it would.”
Soberly, she nodded. “Then no, I don’t like it at all. It’s absolutely terrible how you’re suffering.”
He gave her a rueful smile. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been teased. Usually people—women—were wary around him. They spoke softly and moved slowly, as if he were a live grenade about to go off. Not Charlie. And while he never wanted to see this diner again, he was actually having a good time.
Something he hadn’t expected. He’d only thought about how to get her talking. To spilling secrets, if she had any. But if she had those secrets, they were still her own. Which meant that he’d be spending more time with her.
A plan he didn’t have a problem with.
When her son rubbed at his eyes with tiny fists, Charlie said, “I have to get him home to bed.”
“It’s barely eight.”
Tipping her head to look at him, she said, “Babies go to bed earlier than we do.”
“Oh, right.” Idiot. He signaled the waitress for the bill and took care of it while Charlie cleaned up her son. Once they were ready, he stood up and Charlie lifted the little boy from the high chair.
Instantly, Jake held out both pudgy arms to Vance.
Vance stared at the boy for a long moment. The baby’s hair was practically standing on end. There was a food stain on his I love Mommy T-shirt. And his dark blue eyes were fixed on Vance as if he were Santa and the Easter Bunny rolled into one. He’d never been around babies much and hadn’t really missed the experience. Until tonight, Vance would have said he had zero interest in kids altogether.
But this baby seemed … different, somehow. Certainly quieter than the other kids in the diner. It was younger, softer and it had a dimple in its left cheek, just like its mother.
“Jake …” Charlie was clearly surprised by her son’s move and, frankly, so was Vance. But who was he to argue? He reached for the boy, tucked him against his chest and headed for the front door, Charlie trailing behind.
The baby laid his head down on Vance’s shoulder and, despite his best efforts, something inside Vance melted.
“I cannot believe I had to hear this from Justin! Did you lose your phone again?”
“No,” Charlie said, laughing. “I haven’t lost my phone in almost two years, thanks. And I was going to tell you but—”
“You were too busy dating your boss?”
Charlie had a feeling that Katie’s stunned expression was probably an echo of her own. Heck, she had lived through last night and she was still feeling the shock. After dinner the night before, Vance had hailed a cab to take Jake and her home. The surprise was when Vance had joined them for the trip.
Jake had fallen asleep on the way home, cuddled comfortably against Vance’s broad chest. Though she’d offered to take the baby from him, Vance had held the boy all the way to her apartment. And for a moment or two, Charlie had actually been envious of her son.
Being with Vance in the quiet of the cab had been … nice. They talked as the city whizzed past in a stream of subdued noise and neon color and when they were finally at the small apartment she called home, Vance had walked her to her door, handed Jake to her and said good-night.
“I can’t believe this,” Katie was saying in an awed, hushed tone. “You do know the whole building’s talking about this.”
“Thank you, Justin,” Charlie said on a sigh.
“Well, even if he hadn’t told, you never could have kept this a secret for long. You have to know that.”
“I suppose so.” She frowned and said, “I don’t think Vance even cares if people know.”
“Vance?” Katie repeated that one word in a dumbfounded tone. “You call him Vance?”
“‘Mr. Waverly’ seemed a little formal for a date.”
Her friend shook her head slowly. “A date. With your boss.”
“Are you getting past that anytime soon?”
“I don’t think so,” Katie admitted, then shifted on the stone bench to look at her. “Did he kiss you?”
Charlie’s mind slipped back to the night before. When her apartment door was open and the light from inside was slanted across Vance’s face as he looked down at her. There had been a sort of expectant hush hanging in the air between them. He bent down, she leaned in toward him and for one heart-stopping moment, she was just a breath away from being kissed. But then Jake woke up with a cry and the cab driver honked impatiently and the moment was gone. Probably for the best. She was sure that was a date Vance would never want repeated, so why indulge in any more fantasies?
“No.”
“Well, that sucks.” Frowning, the tiny redhead with bright green eyes grumbled, “And how did I miss all this excitement?”
Charlie shook her head and grinned at her friend. Katie lived in an apartment upstairs from her and most mornings they rode the subway into work together. In fact, it was Katie who had helped Charlie get the apartment in her building. “You weren’t home last night for me to tell and this morning you came in early, so we didn’t get a chance to talk on the train.”
“All true. Still. Dating your boss. It’s sort of sexy, unless,” she added with a shudder, “it’s my boss.”
“I think Vance was just being nice.”
“Uh-huh. He took you and Jake to dinner, then brought you all the way home to Queens just to be nice. Sure, I buy that.”
Frowning, Charlie took a sip of her iced tea and studied the faces of the people hurrying down Fifth Avenue. They often brought their lunch out here to sit and watch the city go by. It was hot, steamy and the lunchtime lines at the food carts were busy. Even in the summer heat, it was nice to get out of the building for a while and rejoin humanity.
Especially now, when Charlie was doing everything she could to avoid thinking about her blackmailer. She’d received another email threat just that morning and the message was burned into her brain.
No more stalling, it had said. Get those files or risk losing your son.
She was running out of time and was no closer to knowing what to do about it. She couldn’t steal files. And she couldn’t not steal them. Lose her job, lose her son. It was a vicious circle with no way of winning.
“Katie,” she said abruptly, turning her head to look at her friend, “have you heard anything about Rothschild’s lately?”
“Like what?”
“Anything.”
Katie shrugged. “A couple of people are talking about that article in the paper. You know, the bit about Ms. Richardson and Dalton Rothschild. Did they or didn’t they? But I mean, who cares? If they did, it’s not as if she would have
