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everything.”
    Nick took her mug to the sink to rinse it. “You’re welcome, Mackenzie. See you in a bit.” She crossed the room to the door and smiled before stepping through. The door 48
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    Crux
    closed behind her with a soft click, leaving Mackenzie alone with her thoughts.
    She finished her coffee and rinsed her cup before giving in to curiosity and peering into the bag Nick had left on the counter. Several bottles sat inside, along with a new toothbrush and a small tube of toothpaste. She pulled them out one at a time, admiring Nick’s expensive taste in shampoo and conditioner. The body wash was labeled “Summer Rain” and smelled fresh and wonderful. There was even a tiny container of bubble bath.
    She lifted out a pink loofah and imagined taking her first bath in over a month. Not a quick shower in a dingy hotel room but a real bath, with hot water and privacy and no bugs crawling over the floor or strangers banging on the walls.
    She gathered the toiletries and wandered back to the bathroom. It was bright and clean, and it looked like heaven.
    After closing the door, Mackenzie turned on the tub and resolved that, if nothing else, she was going to spend the rest of the morning in mindless luxury.
    Maybe, if she was lucky, she could drift back to sleep and dream of Jackson Holt and his beautiful eyes again.

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Chapter Four
    Jackson stared at the etched silver letters on the picture window and sighed. He’d arrived early, even though Nick had told him Mackenzie wouldn’t be down until two o’clock, and had even pondered circling the corner and climbing the staircase to the apartment above.
    He was losing his mind.
    He glanced down the street in both directions, squinting in the afternoon light. Alec and Kat hadn’t called yet, and they were nowhere in sight. With another small sigh, he pushed open the door.
    Mackenzie must have been early, because she stood behind the bar, humming absently and wiping it with a white cloth. Her hair was up again, and she was dressed more formally than Nick, in a blue button-up shirt tailored to skim her curves. When the bell above the door rang, she looked his way.
    She smiled, the expression far friendlier than the one she’d given him the day before. “Hey, Jackson.” Crux
    He grinned as he approached the bar and eased onto a stool. “Mackenzie. You seem like you’re breathing a little easier already.”
    “I am,” she admitted, folding the towel neatly on the counter. “Can I get you something?”
    “Whatever soft drink’s handy.” He grabbed a handful of pretzels from a nearby bowl. “I’m working. My partner and our assistant will be here in a bit, actually. I’d like for you to meet them.”
    She poured his soda, and when she turned back her easy smile had vanished, replaced by the tense, brittle one from the previous day. “Oh yeah? You guys have a big case or something?”
    “Not really. We’re finishing one up now, but everything else we’ve got going on is pretty small-time.” He took the glass she offered. “They just want to meet Nick’s new hire.” For a moment he thought she was going to take him at his word, but her lips flattened into a hard line. “If that’s all it is, I’m happy to meet them. And I don’t want you to think I don’t appreciate everything you did for me last night, Jackson. I do.
    But—” She hesitated, and the weary exhaustion in her eyes made his chest ache with sympathy. “I’m not a great person to get tangled up with right now. I don’t want people who are trying to help me to end up hurt.”

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    He leaned closer. “Mackenzie, if you’re in trouble, we can help. You don’t have to worry about us getting hurt, either.
    That’s what—” The bell above the door rang again, and Jackson shut his mouth as Mackenzie turned to the new arrivals with a smile pasted on her face.
    “Shit!” It was Alec’s voice,