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up.” He looked at her pointedly. “What is your full name, anyway?”
    “Regina Jane Caldwell,” she said quietly.
    “Ah, Regina. That explains it.”
    Natalie perked up instantly. “The Gina thing, you mean? I don’t know why she—”
    Natalie mercifully was interrupted by the strange techno ring of her cell phone. Within minutes she was rushing out the door, muttering about a callback.
    “Don’t forget to send my travel schedule to Tyler!”
    Natalie answered with a vague wave as she rushed out the door.
    An awkward silence fell. Uncharacteristically tongue-tied, Reggie looked at Gabe with what she hoped was a semicomposed expression. She took several deep, calming breaths in an attempt to keep her hormones from spiking out of control. Bad idea, she thought, as she caught the citrus and sandalwood scent of his cologne.
    She wondered what he would do if she loosened his tie and ran her tongue along the tan skin of his throat.
    “Wow, so this is a strange coincidence, huh?” Reggie cursed her fair complexion as she blushed for what had to be the fiftieth time since Gabe had arrived. Great, she made it sound like they’d met each other at a cocktail party instead of spending several hours twisted naked around each other. “I have to admit I always wondered about you after I left.”
    She didn’t realize how badly she wanted him to say that he, too, had thought about her since their one night until she was met with deafening silence. He tugged at his tie and cleared his throat.
    Reggie winced at the carefully blank expression in his eyes.
    “I was hoping to avoid any awkwardness, but at least we have this out in the open.” His voice held all the emotion of Data from Star Trek . “We have a strict company policy about getting personally involved with clients. I’ve found that doing so inhibits my ability to do my job well and puts them at risk. So I’m hoping we can put our past encounter aside and keep our relationship on a strictly professional level.”
    Well, that settled that. “Of course,” she said tightly. “I apologize if I made you uncomfortable.”
    A brief nod was his only reply. Did the guy have no social skills? The least he could do was reassure her that there were no hard feelings, especially when she was about to spontaneously combust with embarrassment.
    Gabe flipped his notebook closed. “Okay, so I’ll check these guys out over the weekend—quietly, of course. I try to interfere as little as possible in my clients’ day-to-day lives. I’ll also schedule for the security system to be installed sometime this weekend.”
    He stood to leave. “I’ll also want to get a sense of your schedule next week, see if there is someone you see every day that might be behind this.” He pulled out a card and wrote something on the back. “This is a cell number for emergencies only. I can’t stress that enough. I only give it to clients in special cases, and if it rings, I assume you’re in immediate danger. If you need to reach me, please use my main cell number.”
    Though he did his best to maintain an unemotional, robot-like exterior, it was obvious he wanted to get the hell out of there.
    Reggie closed the door after him and slumped down against it. How was she supposed to deal with having him around for the next God knew how many days?
    She looked at the clock. Five-fifteen. Her book deadline rode like a monkey on her back, but after the afternoon’s events, she needed a little sustenance.
    Reggie rifled through her pantry and refrigerator, nearly crying in relief when she found all the makings for homemade mac n’ cheese.
    She cranked up the stereo, hoping the blare of classic rock would help blot out the sound of Gabe’s voice, so cold and emotionless as he told her it was company policy not to get involved with clients. While it made sense, it still stung.
    Obviously he viewed their time together as a one-night stand, never to be repeated, no matter that fate had seen fit to throw