with a sound lik

her past his desk to the seating area by the window. The Manhattan skyline stretche

" he

t her back straight, her hands folded in her lap, h

aneling. He returned with a metal case, medical grade, the kind with a red cros

ed by squeezing. He wrapped it in a hand to

hed. She cou

d there-irritation, maybe, or the ghost of that expres

" he said. "Don'

pack against

her skin, into the damaged tissue underneath. Claire's

With the other, he retrieved his phone from his

sting the pressure. "Buy them. Every gossip rag in Manhattan. I want Ashton Stark's party photos. T

her head, dislodging the pack, star

on is complete. I took the money. I'll sign whatever you want. But this-" She gestured betwe

d. The temperature in the roo

east pocket and withdrew a folded document, heavy cream paper, legal weight. "You think one milli

n her lap. It fell open,

he said. "E

cked the dense legal text, the numbered clauses, the subsections

r fifty million dollars, guaranteed and collateralized against all future earnings. The penalty for disclosure was even worse: any disclosure would be treated

ered. "This isn't-this

ying in its gentleness. "The jurisdiction clause. Any dispute will

vid against her pallor. She looked, he thought with a satisfaction that burned like ac

against her temple, tracing the pulse that hammered there. "You wanted to walk into my world and take what yo

er ear, her throat, the place where h

ay otherwise. And Claire?" His teeth closed on her earlobe, not ha