Page 45 of When Glitter Meets Gold

She’d told him she lived in the city, but he hadn’t really considered in what capacity. Now it’s clear thatthisis her world too, and holy crap if it didn’t belong to her. The way she’s carrying herself confirms it. Confidently, unapologetically,in charge. A woman who isn’t afraid to make the city work for her.

Which…was possibly what she’d been doing the whole time she was tagging along with him on the trails.

Working.

Did she come here tonight to run into him again? Was this her plan all along?

J growls under his breath, because damn these wretched thoughts, he’d already decided she wasn’t full of shit. He wishes he could drop the paranoia, especially since she’d helped him with his wound, then displayed a conscience when she had him call off the chopper in the storm.

He can’t bear to think the whole thing had been an act, but shit, what are the chances of her turning up here tonight?

One in a million.

The odds just don’t add up.

But then she rolls her eyes at Parker Jennings, a Wall Street asshole notorious for losing huge sums of his clients’ money amongst other bullshit.Who invited that lowlife anyway?

It looked like she had Jennings figured out already, or she’s privy to his scandalous past and doesn’t want to waste her time.

Either way, it makes her smart. He just doesn’t know if it’s the scheming smart or the switched-on type of smart.

He’d have to tread carefully. Again.

He growls once more because none of this makes any damn sense.

Now she’s acting like she doesn’t even care that she’s standing center stage with spotlights beaming down on her when she knocks back an entire Midas martini. She’s swaying like she’s on a flamingo float during spring break inTijuana. It’s hardly the behavior of a woman on a diabolical mission.

He doesn’t have time to plan his next move, because a moment later, her hazelnut eyes are fluttering, focusing,and now she’s looking him dead in the eye. There goes his windpipe again.

She’s on the move, gliding down the stairs toward him in that elegant dress that everyone’s staring at, each embellishment winking beneath the lights like stardust. J’s entire body seizes up. The same way it did on the trails when she got close to him. What was it about her that made his entire body lock up in her presence?

“Jack?” Her first word reminds him of the wilderness, the only place anyone other than his family had used that name for a long time. He’s flooded with familiarity and, for a second, he forgets all about being suspicious and can’t help but note things he’d overlooked before.

Her sharp collarbones. Just how huge and sparkling her eyes are. The way the dress accentuates her full cleavage. Yeah, he noticed her tits before. Especially when they were pressed against his back while she clung to him through the night. He’d remarked that they were nice, not that they were fuckingperfect. There’s that surge of adrenaline, swimming through his veins like rocket fuel. Only now it’s travelling south of his waist.

Fuck.

He shakes his head, returns to the fact that she’s used his name, his old name, announcing it in front of his friends and colleagues. He’d told her she could call him that, so he can’t really tell her otherwise now.

Wait. Of course he can. He’s J-fucking-Vandenberg, he can say whatever he wants. This is his bar,hiscity.

Only now that her floral scent is all around him, the only thing that slips from his lips is, “Sara. You look…different.”

She stares at him with a piercing glare he’s never witnessed before. It’s the same way she’d glared at Parker. Did she peg the two of them the same? The thought makes J rethink his attitude. Perhaps he should follow with a better compliment, tell her she looks good…onlygooddoesn’t begin to describe what he’s witnessing.

Too late, she’s already opening her mouth, that defensive look he recognizes blazing behind her eyes.

“I’m wearing both shoes, and I’ve had access to modern day plumbing,” she says without blinking, causing a man next to them to choke on his wine.

Then she’s smiling, the corners of her delicate lips drawn wide. “It’s pretty bizarre, I admit. I haven’t seen you since we were kids and now twice in the same month. What are you doing here?”

J inhales. Is she joking? What’s her deal?

Could it be that she really has no idea who he is?

Impossible.

Everyone knows who he is.

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