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I eyeball the door, judging I can escape in two, three seconds tops “Uot the question,” I stammer
Did I i? “Who are you?” he says, slowly “And why are you in my mother’s apartment?”
Mother?
Everything clicks at once
This is Leeza’s son, Ezra Although she’s talked about him hundreds of times, I’ve never met the man face to face
I simply haven’t had a chance since he’s been imprisoned in Rikers Island for seven years She ive a specific date
When did he get out?
My heart starts to race even faster when I notice the packed duffel bag across the rooests so But before I can try to talk or act my way out of this suddenly hairy situation, Ezra rises to his feet and I’m knocked back another step My God, his dirty-blond head al If I try to run from this man and he catches me, I’ll have no chance of escape, plus he’ll be pissed off
This is not a man one pisses off
I definitely shouldn’t be…attracted to the danger surrounding him Definitely not
He takes a step forward into the light, highlighting the planes of muscles beneath his hite T-shirt, the thickness of his thighs…and I feel a weird clench in my tummy One I’ve never experienced before It’s part fear, part excitement and I’ain so I can ment That’s only fair
“I’irl,” he says, his voice dark and muddy
My nipples tighten into painful points and I cross my arms to shield the a bikini under the slinkiest of beach cover ups The sheer, white kihs When I put et out of the car until I reached the beach and this attire was acceptable The tiny pink triangles over my breasts and feiant staring down at me
“I’hbor I live down the hall” I’m not sure why I lie, exactly Maybe because people tend to hate me because of what they perceive to be my easy street lifestyle I’m not sure if I want to avoid Ezra’s hatred because I’ll be safer that way Or if I just want to be a woman to him Just a normal woman without a twenty-million-dollar trust fund
It tends to make people weird
After eighteen years of everyone categorizingmy last name, I just want to be someone else for five minutes
“What are you doing here?” Ezra proain
“I’ to the dying greenery on the television stand “Your mother asked me to come by I’ve…never seen you here before”