say that qualifies you,” he told me.
Wait a minute….
“How’d you know I’ve lived here three years?”
“I know all the pertinent details about you, Violet.”
“Do you, now?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“Every single one.” He turned and winked, and I felt my heart flutter.
“How was your trip?” I asked.
Nick frowned slightly. “Not as productive as I would have hoped. Things are…difficult over there.”
“Difficult?” I asked. “ Where is ‘over there,’ anyway? You never said.”
“London. And, yes, they’re exceedingly difficult. But it’s something I’d rather not get into at the moment.”
There was an awkward sile nce as his words hung in the air. Nick slowed down as the traffic on the I-95 grew thicker.
“You’ve been traveling a lot lately,” I remarked. “I thought this was your rare free time where you were getting to stay in the city?”
“ All of these trips have been unexpected. I wish I could stay in New York.”
I laughed. “That’s all I do, is stay in New York,” I told him. “I haven’t been anywhere since I took a vacation to Jamaica last year.”
“Ah, Jamaica,” He smiled. “One of these days, I need to get away for pleasure, rather than business.
We were a pproaching the entrance to the bridge that would take us to Manhattan.
“Speaking of pleasure….” Nick suddenly took a turn, veering away in the opposite direction.
I was startled by this unannounced change of events. “Are we going somewhere first?” I asked.
“Indeed we are,” he said, a wicked glint in his eyes.
“Oh?”
“There’s a building over here that I recently acquired,” he explained. “It’s a luxury apartment complex and they have one of the best views of the New York Skyli ne. I’d love to show it to you.”
I smiled. “I’d love to see it.”
True to his word, Nick’s building was breathtaking. Easily forty stories tall (which was unusual for this part of New Jersey) with a sleek, modern design, the Colby Industries apartment high-rise screamed “luxury” from the word go. As soon as Nick pulled the car up in front, no fewer than three doormen came running out to greet us.
“Mr. Colby!” they gushed. “We weren’t aware you were coming tonight. Is there anything we can get you?”
“It’s quite all right, Tom,” Nick said, rolling down the window so he could address the head doorman. “I’d like to take Violet up to the rooftop deck.”
“But , of course. Have a good evening.”
Nick steered the car away from the curb, and pulled off toward the back of the building.
“You’re going to love this,” Nick said. He steered the Maserati onto a small, elevator located behind the building. “Most people don’t know you can drive up to the top,” he said. “But that’s one of the things I like best about this place.”
The top?
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“You’ll see. ”
A few minutes later the elevator had made it to the 44th floor, and we pulled out onto a large rooftop deck overlooking the city. Nick drove the Maserati right up to the edge, stopping inches away from the railing.
I thought , perhaps, Nick wanted to get out and look around, but I was mistaken. He reached across and stopped me as I tried to unlock the door.
“Don’t you want to get out and look at the view?” I asked.
“I have all the view I want right here,” he told me.
I shivered, even though it was a warm June night.
"Push the seat back, Violet,” Nick instructed. I obliged and moved the passenger's seat back as far as it would go. Nick took the keys out of the ignition and turned to face me. His eyes were transfixed on mine. “Violet….” His voice sounded almost pained. “I knew you would look beautiful in that dress, but I never could have imagined….I didn’t know it would do this to me.”
This?
He moaned softly. “Do you even realize?”
Before I could respond, Nick climbed across the car, until he was directly on top