I head for the barrier beside reception, swipe my card, and wait for the familiar click.
“Hi Chloe,” Beckett says. “You’re late.”
“I’ve been working,” I say.
Movement flickers in my peripheral vision. The man is back on his feet, newspaper in hand. He lifts it, angling the page towards his face, then looks at me. Back to the paper. Back to me.
“You,” he says, pointing at my photo at the top of the column. “I’m here to see you.”
I stop and turn fully now, meeting his gaze. His piercing blue eyes are glaring at me.
“Then you should probably start with your name.”
If he thinks I take his shit, he can sod off.
Chapter 2
Tom
Ibreathe in. Thenout. Slowly. Through my nose. Like a man who is absolutely fine and not one misplaced word away from being bodily removed from a newspaper building.
The security guard gets out of his chair.
That does not help.
He rises to his full height and I notice, with instant clarity, that he could pick me up and use me to clean the ceiling if the mood struck him. Six foot five, built like a wardrobe with opinions. I dial it back immediately. This is not the hill to die on. Not tonight.
Chloe turns properly to face me.
Chloe Ingram. She is not what I expected.
She isn’t flustered or defensive or doing that guilty little shuffle people do when they know they’ve upset someone important. She’s calm. Annoyingly so. Like she’s stepped into this exact situation before and already knows how it ends.
“Then you should probably start with your name,” she says.
“Tom,” I reply.
She waits, eyebrow lifting just enough to make it clear that will not do.
“Tom Philips,” I add. “I own La Cucina di Rosa.”
Something clicks into place behind her eyes. Not shock. Recognition.
“Ah,” she says. “Italian.”
“Yes.”
“And passionate,” she adds lightly.
“About certain things,” I say. “Particularly when they’re described as watery.”
Her lips part. Then she closes them again, head tilting slightly.
“Right,” she says. “That.”
I lift the paper. “This morning. Front of the food section.”
She glances at it, then back at me. “I was wondering why you looked like you might combust.”
