That surprised a snort out of Chloe. “That’s an understatement.”

“Sweetie, I was hoping he would be someone who would cherish you and take good care of you, but that man could hurt you.” Grandmillie seemed to brace herself. “I could tell what you’d been doing in the car, and I can’t find it in myself to blame you. He’s a hottie too.”

Chloe would have laughed at the second example of teenage slang coming so easily from her grandmother’s lips, but she was too distressed by what Grandmillie was trying to tell her. “He’s out of my league. I told you that at the beginning.”

The cane hit the floor with a bang. “No one is out of your league, Chloe! But he’s got a powerful personality that could break you in half.”

“I’ve had some practice dealing with strong personalities,” Chloe said. But Grandmillie’s words had burrowed inside her mind to reinforce her own belief that she and Nathan were not equals.

Grandmillie harrumphed, but her tone was soft. “It’s not your backbone I’m worried about, it’s your heart.”

How did she tell her grandmother this was just about sex? “My heart isn’t involved.”

Her grandmother leveled a stare at her. “You’re not the sort to be intimate with a man without feeling something for him.”

Chloe cringed at the knowledge that Grandmillie was right. Nathan had gotten to her, so she felt more than she wanted to. Serious physical attraction. Admiration. Pity.

That last one was the most dangerous. She felt sorry for the man because he did so much out of a sense of duty and so little out of a sense of fun. In fact, the only time he really let loose was when they made love; he could be almost playful. And that was the chink in her armor. “It won’t last long enough for me to get emotionally involved.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that. He looked pretty smitten.”

Chloe pushed up from the cushions and walked over to give her grandmother a kiss. “I’m going to clean up the dishes. Your scones were fantastic.”

Grandmillie thumped her cane again but made no comment.

Chloe carried a load of dishes into the kitchen and placed them gently in the sink. Then she cut loose with a shimmy across the kitchen floor.

Grandmillie thought Nathan had looked smitten!

Nathan got in the elevator to his apartment. Instead of pushing the button to ascend, he leaned against the elevator wall, his arms crossed, his chin sunk on his chest. He’d been thinking about his meeting with Chloe’s grandmother all the way home in the car.

Except for the moments when he’d been remembering what he and Chloe had done in the car before that. He shifted and settled his shoulders more firmly against the wall.

His plan to get Chloe a job at Trainor Electronics had taken a hit. Her dislike of corporations ran deeper than discomfort with the politics. It was personal. She might accept the offer, but only out of necessity. That didn’t make him happy.

Even worse, Chloe’s grandmother had invited him in and then tried to chase him away. She had weighed him and found him wanting.

It felt unnervingly similar to the way his father had judged him. And Chloe would respect her grandmother’s opinion.

After seeing their cozy little house, he was even more resolved to help Chloe keep her grandmother there. It was the right thing to do. That meant an e-mail to Roberta about getting Chloe that position before she took another one.

He hit the “Up” button.

When the elevator doors opened, Ed was waiting for him, dressed in his usual uniform of white shirt and dark suit. “Was there a malfunction in the elevator?” his majordomo asked.

Nathan shoved off the wall and walked through the opening into the entrance hall. “No, I was thinking.”

“Good to know your brain is still working, because I was starting to wonder.” Ed jerked his head toward a doorway. “Ben is in the den with his doctor bag. He says you missed your appointment with him this morning.”

“I had an emergency meeting.” A wave of guilt and exhaustion broke over Nathan. He’d canceled the checkup with his friend at the last minute because he hadn’t wanted to argue with Ben about whether he should be at work or not. “Don’t worry. I’ll let him poke and prod me to his heart’s content.”

Ed nodded. “You look tired.”

“It’s been a long day.” He hadn’t felt it until the elevator had stopped, and the evening stretched out empty in front of him. Despite knowing that Ben would lecture him, Nathan felt his spirits lift at the prospect of having something other than work to fill the next couple of hours.

Ed held out his hand, and Nathan shrugged out of his suit jacket in their familiar daily ritual. As he handed it to the older man, Nathan gave him an apologetic smile. “Thanks for worrying about me.”

“Someone needs to,” Ed muttered before he did his vanishing act.

Nathan squared his shoulders and walked down the hallway to the den. Ben lounged on the sofa, a rocks glass in one hand, the television remote control in the other. “I love watching television on your dime,” the doctor said.

Nathan dropped into an upholstered armchair with a grunt.

“You were dodging me this morning,” Ben said.

“I admit it.”

Ben turned off the television. “How do you feel?”

“Fine.”

The doctor gave a huff of exasperation and stood up. “I’m doing a full workup.”