A tiny thrill swept through her at his nod. She tried hard to suppress it as she held out her hand for his phone. He looked so serious. Her hand trembled as she took his cell phone and entered her number before handing it back.

Remy glanced down and then smiled at her. “Blue?”

“My code name if anyone ever gets ahold of your phone.” She sent him a faint grin.

Bijou was used to false adulation. People liked her and wanted to be around her because of who she was—Bodrie’s daughter or because she was a wildly popular singer. She didn’t want that from Remy, and he wasn’t that kind of man. Remy made her feel as if he knew her—as if he could see inside her where no one else had ever looked.

She’d come home for the reasons she’d told him, but it was more than that. She’d never been able to connect with a man, to trust a man enough to get close to him. There was always Remy, and no one ever quite came up to her childhood image of him. He was the larger than life hero who she compared every man she met with. She knew she had trust issues. She didn’t always like men, her lessons in their behavior and lack of loyalty had been hammered into her very early. But there was Remy . . . He was the only man who had ever stood for her—the only man who cared enough to lose his temper when she’d done something so very, very stupid.

Why did he have to be so freakin’ beautiful? She hadn’t been prepared for that.

“Havin’ money or fame, or both, doesn’t guarantee a man is good, Blue,” Remy said. “Of all people, you should know that.”

She caught at the slender chain and held on. What was that supposed to mean? Did he think she was still eight and not so bright? She’d learned that lesson years ago. Before she could think of a reply Remy picked up the stack of letters protected by the plastic sleeve she’d put them in and turned the package over and over.

“What’s in here that scared you so much you came home?”

He made her sound like a little rabbit. “Your sister said you have a one track mind and it’s most annoyin’. I’m beginnin’ to believe her.”

He leaned across the table, his cobalt blue eyes holding her gaze captive. He was absolutely mesmerizing. “No, you don’. You find me charmin’.”