“By Drex.”

Her heart gave a telltale bump. She’d returned home from their encounter in the parking garage shaken to her core by what he’d professed, by the kiss. She’d taken a mild sedative in the hope of sleeping off the conflicting emotions that assailed her. They’d run the gamut from fury—how dare he?—to shame. Even now, she felt the tingling, throbbing effects of that kiss.

She looked in the direction of the garage apartment and remembered standing at the living area window, looking through the branches of the live oak, and realizing that the rooms on the back of their house were open to his view. “Why would you think he’s watching us?”

“Let’s sit.” There was enough ambient light for them to see their way around. They sat adjacent to each other at the dining table. “I think Drex Easton is a fraud at best. At worst…doesn’t bear thinking.”

“Jasper—”

“Hear me out.”

Her heart was beating abnormally fast. Her hands had turned cold and clammy, made even more noticeable when Jasper reached for her right one and clasped it between his.

He said, “Elaine told me she’s reading Drex’s book, and that it’s dreadful.”

“She said that?”

“She put it a bit more kindly.”

“Does she intend to tell him that?”

“Elaine wouldn’t be that blunt. Even if she were, I don’t think he gives a damn about her opinion or anyone else’s. I don’t think he’s a writer at all.”

“But he works at it. I’ve seen him. So have you.”

He gave his head a hard shake. “He’s pretending. He’s only posing to be a writer until he finds someone, specifically a woman of Elaine’s ilk, to support him.”

While she didn’t want to believe it, she herself had virtually accused Drex of having those intentions. “He has been tight-lipped about his work.”

“About everything.”

“But why a writer? If he’s going for seduction, there are occupations much more fascinating and exhilarating.”

“But not as easy to emulate. It’s one occupation where he doesn’t have to exhibit any notable skills. All he has to do is sit on his ass all day.”

“I’ve seen him working. The day I went over to give him the list of restaurants, he was immersed in something on his computer.”

“Are you sure it was his novel?”

“He said it was.”

“Did you see what was on the monitor?”

“No. He closed the laptop.”

“He could have been immersed in pornography. Online poker. Anything.” He looked down at the hand he held in his. “Speaking of that day, Talia, did anything improper happen while you were over there?”

“No.”

He lifted his gaze to hers. It was an effort for her to stare back without blinking. She could practically feel the brush of Drex’s thumb against the corner of her mouth.

“The reason I ask,” Jasper said, “is because Elaine also told me there was a strain between Drex and you last night, a hostility that became more palpable as the evening progressed. Was she imagining that?”

“No.”

He looked at her as though expecting her to elaborate.

“I’m thirsty.” Withdrawing her hand, she got up and went to the fridge. “Would you like a bottle of water?”

“No thank you.”

She returned to the table with one, twisted off the cap, and took a drink.

“Talia? How do you explain this tension between you and Drex?”

“He brought up Key West. Not in a random way, either. And he wouldn’t drop the subject.”

“Yes, I know.”

She jerked to attention.

“I heard all about it from Elaine. Nothing of it from you. Why didn’t you tell me this the moment you got home last night?”

“Because whenever the subject of Marian arises, we both become upset. Drex’s persistence unnerved me, but, in hindsight, I believe he only mentioned Key West in the context of wanting to visit the Hemingway house. Nothing more.”

Jasper sat as still as a stone, but he wasn’t as contained as he seemed. She could hear each deep inhale through his nose, each exhale. “I’m not so sure. Elaine said he pestered you with questions.”

“I told him I didn’t particularly like the place, he prodded me to tell him why. Rapid-fire questions. It was as though…”

“What?”

“It felt like he was trying to spark a reaction, make me blurt out something.”

“Do you think he knows something about Marian?”

“No. Maybe, Jasper.” She withdrew her hand from his and used it to rub her forehead. “I don’t know.”

“He’s living next door, Talia,” he hissed. “I should have known about this immediately.”

“I didn’t tell you because I predicted you would respond exactly as you are. You’re jumping to a conclusion that has no real basis. You’ve mistrusted Drex from the start.”

“As it turns out, with good reason.”

“We don’t know that!” she exclaimed in a stage whisper. “His mention of Key West triggered a response from me, and he noticed. I tried to shoot the topic down.”

“But he persisted.”

“Only to be obnoxious. Honestly, I think that’s all there was to it.”

And she did. Because this morning Drex had dismissed the idea of going there any time soon, and there hadn’t seemed to be an ulterior motive to his mentioning it. In fact, she’d started the exchange by asking about his proposed trip.

But she couldn’t tell Jasper about that conversation without telling him that Drex had followed her to the medical building. Knowing about that would reinforce his suspicion.

He’d been ruminating and now said, “Key West came up toward the conclusion of the evening. Elaine picked up on antagonistic vibes as soon as you arrived at her townhouse.”

“I had told him about Elaine’s history with men, of her falling hard and getting hurt. I warned him against romancing her. Last night, he flaunted that he was doing just that. He was positively oily.”

“How did Elaine respond?”

“As expected. She was eating out of his hand.”

Elaine’s receptiveness to his flirtation came as no surprise. What Talia couldn’t reconcile was the man she’d been with this morning and the Casanova of last night, who had irritated her no end.

Now, however, it seemed like a caricature, a part overplayed, and which had led to nothing. Because if he had so much as kissed Elaine before she’d arrived at the townhouse, Elaine would have found an opportunity by now to describe it to her with enthusiasm and in minute detail.

No, he hadn’t kissed Elaine. He had wasted the romantic staging in Elaine’s living room and, instead, had kissed her in a parking garage, a setting hardly conducive to romance. He might have been role-playing last night, but there hadn’t been any artifice in his manner this morning. He’d been all too real. Every aspect of him. His anguish. It’s making me crazy. Certainly his desire. I’m damn well going to make it count.

And he had. With fervency and finesse, he had penetrated more than her mouth. He had tapped into a deep-seated loneliness she hadn’t realized was so acute until his own raw need had roused it and caused within her a strong tug of yearning. She could never be alone with him again.