Page 20 of He Knows When You're Awake

“I’ll send a team tomorrow.” He lifts his glass. “To new beginnings?”

I clink my glass against his. “To not regretting this.”

As I sign my name, I know I’m doing more than agreeing to a job. I’m stepping through a door that will change everything. The real question isn’t whether I’m ready—it’s whether I’ll be able to find my way back.

Chapter NineCole

So that’s it?” Sloane asks, her finger tracing the rim of her glass. “We leave for New York in the morning?”

We’re still in the bar, the contract signed and tucked away. She’s relaxed now, the wariness from earlier softened by good drinks and the satisfaction of negotiation well done. But there’s something wistful in her voice that catches my attention.

“Disappointed?”

“It seems silly,” she admits. “Coming all the way to Switzerland just to leave without seeing any of it. Though I suppose that’s not very professional of me to say.”

I study her in the low light. The white dress makes her look like winter itself, her fiery red hair a stark contrast against the pale fabric, but her eyes give away a spark of adventure beneath all that careful composure.

“Put on your coat,” I say, standing.

She blinks. “What?”

“Your coat. Though you’ll need something warmer for where we’re going.”

Her eyes narrow with suspicion. “Cole...”

I guide her to the hotel entrance where Knox waits with a sable fur coat. Of course I’d planned for this. I’d known the momentshe accepted the invitation that I’d want to show her Switzerland properly.

“Oh,” she breathes as I help her into it. The dark fur sets off her skin perfectly, just as I’d known it would.

A sleigh waits outside. An actual horse-drawn sleigh, because if you’re going to do something, you do it right. Sloane stops dead at the sight of it.

“You’re insane,” she says, but she’s fighting a smile.

“So I’ve been told.” I offer my hand. “Coming?”

She hesitates longer this time, something cautious flickering across her face. “This feels... not like business anymore.”

“Just an hour or two,” I say, keeping my voice neutral. “Then back to contracts and deadlines tomorrow.”

She studies me for a moment, clearly weighing professional boundaries against the lure of adventure.

She hesitates only a moment before taking it. Her fingers are warm despite the cold, fitting perfectly into mine. I help her into the sleigh, where white, fur blankets already await us. The driver, carefully vetted and briefed hours ago, clicks to the horses.

“Let me guess,” she says as we start moving. “You have the entire route planned down to the minute.”

“Give me some credit, Sloane.” I pause for dramatic effect. “Down to the second.”

She laughs. “And if I wanted to go off-route?”

“Chaos. Devastation. The complete collapse of Western civilization.”

“You really don’t handle unpredictability well, do you?” she asks, a teasing note in her voice.

“I prefer the termstructured,” I correct her.

“In other words, you need to control everything.”

I glance at her, surprised by the astuteness of her observation. “Not everything.”