Need You Now (1001 Dark Nights)(29)

“Open up, Danny.”

“What do you want to do?” the cab driver demands.

“Roll it down half way.”

“The meter is running.”

“That’s fine,” I say.

He rolls the window down. “What the hell are you doing?” Jensen demands.

“I heard you talking on your patio.”

His jaw clenches. “I said nothing I wouldn’t say in front of you.”

“Of course you say that, and really it doesn’t matter. I started...I’m not making this business. We aren’t business and it is business. I can’t be a token.”

“You aren’t. Baby, listen to me. You rock my world. I’m protecting you and yes, I’m playing games with the people involved to get the right end result. But that’s the result you want, too.”

“Because it’s war.”

“Yes. Because it’s war.”

“Your war, Jensen.”

“I’m confused. I made sure you can go on to medical school. What did I do wrong?”

“You took care of me,” I say, repeating his words. “Like I was a problem you needed to buy off and go away. I don’t want your money.”

“It’s not like that. You misinterpreted what you heard. Let me explain.”

“You’ll convince me you’re right and I don’t want to be convinced.” I turn to the driver. “Go.”

The car starts to move and Jensen moves with it. “I told you, if you run, I’ll come after you.”

I don’t turn and look back. If I do, I might forget that a wolf in the bedroom is all pleasure, but a girl really does need a Prince Charming. Or to be alone. Alone is safe and I’m good at it. Jensen was my escape, a fairy tale to tell one day, an interlude like a story in The Arabian Nights. It was hot. It was an adventure. But it was never meant to see the light of day.





Part Eleven: Prince Charming



It’s Friday night, three weeks after I’d left Jensen in Florida, and while I don’t have a check from him for six months pay, and I doubt I ever will, or even a new full-time job yet, I have some great leads. In the meantime, I’m enduring a short-term waitstaff job.

I’m just dressing for work in a black skirt and white button-down shirt when my cell phone buzzes with a text. I grab it and squeeze my eyes shut, telling myself to stop wishing Jensen would contact me. This isn’t him. He’s not going to call or come after me. He didn’t even call the night I left Florida to return home to New York.

I glance at the text and disappointment fills me as I see Katie’s picture message of a live concert. It’s captioned with “wish you were here.” My gut twists a little and I type “me too,” and I mean it. I need someone I care about right now, and when she’d given me an invite to the Los Angeles show her new hubby was putting on, it had been tempting. I didn’t dare spend the money or time it would have demanded, though, especially not when Meredith is also silent, refusing to take my calls or my visits for “legal reasons” as I’m told by her new assistant. And despite the promise “a check is in the mail” there has been no check. I’m not holding my breath on that one and taking the money feels kind of dirty now, but I’m not sure if I’d return it if it arrived. I worked hard for Meredith and tried to protect her. To be shut out is painful.

A knock sounds on the door and I rush forward, prepared for a visit from Elizabeth, the little girl next door who is set to deliver my Girl Scout cookies I’d bought yesterday. I try not to think about a certain failed “Boy Scout” and wolf as I rest my hand on the knob. Sure enough, I open up and find a cutie pie with red pigtails at my door.

She offers me an envelope. I frown and accept. “This doesn’t look like Thin Mints.”

“Mom’s getting the orders split up now. That just came for you. Some man downstairs asked us to deliver it as we were coming home.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

Elizabeth leaves and I walk to the kitchen counter and open the envelope. Inside is cash. Lots of cash. I pull out a copy of my signed contract. There’s a handwritten note attached that reads, “It’s cash. If you want to return it, you’ll have to see me in person. Jensen.” There’s an address at the bottom.

A rush of emotions that seem to span a rainbow crash over me, and I press my hands to the counter and let my chin lower to my chest. I don’t know what to think or what to do. A knock sounds on the door and I force myself to move, certain it’s the cookies, and I need to grab them and go to work. I’m not going to be tardy and lose my job even if I keep the money. I have time until medical school to make extra money.

Swallowing the cotton in my throat, I walk to the door and open it. I gasp. Jensen is standing there in a dark suit, his red tie loose, and his dark, thick hair ready for any woman’s fingers. “How did you get into the building?”

“I bought two dozen Girl Scout cookies.” He steps inside without an invitation, crowding me, his hands coming down on my waist, his foot kicking the door shut. “I couldn’t stay away. I tried. I knew I lived in a world you hate, but I need more of your world in mine.”

“I don’t know, Jensen. I—”

His mouth comes down on mine, his tongue stroking deeply, and I moan, so very weak that my arms wrap his neck to keep me from falling. “You used me,” I accuse.