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“Why not siave ave you et it?”

“I have my ways”

Very cryptic But since he was here, e, see if he had a bit more interest in her than she’d suspected

He shut the door and approached, standing close, albut not quite

“I want to talk to you,” he s I couldn’t at the office”

Her belly fluttered It sounded sexual Until five o, she would have chided herself for wishful thinking Now?

She remained close, and his warm breath hit her lips His eyes locked onto her as if she was the only woed to her knees

Suddenly, he wanted to be cozy? They hadn’t worked together long It was possible he’d simply been cautious Maybe it was the reporter in her, but she needed to ask questions, get to the bottom of this

“Sit down and say whatever you’ve come to say Tea?”

“No, thanks” He settled himself on her sofa and stretched his arms clear across the back

The wide span of his ar shoulders, ue But he wasn’t helping, drat hi as if she was edible

“Come sit beside me” He patted the sofa cushion

Sydney looked between the two eerly, she settled in next to hi you here, but if your visit has anything to do withyou withto do with that But it’s iht, then Well, that aze skiaze made her she felt like it “Go on”

Caden hesitated “Maybe you should change”

He was suggesting that she put onhis fill? Oddhis burning stare said he o seconds froey Sydney prided herself on being able to read people, but Caden had her baffled

Instinct told her that so to solve this

Finally, Sydney left the room, sashayed down the hall, and shut her bedroo view The wohly into overdrive But he was here to find clues to Anka’s whereabouts and the book—and to o away

Caden raced into action and began searching If Sydney had an appointment to see the woman this weekend maybe he could find an address, a phone nuoose chase hile

With the clock ticking, he started with a nearby antique secretary propped against the wall between her living area and her kitchen Immediately he could see she hadn’t stashed the little red diary here Bills, pictures, a list of things to do, a little calendar with various dates written insidelike Aquarius being on holiday No hted everything, then dashed to the kitchen Next to the phone he found a shopping list and a neat row of phone numbers for restaurants that delivered Gads, the woman lived by lists

Meanwhile, the da, and he didn’t care that she needed milk fro an odd tingle and a cold sweat, he scanned the roo on a little table near the front door No ti her privacy

He unzipped the flap, pushed aside her coin purse, keys, and lipstick A notepad with a pen attached He flipped it open Eureka! It was littered with notes Soe, some sideways, soe, another, a thirdat the seventh, he paused A whole page dedicated to the story of

Saturday4, A’s place, one of her notes said This Saturday? Who was A? Anka or soh to have her own place? If she had, why hadn’t she returned home? Where was this place? Was it possible that Mathias kneho she was and where she lived? Nothing else on the little scrap of paper answered any of those questions Daly rando possibilities She had written yet another list with ite huical diary”

Caden took a moment to absorb those horrific possible stories Sydney had already written about the battle in the tunnel Any of these would seele word of the Doomsday Diary in Out of This Realm, Mathias and the Anarki would hunt her doithin hours Mathias ate sweet ht made his blood freeze

His reaction made little sense; he barely knew the woman, but Caden’s first instinct was to protect her with his life He knew he’d die before letting Mathias hurt her And he didn’t want to question why

Caden heard fu from the end of the hall With a curse, he shoved the little notepad back into place, then crept to the living roo hi a pair of long, flowing pants and a curve-hugging sweater He liked the lingerie better But this outfit emphasized how small she was If he was to lay her down and cover her body with his, he would completely envelop her and mold every lush little curve to hiht He was losing what little spare room he had in his jeans, and Sydney’s quizzical expression told hi That was never good

“What’s so urgent that you had to hunt me down over the weekend? That you couldn’t say in the office?”

She always got to the point All the women he had dated who chatted endlessly and never really had a point—they drove him mad The one woman he wished would prattle and si none of it He sighed

“Sit beside me” He patted the sofa cushion beside him once more Charm her, he re hie to squirm

“The office is always hectic,” he commented

“We’re in a deadline-driven business”

“True, but that doesn’t leave us et acquainted”