Wrapped In Red. Sherelle Green

this place than when you left it.”

      Nomi shrugged. “I always knew you were astute.”

      Oh yeah, she hadn’t changed. Problem was, he hadn’t changed either, so she still had the power to make him a little nervous. “So if you hate it so much, then what are you doing back here? At Christmastime no less. Surely someone else could have come. I seem to recall you saying you’d rather have your fingernails torn out.”

      “Hey, the night is still young.” With a small laugh she added, “Hopefully, I’ll be in and out. If my career trajectory didn’t depend on it, I wouldn’t be here encroaching on your Christmas holiday.”

      Once at his BMW, he unlocked and opened the passenger door for her, then deposited her bag in the trunk before sliding behind the wheel.

      “You’re not encroaching, Nomi. I’m happy to help. And since you won’t be able to rent a car anywhere in a thirty-mile radius, I can take you anywhere you need to go.” This situation wasn’t ideal. The last thing he wanted her to do was find out he was Nolan Polk, at least until he was sure he could trust her. This way he could find out what she was really after.

      She turned in her seat to study him. As her gaze slid over his face, he bit back the sudden compulsion to kiss her. She always had that unnerving way of looking at someone directly, clear to the soul.

      “You seriously don’t need to do that. I can manage.”

      “Independent to the bone. But be reasonable. You’ll need help. I’m offering.”

      “I—” Nomi shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t even know what I’m looking for. You’d be signing up for what amounts to a wild-goose chase.”

      There was no way he was letting her roam around asking questions. Not so much that he feared she’d actually find anything, but more that he wanted to keep her close. Maybe Jilly was right, and she was the same old Nomi, and he could trust her. But then maybe she cared more about her bottom line than anything else. The only way to know was to keep her close.

      “Look, I get it. You like to do everything on your own. But help from a local can’t be a bad thing.”

      “I don’t want to keep you from anything. I’d feel terrible. And it’s the holiday. I’m sure you have family obligations. A girlfriend. Somebody is going to need you. I got this.”

      His breathing slowed. Did she just ask if he had a girlfriend? “Right now you need me. Family is fine and no girlfriend. Why can’t you just accept help?”

      She ducked her head. “I guess I’ve never been very good at it. I’d rather count on myself.”

      Only with a Herculean effort did he manage to keep his gaze from flickering to her chest. “Can’t have that, now, can we? Besides, my mother and Jilly would have my hide if I didn’t help you. You’re practically family.” Shit, way to put it out there.

      She blinked, then again. “Uh, whatever the reason, I appreciate it. And any return favor, just name it.”

      “Am I taking you to your parents’ house?”

      She shook her head vehemently. “God, no. I haven’t seen either of them in a year, and birthday conversations were awkward enough without me being under their roof. Besides, I’m not staying for the holidays, so there’s really no point of letting them know I’m here.”

      “So where to, if not your parents’?”

      “Resplendence Inn,” she said absently.

      She was staying there? That was the most expensive hotel in town. Vacationing celebrities looking for a Norman Rockwell Christmas had put Faith on the map. The town had become a booming tourist destination, and with that had come development. Resplendence was one of the newer boutique hotels. “Nice place.”

      She shrugged. “The magazine booked it.”

      “So what exactly do you want Nolan Polk for?”

      Her morose mood lifted the second she started talking about her job. “Sassy magazine is having their twentieth-anniversary issue and we’re doing a women in beauty spread. But not like the usual bullshit stuff that the other magazines do featuring photoshopped celebrities who don’t even look like that. Or just the western aesthetic. We wanted to capture real women around the world. This Polk guy, you should see his work. He does the most moving and intimate candid portraits. I think you’d like his stuff. You used to be into photography, if I remember correctly?”

      Used to. “Yeah. I dabbled.”

      She narrowed her gaze. “You more than dabbled, from what I remember. Didn’t you win a competition or two? I always thought you’d leave here and travel the world with your pictures.”

      And he had. Or at least that was before he’d had his heart ripped out and come home to lick his wounds. “Well, funny thing is, there is no place like home.” The last thing he wanted was for her to dig further about him, so he changed the subject. “So what’s going on? You lost your artist?”

      “I didn’t lose him, exactly. He just doesn’t want to be found. Little does he know I don’t give up on anything. Ever. And I need to find him before Amber does. If she finds him first and convinces him to give her a photo, then she gets my promotion.”

      “Who’s Amber?”

      “My nemesis who works at the magazine. She’s in town looking for Nolan, too, and she’s had a head start.”

      Damn, there was someone else looking for him? How was he supposed to keep two of them at bay? “So, what? You plan on finding him and convincing him to be part of this spread?”

      “Short answer, yes. But more than that, I feel like I get him. I wish I could explain, but his photos, they do something to me. They make me feel something. I want him to know I understand him and that Sassy isn’t going to exploit his work. I’m hoping that appeals to him. My job depends on it.”

      “You do have this way of manifesting what you want. I mean, look at you. You always talked about working for a fancy magazine. And now you are.”

      Her gaze narrowed. “You remember that?”

      “Just because you barely noticed me doesn’t mean I didn’t notice you.” He pulled into the hotel’s parking lot in front of the valet stand. Not giving her a chance to respond, he was out of the car quickly, pulling her luggage out of the trunk and beating the valet to her door to open it. He needed to stop blurting things out around her.

      She accepted his proffered hand. “Thanks, Linc. I have it from here.”

      Yeah, he should probably just head home, but he wasn’t ready to say good-night yet. “If it’s just the same, I’ll make sure you’re settled in. Jilly would have my head if I didn’t.”

      She silently studied him for a minute, then her gaze shifted to his mouth. Linc’s heart tripped into full gallop. With their breath lingering between them in puffs of visible air, his blood hummed just under his skin. But then her gaze shifted away and the moment was gone.

      He led her inside to the lobby and she shifted from foot to foot in her boots. “I don’t even have the words to thank you.”

      “It was just a pickup from the train station. No big deal.”

      She winced. “Well, and helping me find Nolan Polk. I owe you.”

      Cocking his head, he said, “Let me just add that to your tab.”

      At check-in, she gave her name and the desk agent searched for her name. He took that time to drink in his fill of Nomi. Sure, he’d be seeing her a lot over the next couple of days, but he wanted the unfiltered Nomi, who didn’t have her walls up.

      “I’m sorry, Miss Adams, but your reservation was cancelled.”

      Nomi’s head snapped up and she glared at the registration attendant.