Chapter 21

“How am I going to get home?” she asked.

Nigel smiled. “If that’s where you want to go, I’ll have him come back.”

“And my other option?”

“Coming up to the penthouse with me.”

She took one step toward him, silently telling him she wanted just that. She wasn’t sure why he brought
her here, maybe he wanted to do some work later, maybe he wanted her to feel like they were on
neutral ground since they both worked here...she had no clue.

Her imagination went into overdrive and she wasn’t so sure she was ready for more than this sexual
banter and heavy tension. But if not now...when?

They were clearly attracted to each other and they were both adults. She was tired of always working.
Even with her fake work she was working.

While she loved her job, it had always come ahead of her own personal life. Like now. Even her faux
job was getting in her way.

Sophie adjusted her clutch beneath her arm and pulled in a shaky breath.

“I could use a drink first,” she admitted, shivering against the cold.

Nigel removed his suit jacket and draped it around her shoulders. Now she was fully enveloped by his
scent, his warmth. Another stepping stone on this path they’d started down together.

A glass of wine sounded good right about now. Who knows, maybe they could start talking and she’d
find more information on Miranda, because so far her search had turned up nothing useful. Wasn’t that



why she was here? To get some sort of proof that her stepmother swindled her way into the will and
deceived Buck?

Or maybe Sophie was here at this moment to do something for herself. To finally give in and take what
she’d denied herself for so long. Because right now, she wanted to be here for Nigel and absolutely
nothing, or no one, else.

“A drink,” he repeated with a crooked grin. “I can manage that.”

She’d never been more aware of any man in her life than she was in that elevator on their way up to
the penthouse. There was plenty of room, yet he stood at her side, with his hand beneath his jacket at
the small of her back where her dress dipped low and exposed her bare skin.

That woodsy cologne of his had tantalized her all evening. She’d never been turned on by a man’s
scent before, but, well, everything with Nigel was becoming her first.

The door slid open and she stepped into the penthouse. As she walked through, the lighting
automatically lit up her path. The view of the city below drew her to the wall of windows. The swirling
snow shone bright as it caught the various lights from buildings and the streets below.

“I never thought I’d be so mesmerized by snow.”

Nigel’s dress shoes shifted across the hardwood floors. “You look good in the city. This life suits you.”

If he only knew how much she missed her old self. Her boots and flip-flops, her long, flowy dresses.
Pants were of the devil and she was so over them. Give her a nice maxi or A-line sheath any day over
skinny jeans and tailored jackets.

She missed the ranch and wondered what all was going on now. She missed her French-inspired home
in her luxurious gated community. And she desperately missed her own bed.



A flash of an image with Nigel in her bedroom pierced her thoughts. He could never be there. He could
never know she was truly a Blackwell. If he ever discovered why she was truly here, he’d never forgive
her and he’d never believe she hadn’t set out to deceive him.

If he could have only known the real Sophie without this deception getting in the way...

“You prefer red or white?”

Sophie glanced over her shoulder to Nigel at the bar in the corner. She offered a smile and gripped the
lapel of the jacket, pulling it tighter around her chest.

“I think you know by now I prefer white.”

He picked up the stem he’d already poured. “Just making sure,” he said, returning her smile.

As he made his way over to her, Sophie tried to put her worries, her betrayal out of her mind. She took
in the sight of her date bringing her a glass of wine, thought of how quickly he’d wrapped her in his
jacket, remembered how he’d been impressed with her ideas and gave her credit for them without
stealing them as his own when he very well could have.

Nigel was a noble man, a man she could easily fall for...was already falling for.

This date was going far beyond what she’d envisioned.


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