I stood on the pavement in New York, craning my neck to see the top of the hotel we were staying in. It was useless; it was so tall it made my head spin.

“We’re staying here?” I couldn’t believe it. It was the fanciest hotel I had ever seen in my life.

“We’re staying here,” he repeated. The bell hop opened the door for us, and I walked into a lobby so swanky it took my breath away.

Elegant cream-colored sofas and armchairs were everywhere, contrasting with the green of the tall pot plants. The goddamn floor was marble, polished so well I could see my face in it as we walked to the reception.

I was glad that I had made an effort, and worn a good dress. There were people everywhere, dressed so well I still felt a bit self-conscious that I would be targeted straight away as a country hick with no sense of style.

I glanced at Lance. He looked casual, but elegant. He obviously knew how to dress for the city. The faded denim jeans and check shirts he had worn at the ranch weren’t going to be seen here, I could tell.

“The reservation is under the name of Starling.” He was talking to the receptionist in a cool manner, like he had done this a million times before. I sometimes forgot he had travelled all over the world – really, Lance was as cosmopolitan as they came.

He was also so goddamn sexy it hurt to look at him.

“Ah, yes.” The receptionist peered into her computer screen. “Two rooms, adjoining?” She looked from Lance to me in a questioning manner.

“Yes, that’s what we want.” Lance didn’t look at me.

She handed two passes to him, smiling widely. There wasn’t a woman alive who could withstand the charm of Lance Starling. She would be tossing her hair back and batting her eyelids if we stayed any longer.

We walked away, toward the elevator.

“Adjoining rooms?” I questioned.

Lance punched the number of the floor we wanted into the elevator. We stood and waited for the doors to open.

As we walked in, he turned to me.

“I wouldn’t want you to get scared in the big city now would I, Miss Gemma?”

I looked at him, shaking my head slightly. But I smiled.

* * *

I gasped as we entered the rooms.

Windows dropped from the ceiling to the floor, revealing a breathtaking panorama of the skyline. I walked up to them, staring down at the city laid out like a board game at our feet.

“It’s amazing,” I breathed.

Lance came and stood behind me. I could feel his heat.

“I aim to please,” he said.

He walked away from me, and straight away I wanted him back.

“I’ll leave you to rest,” he was saying now. “I’m going to see to some of that business I was talking about. Be ready in about an hour, I am going to take you shopping for those fancy clothes.”

I swung my head around, dragging my gaze away from the view.

“Where are we going?”

He grinned. “The city is our oyster, Gemma. Wherever you goddamn want.”

* * *

I was showered and changed by the time he came back, eager to explore the city.

He took me on a whirlwind tour of it, and then it was time for shopping. I tried on dresses at Sak’s Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s, pinching myself that I was shopping in the most expensive and iconic department stores in New York. It was every girl’s dream.

But we still hadn’t found The Dress. Lance bought me a few things, but he shook his head at a lot of stuff.

“We haven’t found it yet,” he said.

Eventually, at a little designer store, I found it.

It was deceptively simple. A wraparound cocktail dress in midnight blue. But when I saw myself in the mirrors after I tried it on, I gasped. It was made so well it highlighted all the best things about my figure and downplayed the bad.

I walked out of the fitting rooms and stood in front of Lance, who was sitting on a seat waiting for me.

“What do you think?” I twirled slightly, playing it up. I knew it looked good on me.

Lance sat forward, looking at me as if he had never laid eyes on me before. His eyes widened.

“I think we have found it,” he breathed. His eyes raked over me from head to toe. I could feel myself basking in his admiration.

He paid for it, and we left.

“I can pay you back for it,” I said, as we hit the pavement. I was starting to feel a bit guilty. The price of the dress could pay the debt on a small country. Not to mention all the other stuff he had bought for me. Plus the hotel rooms and the plane tickets.

He stopped walking, looking down at me. “Don’t be silly,” he said. “I invited you. I said I wanted to buy you some nice stuff. Don’t think anything more of it.”

We continued walking. Should I let it go, or should I insist? Was he trying to buy me?

Did I care? Should I care? It was wonderful, being treated like a princess. It had never happened to me before.

I had always wanted Jack and I to do something like this, but he was always too busy, away with his work, or when in town, uninterested.

Stop it, I told myself. Leave Jack out of it. Stop thinking of the past, when you are living a dream. With the goddamn sexiest man that had ever walked the planet.

“Don’t stress, Gemma.” Lance must have seen my face betraying my emotions. “I was paid well with the SEALs, and haven’t spent a lot of it. This is my treat, and I’m not thinking that you should pay me back in another way, if that’s your train of thought. Whatever happens on this trip is because you want it.”

The words rested between us like a challenge.

What did I want?

Staring at Lance with the back drop of the city behind him, it was becoming clearer and clearer.