His for the Taking Read Online Free PDF Page A

for his mug.
    Nick didn’t move. He flexed his hands and looked at the palms. On each of them there were four red crescents where his short nails had dug into the skin.
    ‘I’m not going anywhere,’ he said calmly. ‘I’m staying here.’

CHAPTER THREE
    ‘Y OU’RE WHAT ?’
    Zoe stared at Nick. He was tall and dark and handsome as ever with the added bonus of being principled, wounded, and passionate.
    No, no, no. He ticked all her ‘perfect man’ boxes exactly. She could not have somebody like this around. She needed to get rid of him.
    He rubbed his palms against his thighs. ‘I’m staying here. Do you know for sure my father isn’t living here?’
    ‘Did you see any sign of him?’
    ‘Nothing definite, but that doesn’t mean anything. Do you know for a fact that your great-aunt didn’t have anybody staying with her?’
    ‘She never did when I stayed here.’
    ‘And when was the last time you stayed here?’
    ‘I stayed a night about five weeks ago.’ She’d done a double shift and taught a late class and she’d been too tired to go all the way across town to her own apartment. She’d called Xenia and Xenia had left keys with the concierge, Ralph. Xenia had been in bed by the time Zoe had dragged her weary carcass into the apartment. Zoe hadn’t woken her up.
    She would have if she’d known it was one of the few times they had left.
    ‘The letter I got from my father was dated eight days ago,’ Nick said. ‘April twenty-third.’
    ‘You waited eight days before you camped outside Xenia’s door? You’re not as obsessed as I thought.’
    ‘I only got it yesterday when I got home. I was on an island off the coast of Maine monitoring bird populations when it arrived.’
    His voice was maddeningly calm. Zoe considered bending over and trying to pick him up and toss him out the front door. He had about eighty pounds on her. The best scenario was he didn’t struggle and she only slipped the one disc in her back. The worst scenario was they ended up wrestling on the kitchen floor and she turned into a big wobbling Jell-O of lust while he laughed at her.
    Instead, she pushed her hair behind her ears. ‘Uh-huh. So you’re trying to say he could’ve moved in since I was last here. Fair enough. But your dad isn’t here, and Xenia is dead. So you might as well follow up some other lead.’
    ‘I don’t have any other leads. As far as I’m concerned, he might have gone out an hour ago to get some milk and a paper. I’m waiting for him.’
    Once again he folded his arms on his chest. Then he settled himself back in his chair, stretching his legs out in front of him as if he were never going to move.
    ‘But I’ve got stuff to do,’ Zoe said. ‘I need to go home.’
    ‘So go home. That’s fine.’
    ‘I can’t go home and leave you here alone!’
    ‘You think I’ll get lonely? That’s very kind of you. But I spend a lot of time alone, you don’t have to worry about me.’
    Zoe banged her hand against her thigh. ‘No! I mean, I can’t leave you alone in Xenia’s apartment. I don’t know you.’
    ‘You trusted me enough to let me in.’
    ‘Yeah, but that was—’
    What had that been? From the looks of the immovable Nick and his big old easygoing smile, it had been a pretty colossal mistake.
    ‘I can’t leave you here,’ she repeated.
    ‘So stay. That’s fine with me, too.’
    ‘But—’ Agh! Didn’t this guy listen to reason? ‘I need to get Xenia’s clothes to the funeral parlour.’
    Nick raised his eyebrows. ‘Zoe, tell me if I’m being rude here—’
    ‘You are,’ she interrupted, but he continued straight on.
    ‘But your great-aunt Xenia owned an enormous apartment in one of the most expensive areas of New York. I’m betting her funeral isn’t going to be a low-budget affair.’
    Zoe remembered the instructions she’d read this afternoon, written by her great-aunt in her funeral plan: the mid-Manhattan church to reserve, the private hotel ballroom to book, the