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“The city of lovers,” he’d said ironically, the ti her blood “Of course A perfect weekend retreat”

Weekend The word punched low, gushing delicious heat through her abdomen

She shook off the reaction and bit back an explanation that she’d picked Paris because she could get home on her own steam if she had to Not that she had a ho back to London from Cairo or Vancouver or Sydney would destroy her shallow savings

As they traveled, she focused on budgeting for a new flat and where she’d start looking for a job so she wouldn’t recall the way Stuart’s Adam’s apple had bobbled when he found Aleksy in her flat

Aleksy had curved a possessive hand against the back of her neck and said, “I don’t date er with the firm”

Clair had lifted a disillusioned Could you be more blunt? expression to him

Aleksy had quirked his split brow in a Want me to be?

She’d left without saying a word, her guilty blush burning her cheeks, aware that he’d sealed her fate Her reputation as a tart was solidified and so much better than criminal That ainst judgotten into her head so easily that really disturbed her It made her feel vulnerable

“Clair”

His touch turned her fro that invisible gateway through her defenses His intense personality whirled into her psyche like a restless su an instant, fluttering sensuality that reached toward everything in him

“We’re here”

The lights of Paris ca life around her The scent of rain-daly fresh as he left the car The strength in his hand as he took hers to help her exit ainst her breastbone

She paused as he steered her toward a building, turning her face up to the sprinkling black sky to take in the facade of elegantly lit stone It wasn’t a towering structure of glass and steel, but an old-world walk-up rought-iron balconies and planter boxes already bloo, she almost said “—nice”