Free Innocent in New York by Victoria Sterling Page B

over to the elevator and pushed the call button. "You do know that they were flirting with you, right?" she asked, sending him a sideways glance.
    "They wanted to talk business. One of them had been to one of my conferences."
    "Right." Sophia nodded. " Business ."
    "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were jealous." He cracked a smile.
    Sophia scoffed, avoiding his gaze while watching the numbers on the elevator decline. "If you must know, I have twenty minutes left of my lunch."
    "All right," he said, but she could still feel his gaze on her. "New conference rooms?" He moved closer to her as the elevator announced its arrival.
    "I made it up. If I said I was taking you here for lunch, Agnes would have said something obscene and sexual. I know her too well. I couldn't risk it." Sophia pushed the top floor button.
    James chuckled, and in a fluent move he moved closer and leaned over her, making her heart thump. "For what it's worth, maybe she'd be onto something." He lifted his hand to her throat, letting the back of his fingers graze her skin. "Because I would love ," his touch skimmed the gentle dip of her collarbone, the side of her breast, "to devour," he continued further, very gently tracing her ribs and lowered to her stomach — making her muscles tighten — "your," his fingers curled around her hipbone, eliciting a soft, helpless cry from her, and sliding down lower, "lunch. What's in this?" His hand shot toward her brown paper bag crumpled in her fist and pried it free. He gazed inside it and grinned. "I love muffins."
    Sophia felt dizzy. She leaned her weight against the elevator and watched him through hazy eyes as they reached the top floor. She didn't want to, but forced herself to move outside.
    "You're evil," she said over her shoulder, leading him through the lush cream-colored hallway to the end where they turned to a set of stairs leading upward, to an outdoors area with a glass coupe shielding them. The edge of the glass lined the circled top of the building, giving them a spectacular view of New York at night.
    Sophia sighed and turned toward him with a smile. "Here. The only place you can go think during work." White marbled floor stretched all around. A large fountain stood in the middle, spewing water from angels accompanied with rich plants. Scattered around were benches that reminded Sophia of those found at a French bakery.
    James lips peeled into a grin, walking further into the dome. "Not bad." He nodded, eyes sweeping over the place before moving to the glittery evening sky. "This is fantastic." The large city suited him. He had New York at his feet; the whole world at his feet.
    "Well," Sophia walked closer to him, "it's not as nice as the view from your apartment, but it's something."
    "This feels better."
    She took his hand and led him to a bench and sat down. "These are five star sandwiches." She rummaged through the paper bag. "The bread is made out of Italian flour, baked with Greek virgin olive oil, and freshly squeezed lemon from the coast of Sicily. Here." She passed him one.
    "Mm, I love five star sandwiches from Greece and Italy." He accepted the one she held out for him. "What is it really?"
    "No clue," she laughed and picked up hers. He did the same and they both chomped down on their food. "I'm sorry it's not more dinnery ," Sophia said after taking a sip from her water bottle. "This is usually my dinner when I work late."
    James smiled, glancing at his half-finished sandwich. "I don't mind. I'm not much of a dinner person anyway."
    Sophia frowned, "I thought you'd be a regular at Arielle."
    "Nah," he shook his head, "I just thought you'd like it."
    "Thanks for thinking of me."
    "Perhaps some other time, huh?"
    "Definitely. When I won't get stared at." She grimaced when she glanced down at her clothes. Beneath her coat she wore black — 100% polyester — pants combined with a white shirt with a dash of a hotel logo for finishing touches. The last place she'd go was to a