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When he finished dressing, he returned to stand beside the bed, reaching out to lightly touch her chin Even that sih to send fresh ripples of desire all the way to her toes “You were very precious to your fa that they—or I—would ever joke about”

Her heart, which had been pounding an urgent but steady beat ever since the phone call from Aht there Could have brought him back into bed with her and let hi outside the hotel room

If she kept hi into danger on her account

And she did worry As ie and Nelson that she wouldn’t get emotionally wrapped up in Jack Bennett, she couldn’t help it He was the closest thing to family she had left

She curled her fingers around his “I don’t want you to go,” she said She’d meant to sound sexy, seductive, but the words came out so with you”

“That’ll acco, Eva I’ll sort it out Stay here Be safe I’ve got this” He threw his jacket on and tucked his cell phone into his pocket “I’ll call you when I arrive”

She wrapped the sheets tightly around her naked body as he left and closed the door behind hie hotel

roo that had happened in the past few hours slowly sunk in

She had been so nervous for her “date” with Jack, but so Jack her aard first strip tease, and clutching his hair as his s, she’d becons of his presence everywhere, from the whisker burn his stubble had left on her chin to the delicious spice of his aftershave still hanging in the air He had awakened a wild, hungry part of her that had lain dormant her entire life

She felt electrified, on edge, and desperate for more of the primal connection she’d just discovered Combined with the unbearable quiet, the solitude of the impersonal hotel room became too much to take

Shivering, she pulled the covers over her shoulders and dragged the them as a makeshift shawl as she padded to theShe pulled back the heavy curtain in ti a cab A light rain had fallen, hts She’d always thought the rain made the city beautiful, but in the past few hours her view of everything had shifted

She no another side of New York—a erous one

So her And maybe that same someone had broken into her apartment

She didn’t want to be alone She couldn’t be Not now She closed the curtains and quickly began to dress

Chapter Two