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my
expression into the most politely bland mask I can muster. “A baby
shower. I thought Lance told you.”
    “No, I mean where are you really going?”
    “To a baby shower,” I annunciate
carefully.
    “If that’s your story…” he quips with an
unconcerned shrug.
    I frown. “It’s not a story. It’s the
truth.”
    A lie. Of course. I can’t spill my guts to
this guy. Even though I sort of have to trust him since he
has dirt on me.
    “Right. If that’s what you say.”
    My frown deepens with the prick of my ire.
“Look, I don’t know what you’re getting at, but I don’t appreciate
the insinuation.”
    “Usually I can read people pretty well. I
thought you were lying. My mistake.”
    Handsome, charming and perceptive?
This guy has to go!
    I let the silence stretch out between us.
Nothing good will come from arguing with him or trying to press a
point when I stand to lose, not him .
    “Just Tommi,” he begins after a while. I
nearly close my eyes at the sound of my name on his lips. It’s like
a caress, drifting back to touch my face, nearly as tangible as the
warm, moist breeze I was enjoying earlier. My gaze shifts back to
find warm chocolate eyes locked onto mine. “You look beautiful
today.”
    I lick my suddenly-dry lips and attempt a
smile. I know it looks fake, but it’s the best I can achieve with
so much tension thickening the air inside the car. “Thank you.”
    I want to tell him that his comment is
inappropriate, that he shouldn’t look at me in such a way. But I
can’t. It feels too good to have him look at me with this blatant,
almost animal attraction in his eyes.
    I turn my attention to the passing cars and
buildings, my mind a million miles away on a man and a woman who
can act on their feelings rather than having to squelch them. I
don’t know how many minutes pass before I hear his voice again, but
when I do, I nearly miss his words. “You can trust me, Tommi.”
    I face him and his sinfully dazzling eyes.
“I don’t trust anyone.”
    That one sentence contains more truth than
I’ve spoken in years.
     

CHAPTER TEN- SIG
     
    I watch Tommi’s delectable ass as she
crosses the sidewalk and enters the building. Luckily, there’s
parking out front, so I ease her car into a spot and get out. Her
instructions to stay here until she gets back, that she won’t be
long, only make me more curious as to why she wants me to stay
away. Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it’s something. There’s only one
way to find out.
    I lock up and jog to the door, nodding to
the attendant as I pass. Inside, I pause for a few seconds to let
my eyes adjust to the dimly plush interior. I scan my surroundings,
spotting a discreet sign for a bar at the back of the lobby. I walk
that way, thinking I can easily keep an eye out from there.
    Something colorful sticking out of a
trashcan catches my eye as I pass. It looks an awful lot like the
baby shower present Tommi came in with. There’s no way I can
confirm without making a scene and digging it out of the trash, but
I’m pretty damn sure that’s what it is. Either way, it’s enough to
have my instincts on high alert.
    At the bar entrance, I look for a table
close to the door so that I can have a good view of the mysterious
Tommi as she leaves the building. At least I can see if she comes
down with someone.
    Turns out I don’t have to wait. And that I
was right about her lying. She’s up to something. And it’s not a
baby shower. She’s here in the bar.
    Even if she wasn’t blonde, which so many
women are, and even if she weren’t wearing a green blousy thing
that matches her eyes, I’d still be able to pick her out of a crowd
instantly. Something about her pulls at me. Like a magnet or
gravity. Or temptation . Even though her taste in men is
practically criminal ( for criminals) and she’s likely at
least knowledgeable about what Lance is into, I can’t not be
attracted to her. I just can’t shake the feeling that there’s more
to her. It