My heart is actually in my throat when I approach her doorman. I introduce myself and tell him I’m here to see Wren, and he looks down at his notepad. “Miss Vasquez said to call her when you arrive.” He reaches for his phone.

“I’d rather pick her up at her door, if you don’t mind.”

The old man arches a brow at me. “I don’t mind, but I’m not sure if she would.” He rings her phone and he says, “Miss Vasquez, you have a rather sharply dressed gentleman here to see you.”

She says something that makes him chuckle. His eyes meet mine. “I’d feel bad sending the gentleman away. He looks like he took some time on his appearance. He shaved. He’s wearing nice socks. He’s carrying flowers.” He gives me a thumbs-up and a wink on that one. He sniffs the air and grimaces. “He smells like cologne.”

He pushes the phone away from his mouth and says, “She wants to know if you’re wearing boxers or briefs.”

“Neither,” I say.

He sputters into the phone. “The gentleman says that’s a secret.”

“Liar,” I mutter, but I’m laughing all the while.

Suddenly, the elevator doors open and there she is. And she takes my breath away. She’s wearing a red dress with a black sash, classy and elegant and showing just enough leg that I want to pull it off her with my teeth. The doorman slaps me on the back. “It’s just a woman,” he mutters. “Breathe.”

“She’s beautiful,” I tell him on an exhalation.

“On the inside and the outside,” he replies.

“Henry, are you scaring my date away?” she asks. She puts her hands on her hips and glares at him playfully.

Henry scratches his balding pate. “Well, only if I get to take his place.” He waggles his eyebrows at her. “It’s been a long time since my Nan died. Maybe I need to get back into the dating game.”

“Do you want to have lunch with me tomorrow?” she asks him.

“My treat,” he says, and he lifts her hand, places a kiss on the back of it, and then offers it to me.

I take her fingers in mine and clasp them loosely. “Do you have a purse?” I ask.

“No.”

“No?” I look at Henry and talk out the side of my mouth. “Don’t women usually carry purses?”

Henry chuckles. “Never doubt that a woman knows what she’s doing.” He taps his temple. “Particularly when she’s as smart as this one.”

“Your phone?” I ask Wren.

Her eyes twinkle at me. “Everything I could possibly need is in my bra.”

Henry shoves his fingers in his ears and sings out loudly, “I don’t want to know about your undergarments!”

“You wanted to know all about mine,” I remind him.

He laughs and rushes to open the door for us. “Don’t keep her out too late,” he says. He takes the flowers from her hand and says, “I’ll deliver these to your kitchen counter and I’ll put them in that pretty blue vase that’s in the cabinet.”

“Thank you, Henry,” she says, and she kisses him on the cheek. He preens under the weight of her attention. “I’ll see you tomorrow for lunch.”

A man falls into position behind us.

“Do you mind if we take my car and driver? He’s going to go with us.” She jerks her thumb toward the beast that’s walking about ten paces behind us. He’s as wide as a building and looks about as strong. “Security. Just in case. I promised my dad…” Her cheeks turn pink and she looks everywhere but at me.

“I love chaperones,” I tell her, although I really am not sure what to think about his presence. “Are we supposed to acknowledge that he’s here?”

“No,” she whispers back. “Pretend he’s not here. He likes it when we do that.”

I catch him rolling his eyes at her.

He walks around to the driver’s side and gets in.

She reaches for the door handle, but I cover her hand with mine. “Allow me,” I say. She pulls her hand back and looks at me through the fall of her hair.

“Thank you,” she says quietly.

“You took my breath away when the elevator doors opened,” I admit.

“Good,” she says. She grins. “Because I kind of sort of kind of maybe a little bit thought I was going to faint when I saw you standing there.”

She gets in the car and I stand there on the sidewalk trying to catch my breath. I scoot in and sit next to her.

“So, what’s our story tonight?” she asks. “How did we meet?”

“Well…” I scratch my head. “We could say my brother is married to your sister.”

“That’s boring.”

“So, you don’t want to just be two people on a date?” I kind of like that story.

“Snooze fest.” She makes a snorting noise through her nose that makes me laugh.

“I could tell them you’re a high-priced call girl.”

“Oh!” She claps her hands together. “I always wanted to be an escort. How much money do I make per date?”

“Thousands?”

She claps her hands again. “So, have you hired me before?”

“Yes. And I gave you a fat tip when I saw you naked for the first time.”

Her brow furrows. “Only the first time?”

“Every time.”

She settles back, content. “What kind of things do you hire me to do?”

“You mean like…” I wait for her to fill in the blanks.

“Like corporate events, company seminars, backyard barbeques?”

“All of those.”

“So, am I any good?” she asks. Amusement dances in her eyes.

“You’re the best out of all the other escorts I’ve ever hired. That’s why I keep coming back.”

“But this is the first company function I’ve been to. No one will know who I am.”

“They all will after tonight.”

The slit in her dress falls open a little and a creamy thigh is exposed. I have a sudden urge to press my lips against her skin and taste her. I tug her dress back up to cover the exposed skin. “A man could lose all his marbles around you quickly.”

“You think I’m pretty,” she says coquettishly.

“And smart, and funny, and kind, and I can’t wait to get to know you better.”

She grins and her cheeks get rosy.

I grab her ankle and lift her foot. She’s wearing four-inch heels. “These are sexy.”

“Why, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“So, is there anyone I need to be cautious around? A boss or an ex-girlfriend?” She bats her dark lashes at me.

“Boss, yes. Ex-girlfriend, no.”

“Anyone you’ve ever been on a date with?”

“Um…” I scratch my head. “Maybe.”

“Oh, the plot thickens. Tell me more.”

“Nope.”

She deflates visibly. “Why not?”

I tweak her nose. “Because we’re here.” The car stops and I get out and extend a hand to her. Her naked shin comes out first, and then a large expanse of creamy thigh, and then her dress settles around her calves. Then she follows, and she smiles at me.

“You’re dangerous, you know that?”

“That is why you pay me the big bucks,” she says. She pats my cheek, and I have to refrain from grabbing her and kissing her. Damn, but she’s pretty. She sparkles. And it’s not just the dress or the heels or the way her hair curls over her shoulders. She sparkles from the inside.

We walk into a crowded ballroom, and she slips her hand into the crook of my elbow. She comes up to my nose in those heels. I’d barely have to bend to kiss her on the lips.

“What are you thinking about?” she whispers out the side of her mouth.

“I was thinking about how easy it would be to kiss you,” I admit somewhat sheepishly.

Her security guard follows us into the room, and then he finds a place to loiter away from everyone. “You really can pretend he’s not there, huh?” I nod toward where he’s standing.

She brushes a hand through the air. “You get used to it.” She winces. “Sorry about that.”

“No worries. Whatever it takes to keep you safe. So, who do you want me to say you are?” I ask. “Do you want people to know you’re Wren Vasquez from Fallen from Zero?”

She smoothes her hair. “Dressed like this, I seriously doubt anyone will recognize me. We’re safe.”

When she and her sisters play music on stage, they dress very casually, in a punk-rock-chic kind of look. Classy but wild. Heavy makeup and big hair. This version of Wren I like a lot.

Suddenly, a voice booms out, “Mick, you must introduce us to your date!” I look over and find my boss and his wife barreling toward us.

“This is my friend, Wren,” I say, as she extends her hand. I settle my hand on her hip and she doesn’t move away. In fact, she leans solidly against my side.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

We chat about nothing for a few minutes, and then I hear my boss’s wife ask, “What is it you do for a living, Wren?”

Wren’s eyes meet mine, twinkling. “Music,” she says. “I work with music.”

And I think I just fell a little bit more in love with Wren Vasquez, or whoever she is. The girl in the red dress who smiles at me like she doesn’t have a care in the world. That girl. I’m falling for that girl.

All over again.

“You’re a lucky man, Mick,” my boss says quietly.

“I know,” I say, and I take a sip of my drink and stand back and watch Wren as she charms everyone around her.