Page 16 of Never Say Never

"I'm not standing you up, I'm on my way."

"Dad, where are you going?"

"You look handsome and smell good."

Two distinctive light voices fluttered over the line before York's deeper one came through.

"Out, girls."

"But, Dad." There was some whining and hardcore negotiating before York came on the line.

I slowed down before I got in an accident.

"Sorry about that," York said.

Worry, an unfamiliar feeling, twisted and turned in the pit of my stomach. "You aren't standing me up are you?"

"What?"

My fingers thrummed against the steering wheel. I refused to acknowledge it was nerves; it was all the caffeine I had pumping through me. Nothing more. I never got nervous, not with women, men, or anyone in between.

"No, I'm not. I was letting you know my nanny needed to go out for something really quickly, so I'm going to be a bit late."

The relief that rushed through me all at once had everything to do with me getting closer to York for information and not because I was actually looking forward to dinner.

"Good, I thought I'd have to beg,” I said.

"You beg? Maybe I still want to hear it."

I groaned, he shouldn't flirt with me like this. "No, you wouldn't."

York chuckled and it filled my entire car. Warmth tingled through each of my limbs. If I wasn't who I was and he was anyone else in this world, I might actually attempt to possess him.

But the world didn't work that way. I looked at the clock. "How far is your place from the upper west side?"

"About forty minutes depending on traffic."

"I'll pick you up."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why? I won't come up if you're nervous about me meeting your kids." Still couldn't believe he was a dad. Picturing my hardass boss as a loving and doting father wasn’t difficult. If anything it fit him even more. He probably spoiled them rotten.

"I don't invite people over."

"I'm not people. You know me." The fake me, anyway.

York's silence filled the car. I pulled over, waiting for his answer and hoping he'd say yes. No one had York's address; it wasn't on file. Everything about my boss was a damn secret, but I was already learning more about him than anyone else. It shouldn't tickle the darker side of me, the one that relished in blood and screams of my enemies, but it did. I had parts of York that no one else had access to.

"Paul, I don't know. My girls are my entire life, and work is already dangerous. I keep it separate from my private life for a reason."

Shit, I needed to get him off this train of thought. He was bound to cancel the dinner if he continued down the twisted route of safety and boundaries.

"I promise to stay in the car and wait for you. You don't have to tell me your actual address. We won't even go far for dinner. I'll pick a place on your side of town."

York was quiet again. Nerves made me twitchy, my fingers steadily drumming like I was waiting on my dream prom date to say yes after building up the courage to ask. Although, getting a date for prom hadn't been hard for me. Gin and I had swooped in and taken two girls each. It had been a night of reckless abandonment. Thinking of my twin made me miss him terribly. If I didn't know staying undercover was saving him in the long run, I'd give up and go back.

"York—"