His for the Taking by Julie Cohen

into my ear, she thought, and then nearly smacked herself on the forehead.
    Was there some sort of pill or lotion you could take for getting rid of lust?
    ‘Oh, I’ll take any old place as long as it’s not in the gutter,’ she said breezily. ‘Though I’ve been in some pretty nice gutters over the years, too. Anyway, you never answered my question: what are you planning to do today?’
    He didn’t sit up, but he switched his contemplative look from his boots to her. ‘The next logical step is searching your great-aunt’s apartment for signs of him. Looking in her desk, her letters and bills for mentions of his name, things like that.’
    Anger flushed up in her. And here she’d thought the guy had principles.
    ‘No,’ Zoe said immediately. ‘Xenia was a private person. She didn’t ask questions about me and I didn’t ask questions about her. I’m not going to start going through her stuff just because she’s dead. And if you think I’m going to let you, a stranger, paw through her private papers—’
    ‘That’s fine,’ Nick interrupted.
    Zoe stopped mid-flow. ‘It’s what?’
    ‘It’s fine. I understand how going through your great-aunt’s stuff would be an invasion of her privacy. I’ll have to find another way of finding out her connection to my dad.’
    Zoe couldn’t believe it.
    ‘What about that whole “I’ll do whatever it takes to find my father” line?’
    ‘I guess I won’t do whatever it takes. If I would, I would’ve gone through her study last night when you were asleep.’
    She narrowed her eyes. Was he trying to tell her he’d done that very thing? And he wasn’t putting up a fight now because he’d already found out what he needed?
    And yet she remembered her instinct on the doorstep that he wouldn’t harm her, angry as he was. The way he’d distracted her from sadness. How he’d floored her this morning with the three words ‘I trust you’.
    Life and the city had made Zoe suspicious. It only took one moment with your guard down to get it in the back, or worse.
    But Nick was looking rueful, and he was rubbing his chin as if he felt foolish. Every instinct Zoe had was telling her this guy didn’t have a false bone in his body.
    ‘All right,’ she said softly. ‘Thank you.’
    Nick nodded. ‘Sure. So what are your plans today?’
    ‘When I woke up, my plan was to sit here and stare you out until you got the hell out of the apartment. I was going to throw the cutlery at you, if necessary.’
    ‘But things have changed,’ Nick said.
    ‘But things have changed,’ she agreed. Though they had changed less than Nick probably thought. The revelation that he trusted her and that she trusted him meant it was even more urgent that she get rid of him as soon as she could.
    And it looked as if the only way to do that was to help him find his father.
    ‘I’ve got an appointment in half an hour to see Xenia’s lawyer,’ she said. ‘He’s going to go through the will. You should probably come along to see if it has any mention of your dad.’
    Nick suddenly sat up straight. ‘That’s a great idea. Thanks.’ He stood, unzipped his backpack, and pulled out a blue piece of clothing. Then he reached down and pulled his T-shirt up over his head.
    Zoe gasped, and immediately snapped her mouth shut.
    Nick’s bare chest was spectacular.
    In the split second before she turned her eyes away the sight of him was burned into her vision. He had broad shoulders and golden skin stretched over perfectly developed muscles. She could see and name them all: deltoids, pectorals, abdominals, obliques, every one of them defined and firm. A line of dark hair went from his navel downwards under the waistband of his jeans.
    ‘God,’ she muttered. She stared at the thumbscrews on the wall, thinking about torture.
    ‘What is this, a strip show?’ she managed to say at last.
    ‘I thought I should put on nicer clothes if we’re going to a lawyer’s office,’ Nick said, and she risked a