Page 32 of Close to the Edge

If she didn’t know then she’d told the truth about skimming my past. That put a plus tick in her favor.

“I’m asking the questions here, but if it’ll make you cooperate, I’m twenty-nine. I’m six-foot-four. I have all my own hair and teeth. Oh, and I’m single.”

A hungry little expression flitted across her face but she hid it well. “How long have you been a fixer?” she returned.

“You must have missed what I just said about questions.”

“I’m supposed to trust you with my safety. I deserve to know a little bit about you, don’t you think?”

Fair point. In her shoes, I would have a few hundred questions, too. She wasn’t a blind follower. Another turn-on. Still... “You get three questions.Afteryou answer all of mine.”

That earned me a sarcastically raised eyebrow that somehow managed to connect straight to my cock. Fuck.

“What’s your deal with SDM? You said you had history,” I said.

Her face immediately shuttered. “They put me through college and hired me straight after.”

Interesting. “And college was?”

“MIT.”

“You’re from the East originally?”

The waiter arrived at our table. Lily ordered a soda and six bite-size platters of assorted dishes without consulting the menu.

“I’ll have what she’s having but with a beer,” I said.

The waiter nodded and hurried away.

“Why does it matter whether I’m from the East or not?” she asked warily.

“Is that one of your questions for me?”

“It’s a query generated by the fact that I think you’re wasting time on pointless questions.”

She was unsettled by my line of questioning. Which triggered a need to know more. “You’re being stalked, Lily. You don’t think details of your background will inform me as to who is after you?”

Her shoulders slumped a little but in direct contrast, her chin angled up. “Fine, I grew up in Maine, but we moved to Boston when I was ten.”

“We?”

“My stepdad and I. And before you ask, neither of my biological parents are in the picture. They haven’t been for a very long time.”

I crunched on that piece of information for a minute. I wanted details but sensed it wasn’t an easy subject, so I dropped it. I had ways to find that out on my own anyway.

“You have a boyfriend?” Living alone didn’t mean she wasn’t seeing anyone.

Her mouth—her very fuckable mouth—compressed but I spotted the flicker of anguished fury in her eyes. The kind that came from a nasty betrayal. “No. I don’t have a boyfriend. If I did, I wouldn’t—” She stopped short.

“What? Have sex toys?” I shrugged. “That could indicate a voracious appetite, not the absence of a sex life. Although I’m guessing you’re not the kind of girl to wrap your legs around a man’s waist and rub your pussy so beautifully against his cock if you belonged to another?”

“God, you’re unbelievable,” she said under her breath.

“I’m plain-speaking. There’s a difference, sweetheart.” Mixed signals led to complications. After Kirsten, I wasn’t prepared to take that risk.

“When was your last relationship, casual or otherwise?” I pressed. It was obvious I would need to pry every piece of info from her.

Her gaze dropped, and she toyed with the tableware. “Eight months ago.”

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