Fortunately, just as a group of people started pointing at her and talking excitedly, a taxi pulled up. Marcus opened the door for her and she let her hair fall in front of her face to hide her profile from the driver, just in case he took one look at her and blew her cover as a regular person.

Her gut churned as she slid inside, then tightened down hard as her soon-to-be-lover joined her on the ripped leather seat and she realized just how big he really was. Compared to most of the anorexic singers and actresses she knew, Nicola had never felt tiny before. But sitting next to Marcus made her feel shockingly small and feminine.

He was so big, had so much presence, she swore there wasn’t enough oxygen left in the car for her and the driver to pull from.

“Where to?” the driver asked, giving them a blank look in the rearview mirror.

The stranger’s voice broke the spell that had pulled her toward Marcus from that first glance.

Oh God, what she was doing?

Yes, she wanted him. Desperately.

Yes, she was lonely. Terribly.

But neither of those things were enough reason to act like an idiot or to put herself in a dangerous position. After all, look what had happened when she’d trusted her instincts with Kenny. What he’d done hadn’t only hurt her, it had ended up hurting her family, too. She could still hardly believe her mother had lost her position on the school board, that the community had dared to accuse her of not being a good role model for the other parents because she’d obviously made huge mistakes in teaching her own daughter right from wrong.

Nicola put her hand on the door handle, readying herself to escape out the other side. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this. I don’t know you."

He didn’t try to stop her, didn’t put a hand on her to keep her from opening the door. Instead, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to her.

“Call anyone in here."

Unable to believe what he was offering, she left the door ajar an inch. “Seriously?”

“Call them all if you have to. Ask them about me. Ask them anything.”

Surely he was kidding around. Who did something like this? Just handed over their cell phone and said to call any number on it to do a background check on him?

“You really want me to surprise dial someone in your address book and say, ‘Hey there, I’m some girl your friend Marcus is leaving a club with. Could you tell me all about him, please?’”

“I want you to feel safe with me tonight, Nicola."

God, every time he said her name, she got the shivers. What would it be like to be lying beneath him, naked and filled with him while he said it?

Oh, how she wanted to find out.

The taxi driver cleared his throat and looked pointedly at them in his rearview mirror, but Marcus clearly had no intention of being rushed.

Before she could reconsider, she took the phone and dialed the most recently called person, someone named Mary. It was probably his wife, Nicola thought cynically as the number rang a handful of times.

After several rings, a woman picked up. “Marcus, I wish you hadn’t left the party without saying goodbye.”

Surprised at a voice that clearly belonged to an older woman rather than a lover waiting for Marcus to come over and do her later tonight, Nicola finally said, “Um...hi. This isn’t Marcus. He—”

She felt like an idiot sitting in the back of a cab trying to find the right words to say to a complete stranger. All while Marcus watched her with those dark eyes.

“He just gave me his phone and said I could call you.”

There was a brief moment of silence before the woman she’d just dialed said, “Is my son all right?”

His mother? That was the last person he’d called before coming to the club?

Nicola was stunned silent for a moment, before realizing she needed to reassure his mother. “Yes, he’s fine. Perfectly fine.”

Marcus was leaning back against the seat, his arms folded across his chest as he watched her fumble through this unexpected conversation.

All these years, she’d never met anyone else who spoke with their parents as much as she did. Especially not a man, probably because they thought it made them seem less masculine.

Nicola found herself reacting in exactly the opposite way. A man who loved his mother won a lot of points in her book, and instead of seeing Marcus as less sexy, or as some kind of mama’s boy, a glimmer of respect began to form for the beautiful stranger sitting beside her.

“Good,” his mother said with obvious relief. “I’m glad he’s fine.”

Nicola knew she should simply apologize for bothering the woman and disconnect. Instead, she found herself saying, “Mary, can I ask you a question about your son?”

She could have sworn she heard a smile across the line from this ridiculously patient woman who, for all Nicola knew, got calls like this every Friday night from the girls Marcus picked up to fool around with.

“Yes, you may, although I’d very much like to know who I’m speaking with.”

“Oh. Sorry. My name is Nicola.” For the second time in one night, she was getting to be the girl she used to be, rather than the pop star she’d been playing for the past several years.

“Nicola is a lovely name.”

“Thank you.” Nicola tried to regain her bearings, but it was really difficult to do with Marcus looking down at her with his eyes never once leaving her face.

“What would you like to know about Marcus, Nicola?”

Oh God, she shouldn’t be asking his mother a question like this, but if she hung up now she’d only be left with doubts. Doubts she didn’t want to have if she and Marcus were going to be alone together and naked in a hotel room in a little while.

She looked up into his eyes and held his dark gaze as she said, “Will I be safe with him?”

“Oh,” his mother said, “well, that’s certainly an unexpected question.”

Nicola could feel her hand trembling slightly as she held the phone up against her ear. “Why is that a strange question?”

“Marcus is my oldest son,” his mother gently explained. “He helped me take care of his brothers and sisters when my husband passed away many years ago. I love all of my children, but without a doubt, he is one of the most trustworthy men I’ve ever known.”

Nicola’s heart shouldn’t have swelled at his mother’s words. She shouldn’t have cared that the man sitting next to her was a good son, a good older brother. All that should have mattered was that she was physically safe with him and that he wouldn’t dare hurt her now that she’d spoken with his mother and alerted her to what was about to go down.