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seems this amazing,” she said.
    He blew out a disdainful snort and went back to scrolling furiously on his phone. “Honey, you don’t trust anything, period.”
    â€œWell, more specifically, I don’t trust men,” she corrected him. She put her hand on his knee. “But I trust you.”
    He stopped cold and looked up at her. With great affection, he slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “I know you do. And I love you too. But listen to me. You’re going to take that job, even if he decides he doesn’t want me in the deal. You hear me?” His smile warmed. “You’re an angel for wanting me to do this with you, and it would be a ball. But if he only wants to hire you, baby, you have to do it. Come on, Jules. There’s no thought process here. Let’s see what else we can find out about him, shall we?” He leaned in to smack a loud kiss on her forehead and she couldn’t help but giggle.
    Julia exhaled the breath she’d been holding and tried to organize her thoughts. All her worst mistakes had been things she’d done on instinct, giving in to her feelings rather than facts that were right there had she opened her eyes wide enough to see them. She didn’t want to repeat her past mistakes. She got to her feet. “I drank a lot. I have to pee. You keep looking.”
    As she slipped into the tiny bathroom, she realized her breaths were coming in short puffs of excitement and her heart was pounding against her ribs. The possibilities of a job like this . . . it was all so overwhelming. Yet something in her knew she’d be a fool not to go for it. She was forty-one now, with no one to answer to and nothing to stop her. She’d made sure of that.
    She also had no life.
    She’d turned self-isolation into an art form. If it wasn’t for Randi and Kelvin pulling her back out into the world on a regular basis, and her singing job at the bar, she’d probably go home from work every night, hole up, and not leave her apartment. She’d have turned into a lonely old cat lady. Without the cats, of course. She was highly allergic.
    So why not? The timing was right. The setting of the job, if Dane’s description was accurate, was a dream. And making a hundred grand a year, or even the initially offered eighty, if he went back to that? She’d never made money like that in her life. She could bank enough to finally have a tiny but solid cushion for the first time ever.
    Dane Harrison thought she was all that? It both surprised and thrilled her. She certainly thought he was all that, though she’d be damned if she’d ever let him know it. He and his offer were certainly tempting. If she could just stay away from him . . . which would be a challenge, considering the inexplicable, rousing draw she’d felt toward him almost the instant they met, and the unavoidable fact that he’d be her boss. But to sing in a new, glamorous Manhattan hotel a few nights a week, and be paid well, was a job most singers would kill for.
    Maybe her luck was changing at long last. Maybe it was all another bomb waiting to explode in her face. But she’d survived bomb blasts before, much worse than a job not working out. How bad could it be?
    Only one way to find out.
    She caught her reflection in the bathroom mirror and smiled widely.

Chapter Three
    â€œDane?” Tess asked. “Do you ever want to get married?”
    He blinked in surprise at his sister. “What? Where did that come from?”
    â€œI want to know too,” said Charles Harrison III, staring at her through his black-rimmed glasses. “That’s an interesting question, especially for this guy.” He gestured toward Dane with his chin.
    Laughter bubbled out of Tess’s mouth. “You two! You’d think I asked, ‘Hey, wanna go get our kidneys pulled out?’ Jeez.” She shot a look at Dane and added, “Don’t look so