Текст книги "Reclaim Me"
Автор книги: Ann Marie Walker
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Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 17 страниц)
Chapter Six
The plane pivoted, sending a shaft of artificial light through the window. The bright beam traveled around the first class cabin and settled on their entwined hands as the aircraft came to a stop at the gate. After fucking out some steam, they’d hardly spoken a word for the duration of the nine-hour flight.
That was not how Hudson had expected things to go down in that matchbox of a bathroom. He’d anticipated having one hell of a fight on his hands, same as the last time Allie had tried to walk out of his life. He thought she’d run when he pushed her, but instead she took everything he gave and wanted more. A certified come-to-her-senses moment that ended with her tight around his cock.
Hudson watched Allie look out the window as if she’d just noticed they had landed. Call it a knee-jerk reaction, but he half expected her to pull away as she comprehended that they were now back in Chicago. He waited to feel that emptiness, but her hand remained firmly in his grasp.
As if in a coordinated sequence, overhead bins popped open, carry-on handles jacked up, and the single-lane shuffle began. Using his free hand, Hudson flipped the silver buckle on the seat belt and Allie did the same¸ still holding onto him. In fact, as he stood up she clutched his hand tighter in a squeeze that shot straight to his heart. Not a fucking chance in hell he was letting her go. Ever. He needed the feel of Allie’s slender hand in his, the weight of it, and the connection of their touching palms.
With a solid grip he led her off the plane, across the standard-issue industrial blue carpet, and up the slow incline of the gateway. Passengers funneled through the door, flanking alongside them and then dispersing in various directions. Hudson and Allie bypassed baggage claim and headed straight to the sidewalk where Max waited by the black-on-black limo. He opened the door as they approached, but Allie stopped short at the curb.
“Harper?” she asked.
“A town car dropped Miss Hayes at her apartment about thirty minutes ago, Miss Sinclair.” He cleared his throat. “She would like you to call her at your earliest convenience.”
Hudson had to hand it to Max for his polite translation. Undoubtedly the message wasn’t quite so eloquently worded, but rather along the lines of something out of a sailor’s mouth. Harper had been almost as pissed at Allie as he’d been for what she put them through in Paris. Those frantic hours had thrown them into an unlikely alliance that dare he say might actually have been the start of an even more unlikely friendship. But at the moment, the redhead wasn’t his concern. The blonde slipping into the back of his limo was the only thing on Hudson’s mind.
He ducked in beside her as soon as Max shut the door. “All right, we’re alone. Tell me what’s going on.”
In the split second Allie’s mouth opened, her phone rang, cutting a path through the tension. Hudson glanced down at the screen to see a private caller interrupting his pending Q&A. “Answer it,” he said.
Allie’s hand shook with a subtle tremor as she accepted the call. She’d barely said hello when her eyes flared in a wild panic. “What? I know . . . You’re spying on me?”
Hudson’s jaw clenched. It was taking every shred of control he had left to keep from ripping the phone from her hand and delivering a death threat to whoever was on the other end of that line.
The blood drained from Allie’s face and a cool sweat misted her brow. “You don’t have to keep reminding me . . . I’m taking care of it.” She was quiet for long beats, the steady hum of the engine providing white noise to the otherwise silent interior of the car. As the stretch accelerated, then slowed, then redoubled with the rest of the late-night traffic, Allie finally ended the call.
Hudson angled his body toward her. “Level with me. Who’s spying on you? What are you trying to protect me from?”
“Julian.” Allie’s voice came out as light as a breath, and the trembling in her hands was so bad she nearly dropped the phone.
Goddamn it.
Hudson wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. When he did, her body went lax against him. “Talk to me, Allie.” His voice was a rough plea. “I can’t help you if you keep shutting me out.”
“I’m so sorry I lied to you. It was killing me. I thought I could bring him his stupid ring and the whole thing would be over in a couple hours.”
“Why on earth would you agree to meet with him? The last time you were in the same room with him . . .”
Hudson had bounded up the stairs two at a time, and when he’d kicked the door open the scene was instantly ingrained in his mind: Allie bent over the couch, her legs shaking and her fingers clawing at the cushions; Julian looming over her, one hand holding her down, the other working his fly. And fuck him, so much blood—from her lip, her head—and her eye beginning to blacken. He’d flung that French cocksucker across the room like a Frisbee. The memory had his fingers flexing against the heavy fabric covering Allie’s arms. He wanted to hit something, wanted to go round-for-round with Julian until he was tapping out, pleading for his life. Even if it was until his own goddamn eyes were swollen shut, his ribs ached, and his head felt like the size of a melon.
“I know. But he was threatening to hurt you.” Allie sat up and met his gaze with tear-filled eyes. “And Nick.”
Hudson brushed the hair away from her face. “I can take care of myself, Allie. So can Nick.” The corner of his mouth quirked into a reassuring grin. “For the most part.”
“He has a video, Hudson, some sort of security footage from a bar.” A tear trickled down her cheek.
Shit. This situation was taking him off the rails and into hard-core fuck-me territory. The POS barkeep had assured him there weren’t any cameras and he’d been well compensated to keep his mouth shut. Fucking hell . . . a headache slammed into his skull.
“He said he’d take the file to the police if I didn’t follow his instructions.” She took a moment to strengthen her voice. “I don’t really understand what’s on it, but the part I saw looked really incriminating.”
Hudson quieted and his blood pressure dropped. The sound of his own breathing was like nails on a chalkboard.
When no explanation was offered, Allie asked the inevitable. “What happened to the man in the video?”
“I don’t want to involve you.” Christ, just the opposite. He wanted to talk to her, to clear the air, leaving no secrets between them. But he didn’t want to pull her deeper into the clusterfuck of his own creation. And he wasn’t going to drag Allie and Nick down into what might very well be his own demise.
“It’s a little too late for that now, wouldn’t you say? I’m already involved, Hudson. And even if I weren’t, what happens to you affects me too.” Allie laced her fingers with his. “You want to be in this together, that goes both ways.”
Hudson exhaled all the air from his lungs. “It was an accident. Nick reacted in self-defense and I took care of it.” He scrubbed a hand down his face. The nine hours of growth on his jaw scratched his palm. “A couple months ago, I got a phone call from the bartender at one of Nick’s regular hangouts, a real dive. I hadn’t heard from Nick for days, so any sign of life was a relief.”
“The weekend we went to Lake Geneva,” she murmured.
He gave a tight nod. “When I got there, Nick was pacing like a caged animal in the back room. His face was beat to hell—bleeding and swelling by the second—and the guy on the floor was dead. I asked who he was and Nick, true to form, tried to sell me some bullshit story about it being a random degenerate, but finally came clean. It was his dealer. Nick owed him money and when he didn’t pay, the guy proved his point with a chair to Nick’s face.”
A small gasp escaped Allie’s lips.
“It was a freak accident. When Nicky pushed him away the guy stumbled and fell, and in the process cracked his head on the table.” Hudson met Allie’s concerned gaze with a grave stare. “I had to protect my brother. It was all I could do.”
“Which is exactly why I agreed to meet with Julian. Not just to protect you, but Nick too.”
“What I don’t understand is how returning his ring made you decide that breaking off our relationship and flying home alone was the best course of action.”
“The ring was just an excuse. What Julian really wants is Ingram, and according to him it’s my fault he doesn’t have it.”
“He’s lucky all you did was force him out of the company. You should have had him arrested.”
“Julian has it in his head that he’s owed everything my father promised him, including me.”
His hold on her tightened. “What are his demands?”
“In a few weeks I’m supposed to tell you that I’ll take you back if you sign over your shares of the company.” Combining their considerable holdings would allow Allie near-total control, which is why what she said next came as no surprise. “Once that’s done, Julian wants me to name him as CEO.” Her voice dropped to barely a whisper as she threw him a last-second curve. “And marry him.”
Hudson ground down on his molars. “Not an option. I’ll turn myself in and hire a team of lawyers to keep my brother and me out of prison.”
Allie shook her head. “You can’t do that.”
“It will neutralize any power that fucking sociopath thinks he has.”
“He’ll just find another way. He already . . .” Allie choked back a sob.
“What is it?” His voice softened despite how violent he felt at the moment. “Did he touch you?”
“He killed my parents, Hudson.” The tears flowed steadily now. “Julian is the one who hired the hit man.”
Hudson felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him. He knew Julian was a sick fucker, but a cold-blooded murderer? Even he hadn’t thought him capable of that. And now Julian had set his sights not only on Ingram, but Allie, with Hudson and Nick as collateral damage.
“All the more reason for me to turn myself in. You can tell the police he’s blackmailing you. Let them handle this.” Some might have considered what Hudson was proposing suicidal, but there was nothing he wouldn’t risk for Allie or his brother.
“No. I’ve already lost my parents; I won’t let Julian take you and Nick away from me too.”
“You won’t lose us. I’ll take care of it. And the police will take care of Julian.”
“It’s not that simple. You don’t know what the DA will charge you with. And as for Julian, I don’t have any proof. It would be my word against his.”
“It will point the police in the right direction and remove any leverage he has over you.”
Allie shook her head. “If I turn Julian in to the police, he’ll take you and Nick with him.”
“What’s the alternative?”
“I don’t know.” She frowned. “We need something to hold over Julian’s head. He will be here in a couple weeks. Maybe if I go along with him for a bit, spend some time with him—”
“No fucking way.”
“I might be able to find something that incriminates him.”
“I don’t want you anywhere near that cocksucker.” Hudson took a beat to reign in his temper. He gazed unseeingly at the dark lake for several minutes as his brain worked the options like a spreadsheet. “I’ll have Max start looking into this. Quietly. He can have his team assembled in a matter of hours.”
“The police have been investigating my parents’ murder for over two months. The last time Detective Green called she said they were running out of leads.”
“We have information the police don’t have,” he reminded her. “And they are required to operate within the confines of the law.”
“You really think his men can find what we need?”
“You’d be surprised what money can buy.”
Max curbed the limo in front of the Palmolive building. Allie looked out the window. “I can’t stay here, Hudson.”
“Why not?”
“We supposedly broke up tonight.”
“Supposedly being the operative word.”
“Julian has people watching me. He’ll know if I don’t go home alone. You showing up on my flight, he said he half expected, but if I stay the night . . .” She swallowed hard. “He has to think this limo ride was good-bye.”
Hudson wasn’t happy about it, but Allie was right. At least for the time being they had to go along with this ridiculous charade and play the estranged couple. So instead of having his hands all over her, his mouth sealed between her legs, and the moans of his name filling every square foot of his penthouse, he’d have to settle for a hot shower and a glass of scotch to burn off his edge.
Poor fucking substitute.
Hudson hit the intercom and instructed Max to head to Astor Place. When the limo eased away from the curb, the ticking clock became almost palpable. Allie pressed into him, as if to absorb every last minute they had together during the short drive to her brownstone. His lips brushed her temple and her hands slid inside his jacket, but there wasn’t any amount of contact that would make it easier to let her step out of that car. Sending Allie into her apartment alone with a blackmailing lunatic on the loose went against everything his heart wanted, but precision strategy was going to be key in outsmarting Julian. Hudson had to take emotion out of the equation and let his instincts be the driving force in protecting his brother and the love of his life.
When they arrived at her place, Hudson watched helplessly as Allie slid out of his limo. No words were exchanged, which was just as well since none could have come close to what they were feeling. The ride back to his penthouse was just as silent—Max knew when to give him his space—and he was all set for a quiet evening in the company of a bottle of Blue Label. But as he stepped off the elevator, that plan went into the shitter.
“Dude, what the hell is going on?” Nick said the moment Hudson’s feet hit the hardwood. “Harper took off for Paris and—”
“How did you know I was on my way up?”
“Me and the new door guy are tight now, rocking the whole bat signal thing.” Nick’s eyes zeroed in on him. “Don’t change the subject.”
“How do you know Harper went to Paris?”
“We hung out once or twice while everyone else we knew was with their families or jetting off to Europe for some ooh-la-la romantic love fest.”
Hudson raised a brow at his little brother. “Your sponsor said no relationships until you’re six months sober.”
“Shit, you getting all big brother on me?”
“I’m always your big brother.”
Nick chuckled. “Age before beauty, respect my elders and all that?”
“I mean it, Nick, not for a year.” Hudson started to move deeper into his place, then did a double take at his brother’s appearance. Nick was wearing his standard-issue jeans and a black tee, but they were clean and hole-free. And goddamn, had he had a haircut? Hudson shook his head as he made his way into the kitchen with Nick tight on his heels.
“Wait, I thought it was six months?”
Hudson wasn’t in the mood to go round for round on the subject. “Call your sponsor.”
“Ah, shit,” Nick snorted. “You know I’m not the relationship type. Love ’em and leave ’em.”
“Don’t be an ass.” Hudson tossed his coat over a barstool and began popping the top three buttons on his shirt. “You better not be pulling that ‘love ’em and leave ’em’ shit with Allie’s best friend, you feel me?” Fuck, not how he should have played that. Pretending to be split from Allie was going to take an effort he had no desire to make.
“It’s not like that. She’s cool, but just a friend.”
“Besides, Allie and I are through,” he said, amending his previous objection. “Better you not get involved.”
“What?” Nick stared at him for a beat. “What happened? You okay?”
“No, and I don’t want to discuss it. I’m exhausted.” Hudson finished unbuttoning his shirt as he walked toward his room. “I’m going to take a hot shower and go to bed.” So much for the Blue Label. Just as well. He really wasn’t up to slam dunking his mood further into the toilet.
“Mind if I crash here?”
“Now you’re asking me?” Hudson stopped before turning the corner. “Haven’t you been living here since Christmas?”
“Someone had to enjoy the amenities while you were gone. Can’t let all that mortgage you shell out go to waste.”
“It’s not a hotel.”
“Hey.” Nick’s voice dropped an octave. “I’m here if you need me.”
“I don’t need a babysitter.” God, he sounded like a dick when his brother was just concerned. Hudson wanted to tell him what was going on, but if he did, it would stress Nick out to the nth degree and back, and might force him into using his two favorite coping mechanisms—drugs and booze. Though Nick did have new skills, relapse was always a threat. Playing it off like he and Allie were broken up was the best maneuver for the time being. And when he’d been dumped, Hudson shut down; he didn’t go all chatty-Kathy-let’s-paint-each-other’s-nails.
“Hudson, I’m serious.”
“I know, Nicky, thanks. You’re always welcome to crash here,” Hudson called out over his shoulder as he continued down the hall. With that, he shut the door to his bedroom and leaned against it. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath.
There had to be another way.
Chapter Seven
Allie expected to find the thirtieth floor empty. Even if the combination of jet lag and stress had kept Hudson awake the same as it had her, he’d no doubt be across the river at Chase Industries. And at six in the morning it was unlikely any of the support staff would have arrived. Which was why she was so surprised to see Colin already at his desk.
A to-go tray of coffee that she was sure included an extra hot, two pump, light froth skinny vanilla latte sat in front of him. Her mouth would have watered at the sight of the much-needed caffeine if it weren’t for the rest of the scene in front of her: Harper with her chair pulled up in front of Colin’s desk, a box full of croissants open between them.
Colin greeted her as she approached. “Morning, Boss Lady. I thought you’d be early, time change and all.” He lifted one of the cups out of the cardboard holder. “And Harper here delivered croissants straight from Paris.” His lips curved into a smile but the question in his eyes was impossible to miss. Allie couldn’t blame him for his curiosity. Colin was the only one at Ingram who was aware of her personal involvement with Hudson Chase. And while he knew very little about the relationship between the co-CEOs, he knew enough to question why Allie’s best friend would have joined them on a romantic trip through Europe.
“I didn’t have time to shop for souvenirs,” Harper said. Although she left out the words “because we left Paris like a bat out of hell,” Allie still heard them loud and clear. “But I figured these would do.”
“I’ll say.” Colin flashed Harper a dazzling grin. “Not every day a beautiful woman bearing French pastries stops by to say hello.”
Harper looked at Allie and laughed. “Quite the charmer, this one.”
Allie had to agree. With his easy laugh and quick wit, Colin James was charm personified. Not to mention the cover-model looks and the boy-band hair that fell in a perfectly disheveled mess over his green eyes. But while Allie could certainly appreciate all those attributes, it was his razor-sharp mind and his degree from the nation’s number-one journalism school that had pushed his résumé to the top of the pile.
“And a proper introduction was long overdue,” Harper said. “At least in my opinion.” It was true she’d wanted to meet the man she chatted with far too long whenever she called the office, but Allie knew that wasn’t her real motivation for the crack-of-dawn delivery. Harper had questions and she wanted answers that Allie wasn’t prepared or able to give her. Not now and maybe not ever.
“Well, you two enjoy your picnic,” Allie said, attempting a quick getaway. “I’ve got a week’s worth of e-mails to catch up on.”
Harper stood in a rush, affording Allie her first full look at her friend’s Friday morning ensemble. The black-and-white dress she wore made her look more like Don Draper’s assistant than a twenty-four-year-old from the twenty-first century, but on her it worked. The rotary phone imprint on the skirt complemented the vintage look while the red patent leather flats sent more of a Dorothy vibe. The whole look was wacky and whimsical and totally Harper Hayes. Her tone however, was all business. “Not so fast,” she said. “We need to talk.”
It was worth a shot, Allie thought as she made her way into her office with Harper close behind.
“Okay, cut the crap and level with me,” Harper said the minute Allie had closed the door.
“It wasn’t crap. I haven’t so much as looked at an e-mail in days.” Allie hung her coat in a closet concealed behind a wood panel. Like everything else in her father’s office, it had a rich mahogany finish. Before the holidays Ben Weiss had suggested bringing in a designer to redecorate the decidedly masculine space. At the time she’d had bigger concerns than color swatches, and had agreed to do so only if her position was confirmed. Now both topics seemed trivial. Keeping the people she loved safe was the only thing that mattered. Not her title, and certainly not her office. But she had to keep up appearances.
“I wasn’t referring to the e-mails and you know it.”
“Well I am. And I’ll be lucky to come up for air by dinner.”
“Then you better start talking.” Harper dropped her purse and coat in one of the leather wingback chairs facing Allie’s desk, then plopped down in the other. “Because I’m not leaving until you tell me what the hell happened in France.”
Allie rounded her desk and took a seat across from her friend. “Nothing happened. I went to Julian’s chateau and gave him his precious ring. End of story.”
“You were gone for hours.”
“Because in true Julian form he left me waiting in his office while he went to attend to other matters,” she said, accenting the last word with finger quotes. At least that part was true. Allie met Harper’s gaze, hoping she’d take the tiny sliver of truth at face value and drop her interrogation.
No such luck.
Harper shook her head. “Sorry, not buying it.”
“Why not? You know how he is.” Allie woke her computer and launched the e-mail app. Her inbox contained numerous Google alerts with Hudson’s name. Against her better judgment she opened one . . . and there it was. She and Hudson were officially over, at least according to TMZ. How the hell? Not that it mattered. Whoever leaked the news, for once, was actually helping them.
“Julian being an asshole and making you wait?” Harper snorted her disdain. “Sure, that I buy. But the rest of this? No way. You can’t seriously expect me to believe that while you were cooling your heels in the Haunted Mansion you had this great epiphany that Prince Prissy Pants is your soul mate?”
“I never said that.” And she never would.
“Well then how the hell do you explain your sudden change of heart?” There was a moment of unexpected silence followed by Harper’s sharp intake of air. “Did he threaten you?”
Allie’s hands stilled.
“Because if he did, you need to go to the police and—”
“This has nothing to do with Julian,” she interrupted. It wasn’t a total lie. Julian’s threats weren’t Allie’s motivation; protecting Hudson and Nick was. And unless she wanted to add Harper to the list of those at risk, she had to somehow convince her to stand down. “Things were off between Hudson and me before I even saw Julian.”
“But not before he called.” Harper met Allie’s surprised reaction with a smirk. “Don’t bother denying it; me and your man had a meeting of the minds in my hotel room.”
“Yeah, about that—some secret agent you are,” Allie teased. “How long did it take before you spilled the whole story?”
“Hey, don’t look at me like that. You were the one not answering your phone. We were worried about you. And besides, Hudson is . . .” She shook her head but said nothing. Apparently even Harper Hayes was at a loss for words when it came to Hudson Chase. “Well, you know how he is.”
Did she ever. There was no deterring Hudson when he wanted something. A fact he kept proving to Allie time and time again. Only this time she was done fighting him. This time they would fight together, as a team, even if no one else knew it but them.
“I’m sorry I scared you,” Allie said. “Honestly, I lost track of time when I was at Julian’s, but everything is fine.”
“Then why did you break things off with Hudson? I saw the way the two of you were at Christmas. Despite everything else that has happened, you were happy.”
Allie shrugged. “I’m not denying he got me through a rough time. I’d been dreading the holidays and he was a welcome distraction.”
“Distraction?” Harper squeaked. “No, no, no. A tub of chocolate-chocolate chip is a distraction. What you two had was real. I could feel it every time you looked at each other.” Harper’s expression softened and her voice grew uncharacteristically quiet. “You love him.”
Allie took a deep breath, willing her voice to remain level. “No, I was caught up with the idea of him. The teen romance, recapturing a more innocent time. None of it was real. This . . .” She waved her hand around the office. “This is real. My family’s legacy, the one Hudson tried to steal out from under me, is real. I was too distracted by grief and sex to remember that, but hearing Julian’s voice on the train that morning brought it all back into focus. My father brokered that deal with Julian because Chase Industries was breathing down his neck. And no matter how hard I try, I can’t separate that man from the one you saw on Christmas Eve.”
A beat of silence passed as Allie’s words hung in the air. Harper had just opened her mouth to speak when there was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” Allie called.
Colin poked his head around the door. “Sorry to interrupt. Seems word has spread that you’re back in the office. The phone hasn’t stopped ringing.”
Allie waved him into the room. “Hit me.”
He began reading items off the tablet in his hand. “There’s an issue with this morning’s cover story—liability seems limited but legal wants to brief you on the potential fallout; the web designers want you to sign off on the cable news layout; that editor from Chicago magazine called again; and the union rep wants five minutes today or there won’t be a tomorrow.” He glanced up. “His words, not mine.”
“Have legal run the issue past Ben’s office; refer Shaw to the PR department, but give them a heads-up and tell them I won’t be granting any interviews at this time; and add the union guy to today’s calendar, a ten-minute block, but put him in just before lunch so ten doesn’t dissolve into thirty.”
“Got it.” Colin nodded as he tapped the screen. “And web?”
“Take a look at the design; if it’s in line with what we discussed, then go ahead and sign off on it.”
His head snapped up. “You want me to sign off on the new look?”
“You’re the one who came up with the idea. I trust you can determine if they followed through.”
“Will do.” Colin’s wide grin was almost enough to brighten what was already shaping up to be a shit day, even without factoring in the lack of Hudson time. Allie respected the fact that Colin had chosen to gain practical experience while earning the money he needed for grad school. And while there were certain mundane duties he’d need to perform as her assistant, he was also a valuable asset she had no desire to squander.
She thanked him before he left, then turned her attention back to Harper. “I know you mean well, but—”
“But you have an empire to run. Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Harper grinned. “I need to get work too. But don’t think this is over.”
Allie was quite sure it wasn’t. “How about we meet for a run tomorrow?” she offered as a compromise, secretly hoping the exertion would distract from the inquisition.
Harper groaned. “How about I meet you for coffee after your run?”
“Fine. Text me where and when.” Allie made a mental note to hit the gym after work as well. All those rich European meals were starting to bite her in the ass. Literally. And it wasn’t like she was going to have anything better to do with her Friday night. Might as well work off a few calories along with her sexual frustration.
“I can never repay you for everything you’ve done for me,” she said as she walked her friend to the door. “And not just this week—”
Harper cut her off with a wave of her hand. “You really need to stop thanking me. That’s what friends are for. Especially when one of the friends has access to a private jet. How the hell am I ever supposed to fly Southwest again?” she asked, laughing to herself as she pushed through the glass doors that led to the elevator bank.
Allie turned to find Colin waiting for her with a small white envelope. “What’s this?” she asked.
“No clue. Found it when I came back to my desk. It’s marked Personal and Confidential, so I didn’t open it.”
Allie’s breath caught when she saw the handwriting. “Thank you, Colin. Hold my calls.” She hurried back into her office and closed the door. Inside the envelope was a note scratched in the same handwriting.
25th Floor, 353B. Now.
Her heart raced as she yanked open the door.
“Everything all right?” Colin asked as she rushed past his desk.
“Yes. Be back in a few,” she told him. But the truth was she had no idea how long she’d be gone.
The elevator seemed to move even slower than usual, although in all likelihood it was just her impatience that made the five-floor ride seem like it took an eternity. The pulleys yanked to a stop twice as she descended the nearly hundred-year-old building, the doors jerking open slowly with each ping, though she scarcely heard them over the sound of her own blood rushing in her ears. What could have prompted such a summons? And so early in the morning. Dozens of scenarios raced through her mind as she made her way down the hallway of the twenty-fifth floor, checking the engraved plaques until she found the one with the number she sought. But as she opened the door, all thoughts left her but one.
Hudson.
He stood with his back to her, his phone pressed to his ear as he stared out across the river to the lake, barely visible through the gray January fog. His tall, muscular frame filled the window of the small office, dominating the space just as he did the world below them. Nearly all of Chicago seemed his for the taking, and yet he’d made it clear that the only thing he wanted was her. And the attraction was more than just physical. It was an inexplicable pull they’d both felt from the very start, a yearning so strong it not only defied the odds, but logic and reason as well. With everything that hung in the balance, the two of them needed to keep their distance. Yet no matter what new development had brought him there, and what risk he was taking, there was no denying the thrill that shot through her just from being in the same room with him.
