“You’re early,” I said.
“It’s seven.”
“I was establishing dominance.”
“How’s that going?”
“Poorly.”
His mouth curved.
I grabbed my clutch and stepped out before my house could become a crime scene. Nick’s palm settled at my lower back on the walk to his rental SUV, warm through the thin silk and steady enough to make my fingers useless. At the passenger door, he released me only long enough to open it.
Mar Azul sat on the water where the bay caught the last of the day in strips of copper and violet, with palms moving in the warm breeze and a boat engine humming low beyond the patio.
Nick took the chair with his back to the wall, and when I lifted an eyebrow, he lifted one back. Fine.
The server poured water. The glasses sweated instantly. Lime and salt and grilled fish threaded through the air, mixed with expensive perfume from the next table and the briny sweetness of the Gulf.
He ordered the wine without asking me to choose, which should have annoyed me and absolutely did not.
He told me about Sofia’s homecoming without making it sentimental: the black dress because “school spirit shouldn’t require chromatic surrender,” the approved jacket, the two permitted photos, and the parking-lot hug she protested before holding on longer than either of them expected.
Nick said that last part while looking at his water glass.
I took a sip of wine and gave him the privacy of not answering too quickly.
“She sounds like you,” I said.
“Her mother would object.”
“Would she be wrong?”
“No.”
A smile pulled at my mouth. He watched it happen, then looked down at his glass, turning the stem once between his fingers.
“If you were looking for a rental in Maris Key,” he said, “where would you start?”
My pulse changed. Not fast. Not dramatic. Just aware.
“For you?”
“Yes.”
The single word landed with more weight than one syllable had any right to carry.
“Close to the office,” I said carefully. “But not too close.”
His eyes came back to mine. “That was my thought.”
“Room for Sofia.”
“Yes.”
“And close enough to make Tampa easy when Sofia flies in.”
“Yes.”
