Stranger's Promise

t as bitter. Anika Cole leaned back in her leather desk chair, watching the downpour slap hard against the g

rk late. Lock emotions i

sk. Deadlines didn't care if your heart was bruised or your ex-fiancé had ru

ne startled her.

uilding entrance. No umbrella, soaked to the bone, motionless. His face was hidden bene

't pacing, begging, or talking to himself like the

e intercom to call s

. Straight a

fluttered

ater, the pow

she passed the front glass door of her office, thunder cracked

e. On the steps

mpletely unfazed, like he belonged there. Their eyes met through the glass.

ists. "Nope," she muttere

deep voice rumbled throug

on downstairs. I figur

a fr

id he get insi

ck, just enough to speak

slid ba

what she

s you couldn't forget-cold steel with a flicker of something dangerous behind them. A thin

calm. T

id, stepping back respectfully. "You left

or?" she aske

ied. "But I w

"At 11:30, in a storm

f smile. "I l

ade he

like none of it mattered. Like she didn't have a dozen que

didn't say

ver his shoulder with a

s staying long enoug

at, he disappear

rway long after he was

't have in

he

w this wasn't the la