And this morning, in the cold light of day and absent the wine buzz, she was again fixated on Rob’s unexpected contact and, more to the point, what Zoe would surely say once she heard about it.

She was still afraid to check the phone for fear that Rob had sent through anything else that might distract her and she needed to get her act together pronto, because she was already running late for her first appointment at a podcast studio downtown with Ward McKenzie.

In the midst of it all, she hadn’t returned his call from yesterday but despite her intention not to get drawn into work stuff last night, she had quickly checked on the Sports Starz piece before going to bed and was satisfied that this more personal piece of coverage had done the job.

And happy to see that they had indeed used the adorable kittens’ picture as an accompaniment, which would surely help win hearts and minds.

And speaking of … that stray had made another appearance last night, though thankfully hadn’t set off any noise or alarms, other than those in Hannah’s own head. She’d got another fright when, after refilling her wine glass, she’d returned to the sofa and spied the cat idly wandering across the coffee table like it owned the place. Must’ve come in through the open window again, but this time Hannah wasn’t taking any chances, or indeed wasn’t in the mood for a visit, so she’d promptly shooed the feline back out the gap and hopefully to wherever it called home.

Now, she struggled to put on her eyeliner correctly and smudged it.

Damn. Doing her best to repair, Hannah then decided she didn’t actually give a hoot about the way she looked this morning and hurried out, hoping she could easily grab a taxi down to Soho. Whereupon she was meeting Ward for a pre-recording with a hockey podcaster, something he had expressed actual enthusiasm about when she’d pitched the idea that day at John Doe’s while his guard seemed to be down. A rare win.

‘Yeah, I prefer radio and podcast stuff,’ he’d told her.

‘Why’s that?’

He’d shrugged and flashed that lopsided grin that could melt butter. ‘No cameras. Or any of that hair and make-up crap.’

Ironic since it wasn’t as if he had a face made for radio.

Now, as she hailed a cab outside her building, Hannah mentally reprimanded herself. The last thing she needed to think about was McKenzie’s butter-melting smile.

Surely she’d already learned her lesson.

Chapter 34

The cab finally came to a stop and Hannah checked the time. She was very late. Quickly paying the driver, she jumped from the car and immediately spotted Ward standing outside the address of the studio. She rushed to meet him and there was no denying he looked irritated.