Party Girl

“Good. Just get those human-interest stories you’re so good at, and we’ll be golden. Or at the very least, we’ll swing another invite for next year’s blowout.”

“On it.” Plucking her phone out of her bag, she scanned the information he’d sent her before looking to him with raised brows. “This year’s fete is going to be a masquerade?”

“Yeah, something about Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet.” He sneered again. “Jesus. Can you imagine laying out five-grand per plate for this thing just so you can wear an ugly Hawaiian shirt?”

“I can totally imagine that.” Excited and not even bothering to hide it, Hannah whirled for the conference room door. “I’d better get a move-on and pick up a costume before every Romeo and Juliet-themed costume in the city is sold out. Fair warning—this might take the rest of the day.”

“Don’t forget, I still need five-hundred words on the Thunder Club opening, and your write-up on Johanna Rivoli’s fashion show is due tomorrow,” he called after her.

“The Rivoli fashion show copy is already with the editors, I’ve answered all my emails to date, and I couldn’t forget the opening of a club that’s this generation’s answer to the legendary Chippendale’s.” With a cheerful wave, she had to consciously will herself not to sprint for the elevators.

“Okay, all you Raven’s Haven mavens.” Hitting the elevator’s Down button, Hannah tucked herself into a quiet corner, held up her phone and began an impromptu livestream. “You’re not going to believe what just hit my inbox.” Quickly she sketched out what CATE was and finished with the details of the masquerade ball. “So that’s the sitch, mavens. Give me ten minutes to walk to the party store just a block or two away from where I work, and we’ll tackle the task of finding a costume worthy of this upcoming fete. See you then.” Blowing her usual kiss, she ended the broadcast just as the elevator doors opened. Perfect timing, she thought, stepping inside. If she legged it, she could be at the costume shop and knee-deep in quirky, neo-Shakespearean costumes in just a handful of minutes.

With that in mind, she all but ran for the exit the moment the elevator dropped her off at the lobby, her attention on scrolling through various costumes as she pushed through a revolving door and into mid-afternoon sunshine.

“I don’t think you understand just how dangerously you live your life.”

Hannah yelped, nearly jumping out of her skin at the deep voice right next to her ear. Snapping her head around so fast something in her neck popped, she found herself face-to-face with a scowling Dalton Derico.

Without warning, her heart came to a screeching halt.

How was it possible he was even more devastatingly gorgeous than when she’d seen him at Zenni’s wedding? Those depthless black eyes and lush lashes that she would have given a kidney to have were more mesmerizing than ever. Dark hair tumbled over his brow, the curl of it undeniable, and it took a shocking amount of willpower to not reach up and stroke it back into place.

Good Lord.

Since when was she into petting the hair of complete strangers?

“Dalton. I mean Mr. Derico. Doctor, I mean. Dr. Derico.” She took a calming breath, hugged her bag close and tried not to drink him in, from his untucked button-down black shirt with rolled-up sleeves to well-worn jeans that hugged him in all the right places. Any second now she would pull it together. Any second now... “You startled me. In fact, I think you wanted to startle me. What on earth are you doing here, sneaking up behind me and giving me a heart attack?”

“Giving you a heart attack is the least you deserve for sharing with the whole damn world exactly where you are and what you're doing,” he shot back, his scowl worse than ever. “Honest to Christ, I'm fucking amazed you haven't been snatched up by some crazy-ass stalker by now, locked in his basement and never seen or heard from again.”

“That still might happen, considering the way you're looking at me.” She watched him warily, hating the fact that even staring pure murder at her, he was still the most stunning male specimen she’d ever laid eyes on. “I repeat, what are you doing here? And why are you looking at me like I just ate the world's last kitten?”

“I'm here looking the way I'm looking because you just told this entire asshole-infested city where you are and where you're going. In your never-ending quest to overshare every damn aspect of your life, you just told all the sharks where you are in the water. How the hell do you think I knew where to find you?”

Yikes. “Well, since you have my number and address, I just assumed Zenni or your friend Talon told you where I work—”

“You have a fucking byline at this paper, Hannah. Everyone in Chicago knows where you work. Shit, your place of work is on your Wikipedia page under your basic stats.”

She blinked. He’d researched her? “It is? I didn’t know that. Then again, I didn’t put that page together.”

“Wait.” He ran a hand over his face as if trying to wipe away the tension there. “Are you telling me some stalker-y superfan created that Wikipedia page, because you shared all that information online?”

Yikes again. “Um...”

“Jesus,” he muttered, taking a moment to look skyward. “That right there just proves my point. There’s a shit-ton of people watching your every move, Hannah, yet here you are inviting even more scrutiny. Take me, for instance,” he added when she groped around for some sort of suitable answer and came up empty. “This building has at least three street-level exits and a parking garage, yeah? But I knew you’d be coming out of this particular exit because it's the closest one to the costume store down the street. It took me all of ten seconds to figure that out, and I'm probably not the only one. Because of that, I'm walking you to that shop so you don't get your ass kidnapped.”

Oh, for crying out loud. “I appreciate the thought, but you don’t have to—”

“Yeah, I do, because I value my peace of mind.”

“Your peace of mind?” she repeated, baffled. “What, exactly, do I have to do with your peace of mind?”

“If I walk away now without making sure you’re safe after you gave away your exact longitude and latitude, I’m going to waste my whole frigging day worrying about what happened to you.”

“You’d worry about me?” She stared at him, trying to figure out if he was kidding. Crazy as it was, he seemed totally serious. “I don’t get it, you don’t even know me. Why would you care about what happens to me?”

“Someone’s got to look after you while Zenni’s away,” came the blunt answer. “Your friend obviously cares more about your safety than you do, in case you haven’t noticed. Just look at me as your new watchdog.”

Nothing like making her feel like the world’s most ungrateful friend. “Look, Dr. Derico, I know it seems to you like I don’t have a very good track record when it comes to personal safety—”

“It’s Dalton, and that’s putting it mildly.”

Dalton. Such a nice name for such a pushy man. “But you’ve got the wrong perspective on who I really am.”

“Really?” He crossed his arms in front of the impressive expanse of his chest, and distractedly she noted how cords of muscle and sinew flexed in his forearms revealed by his rolled-up sleeves. “How’s that?”

“That night—the night I was drugged and our paths crossed for the first time—that was an aberration. A scary, terrible nightmare of an aberration. To you, it might seem like there are monsters and boogeymen behind every corner because of how we met, but that’s not how the world is. There are still monsters out there, yes, but I’m much more careful now, and I have my guard up every second of the day. In fact, I’m standing here now wondering how the hell you got to be right outside this building when I told my followers where I was going less than five minutes ago. How exactly did you manage that? Teleportation?”

“I was on my way to invite you to either a late lunch or an early dinner before your interview with the basketball player. And good for you, keeping your head up about the details,” he said, and his sudden grin of approval almost knocked her off her feet. Good grief. No man should have a weapons-grade sexy smile like that. “Even if it does bother me that you’re suspicious when it comes to my motivations.”

“Well, I don’t really know you, so you showing up here out of nowhere does seem a little suspicious.”

“Beautiful, you’ve got to be kidding me.” He shook his head, clearly torn between laughing and swearing in exasperation. “Don’t forget, I’m the guy who tried to do everything he could to help you and make you feel safe.”

“True,” she allowed with a grudging nod, while his words echoed through her mind. Make you feel safe... Why did that sound so familiar? “How do I know you haven’t changed your mind about the whole safety thing?”

“Don’t even kid about that.” All the humor left his expression, leaving nothing but a focused stare that made her feel like she was the only person in the world he could see. For some reason, that thought made a shiver slide down her spine. “You need to know I’ll do everything it takes to make you feel secure, even if I really do have to become your watchdog.”