Nerves made that odd, low buzzing hum in her veins again. It was almost electric. Her fingers tingled with it, heating. She shoved her hands in her pockets.

“Do you, um, have a place in the city?” Her latest hotel room had been compromised—hence today’s run-for-your-life episode. She’d lost a toothbrush and her pajamas, but everything else was in her car, which she’d parked in a whole different neighborhood.

The man shook his head.

Darn. Maybe he was from New Jersey.

At least these two hired guns from Novalight Enterprises would think twice about chasing her down again. She’d given everyone who’d come after her the slip so far, but she’d never left anyone unconscious. She giggled.

“Are you well?” Her rescuer’s gray eyes filled with concern for her. A cowlick lifted his black hair away from his forehead, even though parts of it were long enough to brush his cheekbones. He had a strong brow. A strong jaw. A strong—and swollen—nose. A strong everything, really. Wow, those arms were like tree trunks. And he didn’t even look cold when he was wearing…a toga?

Sophie swallowed more inappropriate laughter. “No. I don’t think I’m well. Are you?” He looked as if he’d been hit by a bus on the way to a costume party.

“I’m…not entirely certain,” he answered.

Well, that made two of them.

He offered his arm as though they were headed to the dance floor for a waltz. Sophie automatically slipped her hand through the crook at his elbow, and they strolled out of the alley to the music of a police siren in the distance. Hopefully, the cops were after someone else.

When they’d put a block between themselves and the Novalight security agent, Sophie steered them east toward where she’d left her car the night before. She didn’t know New York that well and had figured her car was safest in a central neighborhood. Trying to remain positive, she told herself it was still there.

“Do you have a name?” she asked the man beside her. She was glad he’d stuck around so far and kind of dreaded the moment he’d leave her.

He shrugged.

“Does that mean no?”

“Everyone has a name,” he answered.

“Well, can I have yours?” Sophie let a teasing note creep into her voice. This guy was taking being an enigma to a whole new level.

He pursed his lips. Full lips. Extremely kissable. A little tinged with blue now that he was cooling down from the fight. Poor guy. He wasn’t dressed for December.