I pulled on my collar, as if that could help me drag air into my seized-up lungs. Reason. Intelligence. Deduction. Those were the qualities I prized, not feeding like the undead off the hot guy I'd enthralled. I preferred my men willing. Like - no.

I searched for something in the room starting with the letter A for the self-soothing technique I'd learned in counseling after my dad left. Armchair, bowtie...

"Then it's settled," Rafael said. "We may proceed to the actual ...