“That—” she pointed at the much larger car parked where her compact should be “—is not my car.” She narrowed her eyes at me and crossed her arms, waiting for an explanation. But by now I knew what worked on Alba Duarte.

“That little car is not safe on the roads here,” I argued. “I want you to be safe.”

“But that’s too much,” she hedged, but her eyes sparkled in a way that made me think she was very pleased. That primal thing in me pulsed happily at seeing her happy with something I’d done for her.

“Nothing is too much if it means keeping you safe.” I tugged her by the hand to the elevator. We got inside and before she could come up with an argument I pulled her to me. “Let me do this one thing for you,” I asked, as I peppered kisses to her neck.

“I don’t like being coddled, Theo.” I almost laughed at the way she told me, like she had to break the news gently.

“Oh, because I hadn’t noticed.”

“You say it like it’s a character flaw,” she told me as the elevator opened to the foyer of the penthouse.

I grabbed her by the waist before she could escape and pressed her to me. “I love how fierce you are. How independent and brave. But I also want to do this small thing for you.” She smiled a happy little smile as we stepped inside. Even though I’d made lofty promises about a fuck against the door, I knew she had to be hungry.

“Let me make us something quick to eat,” I suggested and she nodded, distracted as she looked at her phone.

“Looks like Carrie from Smithson-Napa called me like five minutes ago.”

I knew telling her to call back in the morning was useless and just hoped whatever the news was it wouldn’t ruin our night. Her phone rang then and she picked it up after one ring. I looked at my watch and saw that it was almost 9:00 p.m.—this was either good news or very bad news.

“Hey, Carrie, sorry I missed your call.” She walked away from the door to her favorite leather chair in the living room. I told myself she needed a little privacy to talk business but I felt her slipping from me already.

“I’m glad you like the ideas for the different genre collections.” I could hear the mix of relief and tension in her voice. Like me, she probably knew this very much after business hours call had to be about more than just letting her know they saw her material.