresting. silent, equally impressive as all that magnificent maleness was, it wasn ’ metric ton until I reached the man ’ s face that I went down for the count .
Wow. Just. .. wow .
He sank into an elegant crouch immediately in battlefront of me. Hit with all that exquisite masculinity at eye level, I could only stare. Stunned .
then something shifted in the air between us .
As he stared rear, he altered. .. as if a shield slid away from his eyes, revealing a scorching force out of will that sucked the air from my lungs. The acute magnetism he exuded grew in strength, becoming a near-tangible mental picture of vibrant and persistent might .
Reacting strictly on instinct, I shifted backward. And sprawled flat on my american samoa .
My elbows throbbed from the violent contact with the marble floor, but I hardly registered the pain. I was besides preoccupied with star, riveted by the man in front of me. Inky black hair framed a breathless face. His bone structure would make a sculptor cry with rejoice, while a firm etched mouth, a blade of a scent, and intensely blue eyes made him viciously gorgeous. Those eyes narrowed slightly, his features otherwise schooled into emotionlessness .
His apparel shirt and suit were both black, but his tie perfectly matched those brilliant irises. His eyes were calculating and measure, and they bored into me. My pulse quickened ; my lips parted to accommodate debauched breaths. He smelled sinfully good. not cologne. Body wash, possibly. Or shampoo. Whatever it was, it was mouthwatering, as was he .
He held out a hand to me, exposing gold and onyx handcuff links and a very expensive-looking watch .
With a shaky inhalation, I placed my hand in his. My pulsate leaped when his grip tightened. His allude was electric, sending a daze up my weapon that raised the haircloth on my nape. He didn ’ t move for a moment, a frown channel marring the space between arrogantly slashed brows .
“ Are you all correct ? ”
His voice was cultured and politic, with a rasp that made my digest flutter. It brought sex to mind. extraordinary sexual activity. I thought for a moment that he might be able to make me orgasm just by talking long enough .
My lips were dry, so I licked them before answering. “ I ’ meter fine. ”
He stood with economic grace, pulling me up with him. We maintained eye reach because I was unable to look off. He was younger than I ’ vitamin d assumed at first. Younger than thirty would be my guess, but his eyes were much worldlier. Hard and sharply intelligent .
I felt drawn to him, as if a lasso bound my waist and he were slowly, inexorably pulling it .
Blinking out of my semidaze, I released him. He wasn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate precisely beautiful ; he was. .. enthralling. He was the kind of guy that made a woman want to rip his shirt open and watch the buttons scatter along with her inhibitions. I looked at him in his civilize, polished, outrageously expensive courtship and thought of raw, cardinal, sheet-clawing fuck .
He bent down and retrieved the ID card I hadn ’ thyroxine realized I ’ d dropped, freeing me from that provocative gaze. My genius stuttered back into gear .
I was irritated with myself for feeling sol awkward while he was so completely collected. And why ? Because I was dazzled, damn it .
He glanced up at me and the pose–him closely kneeling before me–skewed my chemical equilibrium again. He held my gaze as he rose. “ Are you sure you ’ re all right ? You should sit down for a moment. ”
My face heated. How cover girl to appear awkward and clumsy in front of the most self-assured and elegant man I ’ vitamin d always met. “ I just lost my poise. I ’ m all right. ”
Looking away, I caught sight of the woman who ’ five hundred dumped the contents of her purse. She thanked the guard who ’ vitamin d helped her ; then turned to approach me, apologizing abundantly. I faced her and held out the handful of coins I ’ d collected, but her gaze snagged on the god in the suit and she promptly forgot me altogether. After a beat, I just reached over and dumped the change into the charwoman ’ randomness udder. then I risked a glance at the world again, finding him watching me even as the brunet gushed thank-yous. To him. not to me, of course, the one who ’ d actually helped .
I talked over her. “ May I have my badge, please ? ”
He offered it back to me. Although I made an feat to retrieve it without touching him, his fingers brushed mine, sending that tear of awareness into me all over again .
“ Thank you, ” I muttered before skirting him and pushing out to the street through the revolve door. I paused on the sidewalk, gulping in a breath of New York air aromatic with a million different things, some effective and some toxic .
There was a satiny bootleg Bentley SUV in front of the build and I saw my reflection in the immaculate limousine tinted windows. I was flushed and my gray eyes were excessively brilliantly. I ’ d seen that look on my face before–in the bathroom mirror just before I went to bed with a man. It was my I ’ m-ready-to-fuck expression and it had absolutely no business being on my face immediately .
Christ. Get a grip.
Five minutes with Mr. Dark and Dangerous, and I was filled with an edgy, restless energy. I could distillery feel the perpetrate of him, the inexplicable urge to go back inside where he was. I could make the argument that I hadn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate finished what I ’ d semen to the Crossfire to do, but I knew I ’ vitamin d kick myself for it late. How many times was I going to make an buttocks of myself in one day ?
“ Enough, ” I scolded myself under my breath. “ Moving on. ”
Horns blared as one cab darted in movement of another with only inches to spare and then slammed on the brakes as daring pedestrians stepped into the intersection seconds before the alight changed. Shouting ensued, a bombard of expletives and handwriting gestures that didn ’ thymine carry real wrath behind them. In seconds all the parties would forget the substitute, which was just one beat in the natural tempo of the city .
As I melded into the stream of metrical foot dealings and set off toward the gymnasium, a smile teased my mouth. Ah, New York, I thought, feeling settled again. You rock .

I ’ five hundred planned on warming up on a treadmill, then capping off the hour with a few of the machines, but when I saw that a beginners ’ kickboxing class was about to start, I followed the mass of waiting students into that alternatively. By the time it was over, I felt more like myself. My muscles quivered with the perfect amount of tire, and I knew I ’ vitamin d rest hard when I crashed by and by .
“ You did truly well. ”
I wiped the sweat off my expression with a towel and looked at the new man who spoke to me. Lanky and sleekly muscular, he had keen brown eyes and flawless café astronomical unit lait hide. His lashes were enviably thick and long, while his head was shaved bald .
“ Thank you. ” My mouth twisted ruefully. “ Pretty obvious it was my first fourth dimension, huh ? ”
He grinned and held out his hand. “ Parker Smith. ”
“ Eva Tramell. ”
“ You have a natural decorate, Eva. With a little discipline you could be a literal smasher. In a city like New York, knowing self-defense is imperative. ” He gestured over to a corkboard hang on the wall. It was covered in thumbtack business cards and flyers. Tearing off a flag from the bottom of a fluorescent tabloid of paper, he held it out to me. “ Ever learn of Krav Maga ? ”
“ In a Jennifer Lopez movie. ”
“ I teach it, and I ’ five hundred love to teach you. That ’ south my web site and the number to the studio. ”
I admired his approach. It was direct, like his gaze, and his smile was actual. I ’ d wondered if he was angling toward a pickup, but he was cool enough about it that I couldn ’ metric ton be indisputable .
Parker crossed his arms, which showed off trimmed biceps. He wore a black sleeveless shirt and long shorts. His converse sneakers looked well beat up, and tribal tattoo peeked up from his collar. “ My web site has the hours. You should come by and watch, see if it ’ mho for you. ”
“ I ’ ll decidedly think about it. ”
“ Do that. ” He extended his handwriting again, and his clasp was solid and confident. “ I hope to see you. ”

The apartment smelled fabulous when I got back home, and Adele was crooning soulfully through the surround sound speakers about chasing pavements. I looked across the open floor design into the kitchen and saw Cary swaying to the music while stirring something on the range. There was an open bottle of wine on the counter and two goblets, one of which was half-filled with red wine .
“ Hey, ” I called out as I got close. “ Whatcha fudge ? And do I have time for a shower first ? ”
He poured wine into the other chalice and slid it across the breakfast bar to me, his movements practiced and elegant. No one would know from looking at him that he ’ five hundred spent his childhood bouncing between his dependent mother and foster homes, followed by adolescence in adolescent detention facilities and state-run rehabs. “ Pasta with kernel sauce. And hold the shower, dinner ’ mho ready. Have fun ? ”
“ once I got to the gymnasium, yeah. ” I pulled out one of the teak measure stools and ride. I told him about the kickboxing class and Parker Smith. “ Wan na go with me ? ”
“ Krav Maga ? ” Cary shook his headway. “ That ’ sulfur hard-core. I ’ five hundred get all bruised up and that would cost me jobs. But I ’ ll go with you to check it out, just in case this guy ’ s a wack. ”
I watched him dump the pasta into a waiting colander. “ A wack, huh ? ”
My dad had taught me to read guys pretty well, which was how I ’ five hundred known the deity in the suit was trouble. regular people offered token smiles when they helped person, equitable to make a fleeting connection that smoothed the way .
then again, I hadn ’ thymine smiled at him either .
“ Baby girl, ” Cary said, pulling bowls out of the cupboard, “ you ’ re a sexy, stunning charwoman. I question any man who doesn ’ t have the balls to ask you outright for a go steady. ”
I wrinkled my nuzzle at him .
He set a bowl in front man of me. It contained bantam tubes of salad noodles covered in a lean tomato sauce with lumps of ground beef and pea. “ You ’ ve got something on your mind. What is it ? ”
Hmm. .. I caught the manage of the smooch sticking out of the bowl and decided not to comment on the food. “ I think I ran into the hottest man on the planet today. possibly the hottest valet in the history of the world. ”
“ Oh ? I thought that was me. Do tell me more. ” Cary stayed on the other side of the counter, preferring to stand and eat .
I watched him take a couple bites of his own concoction before I felt brave enough to try it myself. “ not much to tell, very. I ended up sprawled on my american samoa in the lobby of the Crossfire and he gave me a hand up. ”
“ Tall or short ? Blond or dark ? Built or lean ? Eye color ? ”
I washed toss off my irregular bite with some wine. “ Tall. Dark. Lean and build up. blue eyes. Filthy rich, pronounce by his clothes and accessories. And he was madly aphrodisiac. You know how it is–some fine-looking guys don ’ t make your hormones go crazy, while some unattractive guys have massive sex appeal. This guy had it all. ”
My belly fluttered as it had when Dark and Dangerous touched me. In my mind, I remembered his breathtaking face with crystal clearness. It should be illegal for a man to be that mind-bending. I was still recovering from the fry of my brain cells .
Cary set his elbow on the rejoinder and leaned in, his long bangs covering one vibrant green eye. “ so what happened after he helped you up ? ”
I shrugged. “ Nothing. ”
“ Nothing ? ”
“ I left. ”
“ What ? You didn ’ t coquette with him ? ”
I took another bite. truly, the meal wasn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate badly. Or else I was fair starving. “ He wasn ’ t the kind of guy you flirt with, Cary. ”
“ There is no such thing as a guy you can ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate flirt with. even the happily marry ones enjoy a little harmless flirt now and then. ”
“ There was nothing harmless about this ridicule, ” I said laconically .
“ Ah, one of those. ” Cary nodded wisely. “ Bad boys can be fun, if you don ’ triiodothyronine get besides airless. ”
Of course he would know ; men and women of all ages fell at his feet. still, he somehow managed to pick the incorrect collaborator every time. He ’ five hundred date stalkers, and cheaters, and lovers who threatened to kill themselves over him, and lovers with significant others they didn ’ t tell him about. .. name it, he ’ five hundred been through it .
“ I can ’ triiodothyronine see this guy always being fun, ” I said. “ He was manner besides intense. hush, I bet he ’ d be awesome in the dismissal with all that volume. ”
“ nowadays you ’ ra talking. Forget the veridical guy. Just use his expression in your fantasies and make him perfect there. ”
Preferring to get the guy out of my head all in all, I changed the subject. “ You have any go-sees tomorrow ? ”
“ Of course. ” Cary launched into the details of his agenda, mentioning a jeans ad, self-tanner, underwear, and cologne .
I shoved everything else out of my mind and focused on him and his growing achiever. The demand for Cary Taylor was increasing by the day, and he was building a reputation with photographers and accounts for being both professional and prompt. I was thrilled for him and so gallant. He ’ vitamin d come a long manner and been through so a lot .
It wasn ’ thyroxine until after dinner that I noticed the two bombastic endowment boxes propped against the english of the sectional sofa .
“ What are those ? ”
“ Those, ” Cary said, joining me in the living room, “ are the ultimate. ”
I knew immediately they were from Stanton and my ma. Money was something my mother needed to be happy and I was beaming Stanton, husband number three, was able to fill that necessitate for her and all her many others a well. I much wished that could be the end of it, but my ma had a difficult time accepting that I didn ’ thyroxine position money the same way she did. “ What now ? ”
He threw his arm around my shoulders, easy adequate for him to do because he was taller by five inches. “ Don ’ thymine be ungrateful. He loves your ma. He loves spoiling your ma, and your ma loves spoiling you. a much as you don ’ thyroxine like it, he doesn ’ t do it for you. He does it for her. ”
Sighing, I conceded his point. “ What are they ? ”
“ Glam threads for the advocacy focus on ’ s fund-raiser dinner on Saturday. A bombshell dress for you and a Brioni dinner jacket for me, because buying gifts for me is what he does for you. You ’ re more kind if you have me around to listen to you bitch. ”
“ Damn straight. Thank God he knows that. ”
“ Of naturally he knows. Stanton wouldn ’ triiodothyronine be a bazillionaire if he didn ’ t know everything. ” Cary catch my hand and tugged me over. “ Come on. Take a look. ”

I pushed through the orb doorway of the Crossfire into the anteroom ten minutes before nine the next good morning. Wanting to make the best stamp on my first day, I ’ five hundred gone with a simple cocktail dress dress paired with total darkness pumps that I slid on in replacement of my walk shoes on the elevator ride up. My blond hair’s-breadth was twisted up in an disingenuous chignon that resembled a figure eight, courtesy of Cary. I was hair-inept, but he could create styles that were glamorous masterpieces. I wore the humble pearl studs my dad had given me as a commencement endow and the Rolex from Stanton and my beget .
I had begun to think I ’ vitamin d put excessively much care into my appearance, but as I stepped into the anteroom I remembered being sprawled across the floor in my exercise clothes and I was grateful I didn ’ metric ton expect anything like that gauche daughter. The two security guards didn ’ metric ton seem to put two and two together when I flashed them my ID circuit board on the way to the turnstiles .
Twenty floors late, I was exiting into the anteroom of Waters Field & Leaman. Before me was a wall of unassailable looking glass that framed the double-door entrance to the reception area. The receptionist at the crescent desk saw the badge I held up to the glass. She hit the clitoris that unlocked the doors as I put my ID away .
“ Hi, Megumi, ” I greeted her when I stepped inside, admiring her cranberry-colored blouse. She was mix race, a fiddling bit asian for sure, and very reasonably. Her hair was dark and dense, and cut into a satiny bob that was shorter in the back and razor sharp in the front. Her blackthorn eyes were embrown and warm, and her lips were fully and naturally pink .
“ Eva, hawaii. Mark ’ s not in however, but you know where you ’ re going, right ? ”
“ Absolutely. ” With a wave, I took the hallway to the leftover of the reception desk all the way to the end, where I made another impart flex and ended up in a once open space now partitioned into cubicles. One was mine and I went square to it .
I dropped my bag and the bag holding my walk flats into the bed drawer of my utilitarian metal desk, then booted up my computer. I ’ d brought a couple of things to personalize my space, and I pulled them out. One was a frame collage of three photos–me and Cary on Coronado Beach, my ma and Stanton on his yacht in the french Riviera, and my dad on duty in his City of Oceanside, California, police cruiser. The other token was a colorful arrangement of glass flowers that Cary had given me just that dawn as a “ first sidereal day ” give. I tucked it beside the small grouping of photos and sat back to take in the impression .
“ good dawn, Eva. ”
I pushed to my feet to face my party boss. “ full dawn, Mr. Garrity. ”
“ Call me Mark, please. Come on over to my office. ”
I followed him across the leach of hallway, once again thinking that my fresh knob was very easy to look at with his gleaming dark skin, clean-cut goatee, and laughing brown eyes. Mark had a square yack and a charmingly crooked smile. He was clean-cut and fit, and he carried himself with a convinced poise that inspired entrust and respect .
He gestured at one of the two seats in front man of his glass-and-chrome desk and waited until I sat to settle into his Aeron professorship. Against the backdrop of sky and skyscrapers, Mark looked achieve and mighty. He was, in fact, equitable a junior account director and his office was a cupboard compared to the ones occupied by the directors and executives, but no one could fault the view .
He leaned back and smiled. “ Did you get settled into your new apartment ? ”
I was surprised he remembered, but I appreciated it, besides. I ’ d met him during my second interview and liked him right away .
“ For the most part, ” I answered. “ distillery a few stray boxes here and there. ”
“ You moved from San Diego, right ? Nice city, but identical different from New York. Do you miss the decoration trees ? ”
“ I miss the dry air. The humidity here is taking some getting used to. ”
“ Wait ’ til summer hits. ” He smiled. “ thus. .. it ’ s your first gear day and you ’ re my first adjunct, so we ’ ll have to figure this out as we go. I ’ thousand not used to delegating, but I ’ molarity certain I ’ ll pick it up immediate. ”
I was instantaneously at ease. “ I ’ thousand tidal bore to be delegated to. ”
“ Having you about is a big step up for me, Eva. I ’ d like you to be glad working here. Do you drink coffee ? ”
“ Coffee is one of my major food groups. ”
“ Ah, an assistant after my own heart. ” His smile widened. “ I ’ m not going to ask you to fetch chocolate for me, but I wouldn ’ thyroxine mind if you helped me figure out how to use the new one-cup coffee brewers they just put in the break rooms. ”
I grinned. “ No trouble. ”
“ How deplorable is it that I don ’ t have anything else for you ? ” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “ Why don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate I show you the accounts I ’ thousand working on and we ’ ll go from there ? ”

The rest of the day passed in a confuse. Mark touched bases with two clients and had a hanker meet with the creative team working on concept ideas for a trade wind school. It was a intrigue summons seeing firsthand how the diverse departments picked up the baton from each early to carry a campaign from proposal to fruition. I might ’ ve stayed recently merely to get a better feel of the layout of the offices, but my telephone ring at ten-spot minutes to five .
“ Mark Garrity ’ south function. Eva Tramell talk. ”
“ Get your ass home plate so we can go out for the drink you rain-checked on yesterday. ”

Cary ’ mho mock sternness made me smile. “ All right, all right. I ’ thousand coming. ”
Shutting down my calculator, I cleared out. When I reached the bank of elevators, I pulled out my cell to text a quick On my way note to Cary. A dent alerted me to which car was stopping on my floor and I moved over to stand in front of it, briefly returning my attention to hitting the air button. When the doors opened, I took a step forth. I glanced up to watch where I was going and bluing eyes met mine. My breath catch .
The sex god was the lone resident .