Page 52 of The Winslow Brothers

“Great,” she grumbles, and I laugh.

“Not one for spontaneity, huh?”

“No,” she admits. “I can’t say it’s my strong suit.”

“Well, then, stick with me. Because I’m a pro.”

While I made a quick trip back inside to leave money on my table—and Sophie’s—and grab my belongings, I enlisted Heidi to keep an eye on my new date to make sure she didn’t escape. Once everything was all set, the two of us stepped back outside into the blustery weather, this time with Sophie sporting not only my sport jacket, but my overcoat, too.

It was cold as shit without having anything to protect against the wind, but she needed it more than me, far and away.

Plus, I hailed a cab pretty quickly with a whistle and a wave, and now I’m perfectly toasty in the slightly stale air of a New York City taxi.

“Did you say Raines Law Room?” Sophie asks after I sit back into the seat and turn to face her. The fact that she’s skeptical enough of me to eavesdrop on my conversation with the cabbie makes me smile. I might be the type to toy with my women every once in a while, but at the end of the day, there’s nothing sexier than a woman with a brain.

And a woman who takes a personal interest in her own safety, no matter how trustworthy the guy may actually be, is a smart woman.

“I did,” I confirm easily, not wanting to keep her on edge. “Have you been there before?”

She shakes her head once, glances out her window and away from me momentarily, and then turns back. “I haven’t. I’veheard of it from a couple clients, but even in all the years I’ve lived here, I’ve never been.”

“How long have you lived here?”

She laughs a little, licking her lips and blushing. “Twenty-nine years.”

“And how old are you?”

“Twenty-eight and a half,” she says comically, and a chuckle spills from my throat.

“Okay, you’re going to have to explain that one.”

Her face is beautifully confident, lifting and crinkling in all the right places as she elucidates. “My parents made the trek from Miami to New York when my mom was a few months pregnant with Belle and me so my dad could take a job in the ironworkers union.”

I laugh. “So, your first six months in New York were as a fetus.”

She nods.

“I have to admit, I’ve met a hell of a lot of people in this city over the years and listened to all manner of stories about how they came to be here, but yours might be the best I’ve ever heard. At least in the category of delivery.”

She beams, and my chest tightens noticeably. She’s so goddamn sexy, I can hardly stand myself around her. I just wish I could understand what flipped the switch in my body so hard from her sister to her.

Sheseemslike she’s Belle, but I’m no expert in telling twins apart.

Still, feelings of self-doubt niggle, and I can’t help but make one final apology.

“I really am sorry that I mistook you for your sister. I…I don’t know what it was that made me feel so certain you were her.” I shrug. “You both have this freckle,” I explain, reaching out and touching her neck gently, right above her collarbone. “I noticed it on Belle the other night, but I didn’t realize you had the same one.”

Newly attuned to her neck, I find it impossible not to notice that her pulse is thrumming at double a normal speed.

She’s nervous or anxious or excited, and her eyes hold a secret I can’t even begin to discern.

I only wish I had the power to read a woman’s mind.

We pull to a stop in front of the completely nondescript entrance to one of the most famous speakeasies in New York, and I pass the cabbie some money and then turn for the handle of the door.

But just as I’m about to pull it, her hand comes down on my forearm.

“What is it?” I ask softly. I have no idea what she’s got to say, but for some reason, I can’t wait to find out.

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