“Very good choice, sir. This must be a very special occasion.” He left with a wink at Angel.

“You know, Alex, that could probably feed a small village in Africa for a year.”

“I doubt that there is much nutritional value in wine, certainly not enough for an entire year,” he mocked with a gentle smirk.

“You know what I mean.” Angel rolled her eyes.

“If you will enjoy the evening more, if I agree to feed a village in Africa for a year, consider it done. Now… can we move on?”

Angel laughed despite herself. The look on his face was adorable, and she had to kick herself mentally to keep her wits about her. “What do you want to talk about, then?”

“Tell me about yourself—your home and family. Where did you grow up?”

Dustin brought the first course of crusted bay scallops and corn soup with crab. “Thank you, Dustin. This looks delicious,” Angel smiled up at the young man and he beamed at her.

“My pleasure. Enjoy,” Dustin said and promptly left.

Alex picked up his fork. “So?”

“So, it’s boring. Nothing like your glamorous upbringing, I’m sure.”

“Tell me. I want to know.”

“Well, I grew up in a small town in the middle of Missouri. Nothing much to tell. It was just my father and me. My mother left when I was only six.”

Alex remembered from the cover letter with Bancroft’s file that her mother was in Texas, but since he hadn’t explored it, he didn’t know more. Sadness briefly crossed Angel’s features, and Alex quickly changed the subject.

“So, no siblings.” It was a statement, rather than a question.

“No. You?”

“Yes. I have an older brother and younger sister.”

“How come your brother isn’t working at Avery Enterprises with you?”

Alex’s eyebrow went up and Angel had the grace to flush.

“Er… Christina Googled you.” She wrinkled her face. “Sorry.”

He put a scallop in his mouth as he watched her quizzically. “I see.”

“Look, I was on the phone with you when she did it. I specifically resisted doing it myself.” Angel felt a hot rush in her cheeks as his eyes narrowed and then he smiled, obviously pleased that she would wonder about him as he had her.

“Well, Cole’s somewhat of a fuck-up.” Alex cringed when Angel looked up from her soup. “He’d rather someone else do the work, take the risks and responsibility. He’s been a disappointment to my parents, and he always expects me to just give him money. I love him, he’s a good guy deep down, but I get very frustrated.”

“You being the chosen one; the golden child, right?”

“I guess you could say I was the one who stepped up when I was needed. Avery is a huge conglomerate and we employ thousands of people throughout our various subsidiaries; people whose wellbeing can’t be risked on the decisions of someone like Cole. My father needed me, so I switched schools and did what needed to be done.” Alex’s voice was calm, matter-of-fact, and Angel strained to hear the regret in his voice, but didn’t find any.

“So… where were you studying before?”

The courses were changed and the conversation continued. “Julliard. I wanted to be a classical pianist.”

Angel gasped. Wow. She’d been a music minor at Northwestern, classical piano and voice. They had something in common. “That’s um… sorta hot.” She smiled across the table.

“I’m surprised your assistant didn’t find that out. It’s no secret. I’ve done several interviews and it always comes up. I think I mentioned it in the Forbes article last year.”

“Well, I didn’t look through her Google pile. She just told me basic information. She was more concerned if your face matched your voice.”

Alex smiled and offered Angel more wine. She nodded and he filled her glass. The wine was delicious, and it was making her feel more relaxed. “And?” he asked.

“You’ll have to ask her.”

He laughed out loud and refilled his own glass. “It’s okay, Angel. I Googled you, too.”

Her eyes widened as she forked a bite of her salmon. “You did?”

“Of course. I wanted to see if the face and body matched the voice, too.” He mimicked her words and they both laughed softly. The sound of her laughter pleased him very much.

“And?” she prodded, tongue-in-cheek.

“I didn’t find out much. You’re somewhat of an enigma.”

“Because of my work, I have to lead a very private life. I’m always under one gag order or another and can’t speak about my cases. Sometimes, the perpetrators involved are less than desirable, if you know what I mean.”

Alex’s heart seized and something that felt like panic made a subtle surge through him. “It sounds dangerous.” His voice hardened slightly.

“Sometimes. I suppose it can be when they don’t like what I have to say. Many times it’s my testing or testimony that puts them behind bars when the victims are too scared to talk or the physical evidence is less than convincing.”

“Has anyone ever threatened you?”

She shrugged. “Once or twice.”

Alex didn’t like the way he felt hearing about the possibility of Angel being in danger. It was foreign and unsettling.

“Surely you could do something else. With your voice and your looks… you could be a super model or get the radio show syndicated. I can talk to Darian.”

Angel’s face tightened a little. “Like all the other airheads you’re used to?”

“That’s not what I meant, but why take risks? You’re dealing with rapists and abusers, for God’s sake. Someone could hurt you. These bastards are dangerous.”

“Well, maybe I don’t see how I can make much of a difference in the world by sucking in my cheeks and trotting around with my head in the clouds.”

“Angel, I didn’t mean to offend you, or imply that your work wasn’t important, but…” he began, a surge of protectiveness welled up inside him, and he was angry and upset that someone might hurt her.

“Good, because it is important. I should be working right now, but instead I’m here with you. The case is a girl that was raped by her stepfather, and the bastard is cheating the tests. I know in my gut that he’s guilty, and my hands are tied unless I can find something incriminating hidden in his answers. I’ve been working on it for months. I was actually taking a break from it the day I was buying paint.”

“Who is it, Angel?” Alex asked seriously.

“I can’t say. It’s a matter of professional ethics.”

“I can help if I know who it is,” he said shortly. Certainly Bancroft could find something incriminating. There had to be a mistake somewhere that could be uncovered.

“I appreciate your, um… concern, but there is nothing that you can do.”

The hell there isn’t, Alex thought. He wasn’t going to push it right now, but he wasn’t done with this subject. Not by a long shot.

Dustin came back to clear away the remnants of Angel’s fish and Alex’s lobster and then set a spoonful of mango-mint sorbet in front of each of them. “Dessert?” he asked.

Angel smiled. “That was delicious, but I don’t think so. Not for me.” She picked up the sorbet. “To be honest, I think the sorbet between each course was my favorite part of the meal.”

Alex leaned across the table and took her hand. “Let’s share something. I rarely indulge in dessert, but I feel like it tonight.” He wanted to talk to her more, to get closer to her physically as well.

“Am I not sweet enough for you? You have to fill me with sugar?”

Alex chuckled softly. Oh, beautiful girl, what I would love to fill you with.

“Yes, sweet and sour. My favorite flavor, so come on,” he coaxed. “Just a couple of bites. I love the almond cake with vanilla custard, but if you’d prefer something else…”

His eyes implored her and a small smile played on his full lips.

Thud. Alex was lethal. No woman could deny him anything, if her own reactions were anything to go by. “Okay. A couple of bites.”

He placed his napkin on his chair as he stood and offered Angel his hand. “Dustin, in the lounge, please.”

“Yes, sir. Right away.”

Alex’s hand fell again to the small of Angel’s back as he led her into the bar area. While the dining room was light and filled with white, the lounge was plush black velvet seating, gleaming marble tabletops, and very low lighting. Again, votives twinkled everywhere, and there were splashes of magenta and white in the extravagant flower arrangements.

Just before they were seated, Alex ran his thumb down her bare back from her neck to her dimples, and then spread his hand out on her lower back. It sent electric shocks through Angel instantly. She stiffened in response and felt his breath dance on the back of her neck as he leaned down to whisper to her. “Sorry, I absolutely couldn’t help myself. I’ve been aching to touch you all night.”

Angel wasn’t sure what to say, or if she should say anything. The pull between them was palpable. She wanted him to touch her… even if it wasn’t smart. Alex was already making her feel things that she didn’t want to feel, and knowing it, she still couldn’t help herself. This was one time when her head wasn’t in complete control. Not even close.

They were ushered to a half-moon booth, and when Alex moved in beside her, her pulse quickened. Dustin came back within a few seconds and set the dessert down on the table along with clean wine glasses and another bottle of the expensive white wine. It was wrapped by a linen napkin in a silver ice bucket near the edge of the table.

Angel smirked at Alex. “Now it’s two years for that village in Africa.” She was nervous at his nearness, could feel the heat radiating between them, and she didn’t like feeling out of control.

“Done. Anything you want.” The velvet quality was more pronounced because his voice was quieter. She closed her eyes briefly, suddenly imagining that voice making love to her in the dark, his body moving over hers, filling her, his mouth exploring her skin.

Anything I want? Her imagination took off like a rocket, and she felt slight heat rush to her cheeks.

Alex picked up a fork and dug into the white cake with chocolate ganache, cherries, and almonds. It looked delicious and he held a bite in front of Angel’s mouth, his eyes dropping to her luscious lips at the same time. She opened her mouth, watching his face as she took the cake from him.

It was delicious. The almond cake was slightly bitter, which was a perfect foil for the sweet milk chocolate. An exquisite and sinful balance. The words raced through her mind as Angel applied them to her situation with Alex, like the war between Heaven and Hell, angels and the demons. Was there a balance? Could she spend time with this man as she ached to do, without losing herself or her heart?

Alex’s pulse was pounding equally hard. He took a bite of the cake from the same fork he’d given to Angel. It wasn’t much, but the small intimacy made his heart race.

She turned toward him slightly. “What is it you want from me, Alex? Are you trying to get back at me?” she asked boldly, needing the answers.

Alex set the fork on the plate, picked up his wine glass, and met her eyes with his own. “For what? Running out of Home Depot before I could get your number?” He smiled softly, a devilish glint in his green eyes.

“Well, for speaking to Whitney; for the end of that relationship.”

So much for leaving Whitney out of the conversation, Alex huffed softly. “She didn’t end things, Angeline. I did. So, no, I’m not mad at you.”

She was surprised. “You did?”

“Yes. It wasn’t working. I was bored, and Whitney wasn’t happy either. I hadn’t touched her in more than a month. I had someone else on my mind, I suppose.”

His arm was leaning on the back of the booth and his fingers brushed along Angel’s shoulder in the lightest of touches, gently tangling in the silken strands of her hair. It might as well have been a lifeline surging energy from one to the other. “Seriously, I’ve thought about you so much.”

“Why didn’t you speak to me? You just handed me the tarp. I felt silly standing there waiting for you to say something.”

“I had laryngitis, but I wanted to. Badly. But also, I was with Whitney, and you know my rules. No point in starting something I wouldn’t be able to finish. It would have been torture.”

Angel swallowed and drew in her breath before she nodded. Integrity didn’t fit into her womanizer idea of him, and she didn’t know how she felt about that. “So what do you expect out of this?”