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ONE

New York, the city that never slept James Wolfe never slept either—at least not in planes, trains or autohts, horrendous delays and now traffic at a tione more than forty hours without and was about to flip Only a few more minutes and he could fall into bed His bed—no hostel bunk, no hotel bed, no hastily built bivvy in a newly popped-up tent city He couldn’t wait He willed the traffic to part to let the taxi keep onTo take him home

‘You been travelling?’

Given the cabbie had picked him up from the airport, this was obvious But Janised hi rude Uncomfortable as it was, public attention was now part of the deal So he nodded and tried to speak But the words wouldn’t co-out mind

‘Can’t talk about it, huh?’

James slowly shook his head

‘You look beat’ The cabbie didn’t seem to expect a reply to that

Finally the car pulled up outside his apart Given all he had was a sed the ‘no thanks’ with a se

‘If you knoho I aood for it’ Ja with the dollars fro the late shift You probably need to get paid’ His family probably needed him to

The cabbie reluctantly nodded ‘Any tio anywhere’ He took the cash and handed James his card ‘Thanks, man You’re—’

Jaot out of the cab before he could hear it He didn’t want to be that good guy, that ‘hero’ All he was, at this point in time, was tired

He waved a hand at the security guy, then took the elevator up to his floor The wave of exhaustion rose right along with the floor numbers Bone-deep relief hit as he quietly went into the condo and dropped his bag just inside the door He didn’t bother switching the lights on, the dimness soothed his tired eyes It took the to see anyway The place had been stripped bare, ready to be co off his boots as he went and unbuckling his belt and stepping out of his trousers There was only one place he was headed and he was going straight there He slowly hauled up the internal stairs, hoping his instructions had been carried out That on the top level he’d find his bedroom and

en-suite bathroom fully refitted, furnished, finished Ready for occupation

Two seconds later he stood at the foot of the bed, rubbing his raw eyes But they weren’t deceiving hi, brand-new bed with acres of soft-looking white coverings He felt the thick pile of a luxurious rug under his bare feet He was certain that if he looked, his bathroo else looking glea and perfect: a woht in the e bed

She’d left the blinds open so the city lights gave the roo blonde hair was spread enticingly in a swathe over the pillow A golden beauty in his bed Goldilocks herself

He was drea

He glanced around There was no bag No clothes anywhere The rest of the room was pristine There was just that too pretty, random woman in his bed

Definitely drea

Real life wouldn’t be so cruel to have her actually there Not at a ether No chance of talking, let alone doing any of the other things suddenly running through his head

Ah, hell He was overtired and had gone without sex too long and now his -waiting’ fantasy

He blinked a couple more times but the vision didn’t dissipate He cleared his throat She remained still

Testing, he spoke His voice rough and loeetheart, wake up’

She didn’t wake, but the faintest of furrows appeared between her eyebrows

Huh, fantasy girl reacted

So did his body Hell, she was gorgeous But this couldn’t be He ached to be unconscious

‘Ti, ale to shatter Maybe she could stay asleep and he could crawl in beside her He only needed a few hours’ shut-eye, then he’d be up to talkingand taking

But her eyes shot open He saw her focus quickly, right on hi the sheet to her chest Her lips re to scream But no sound came out

It was Jaed in the audible breath His attention arrowed to her full, shiny lips In the diloss Flavoured? Maybe cherry or vanilla? He did like vanilla Yeah, it had been ay too long if he was off sidetracking like this

‘Who are you?’ he asked, rougher than he meant to

Big, slumberous blue eyes blinked back at him Her blonde hair tumbled about her sweetheart-shaped face She looked warm and flushed and ready A beautifully pliant, silken, te woman

‘Who are you?’ he repeated, almost plaintively This so wasn’t fair If this was a dreay

‘What do you want?’ she asked, her voice husky

‘Uh’ Dear heaven, this just had to be a drea to do whatever he wanted? Asking hiht now’

She stared at hi moment He noticed her shoulders eased as she spoke with a breathy sigh ‘You’re James’

She knew that? She whispered his name in that honeyed-tone?

Pure fantasy

‘Yeah and I’eous as you areas good as I know you’d beit’s not going to happen tonight’ No e it