“Is everything okay?” he asked, his dark eyes flicking over her as though he was searching for an injury, or possibly a clue as to why she was darkening his doorstep at almost midnight on a Tuesday.

“Oh, sure,” she said, feeling silly. “I was having drinks with Sadie, and I—”

He stepped out and looked down the empty hall. “Where is she?”

“I took her home. It’s just me.”

“Come on in.” He stepped back, opening the door wider, and she hurried past him before she lost her nerve.

The door shut behind her and she moved farther into the room, taking in the high ceilings and exposed duct work, the gleaming wood and the floor-to-ceiling windows that put the city on display like art. “Wow, some place.”

“Thanks. Have a seat.”

“Okay.” She chose the leather couch that looked like it probably cost more than her car.

He moved to a bar cart by the enormous window and pulled the stopper from a crystal decanter. “Want a drink?”

“Oh, no thank you. I’m driving, so…no thank you.”

“Is Cade still in Austin?”

“Until Friday. I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” she asked, suddenly horrified that she might have barged in on him when he wasn’t alone.

He shot her an inscrutable look and poured two fingers into a glass. “If you were interrupting something, I’d have told the doorman to send you away.”

“Right. Of course. Sorry.” She clutched her purse in her lap and tried to remember why she’d thought this was a good idea.

“What’s going on, Olivia?”

“I’m trying to figure something out,” she blurted, before she lost her nerve. “And I could really use an unbiased opinion.”

He sat down in the chair across from her, drink in hand. “What do you need an opinion about?”

She hesitated, wondering how much to tell him. Sadie had seemed to get bogged down in the details, and while she always thought it was best to have as much information as possible, maybe he didn’t need the full story. Especially since she didn’t seem to be capable of articulating it clearly.

“Olivia?” he prompted.

“Sorry.” She took a deep breath. “Did Cade tell you what Kyle said to me the other night at the club?”

“No.”

“Well, damn. That would’ve made this easier.”

“Is Kyle bothering you?” Jack asked, sitting up a little straighter.

“No, nothing like that,” she hurried to reassure him, but he didn’t relax, and she sighed. “Okay, here’s the thing. Kyle basically apologized for the way things ended between us, and he told me why he did what he did with the slave contract and the ultimatum.”

Jack waited a beat. “Do you want to share that reason with me?”

He was awfully polite for a sadist. “Because he was trying to give me what I wanted, even though he didn’t want to.”