Samuel paused, turned, and looked at me with a wry smile. “Don’t forget now,” he said, humor lacing his tone.

I forced a polite smile, glancing up at him. “Of course. You’re the client, and the client is always—”

“An ordinary person,” he interrupted. Amusement glimmered in his eyes as he corrected me. “I’d much rather just be a person.”

His ease, his wit, it caught me off guard; I couldn’t help but laugh. The tension in my ...