He doesn’t mince words. “Okay then. When can we meet?”
“When do you want to meet?”
“Now. I’m in my office at my apartment.”
“I’m actually around the corner, but I’m not dressed in work attire. If you can live with that, I can head over.”
“Bring the wine list,” he says. “And I don’t give two cents about business attire.” We disconnect and I dial Savage.
“Aria,” he greets.
“I have to run to a client’s offices around the corner. I’m new to this bodyguard thing. I know you said to text you, but I just text and go? It’s okay?”
“Do your thing. We’ll do ours. Just text us a heads-up on your way out of the door. We have a team watching you.”
I blink. “A team?”
“Yes, a team.”
“I was right,” I murmur. “You’re expensive.”
“But we rock your world in all the right ways. Text us the address where we’re headed, then when the price is right, come on down.” He says it like I’m on a game show.
“You have a strange sense of humor, Savage.”
“Thank you, Aria. Come on down.” He hangs up.
I text Kace: Going by that client’s place right around the corner to try to sell the wine list Crystal gave me. Savage knows.
Good luck, baby, he replies. Text me your news.
I stare down at his message and then type: I appreciate so much right now that you didn’t tell me to be careful.
He calls me. “I wanted to,” he says when I answer.
“You wanted to?”
“Hell yes. It took all I had not to say it. I know Walker says you’re safe, but I’m worried. In case you didn’t notice, you matter to me.”
My chest does this fluttery thing. “You matter to me, too, Kace.” I sound breathless.
“Good. Call me after your meeting and maybe we can just meet for lunch.”
“I will. Are you with Mark?”
“Not yet. We’re meeting close to Riptide. I just got off the subway a few blocks down.”
“You took the subway?”
“When I’m not trying to impress you, it’s faster.”
I laugh. “You already impressed me a long time ago, Kace August.”
“Scratch the lunch,” he says. “I’ll meet you at home and you can show me.”
I laugh yet again and he adds, “And the trend toward colder than normal this year remains. It’s in the thirties. Bundle up in a coat until you can snuggle up to me.”
We say a short goodbye but that word home still lingers when I head to the door to do as Kace said and bundle up. He keeps calling his place home like I live here, too. It affects me. Deeply. I think—I think I’ve just never really felt at home my entire life here in the States.
I’m still thinking about that conversation when I head through the lobby and then step outside to greet Steven. “Good day, Aria,” he greets, standing tall in his blue jacket. “How are you?”
“So much better. Thank you, Steven.”
“Excellent. Excellent. Kace told me to take good care of you. I’ve ordered the wife to get to baking.”
“You are too kind,” I say, when I hear, “Aria.”
Steven’s expression tightens at the sound of Alexander’s voice, a reaction that tells me he knows he’s problematic. I whirl around to find Alexander standing a bit too close, and of course, he’s in one of his perfect, expensive suits. This one is gray. “What are you doing here, Alexander?”
“I live here. What are you doing here?” His lips thin. “You were with Kace.”
I bristle. “Do you really want to continue a conversation that will only take us back to my fury?”
His lips quirk. “Fury? Really? It’s that intense, is it?”
“Yes. It is. I told you not to tell me—”
“Did you ask him?”
“Stop, Alexander.”
Savage steps to my side, an unexpected action on his part, but a welcome one. “Ready to go, buttercup?” he asks.
Alexander smirks at Savage and then eyes me. “I wonder why Kace has Savage guarding you so closely and from me of all people. He’s a man with something to hide, Aria. Ask the question.” He turns and enters the building.
I rotate to face Savage, who just plain towers over me. “I don’t know why you did that, but thank you.”
He motions me forward. “Let’s walk.”
I nod and wave to Steven as Savage and I head toward my meeting. A few steps in, Savage says, “It wasn’t because Kace has me guarding you from Alexander or some secret.”
“I know that. I believe Kace trusts me enough to know that I won’t let Alexander manipulate me or him that way.”
“Then you know that Alexander wants to play tic-tac-toe in your pants to hurt Kace.”
I laugh. “You are such a man of words Savage, but yes, I know but it’s more than that. He and this client I’m going to meet have something between them. He wants me to sell him any wine Ed wants to buy. It’s like a childish vendetta.”