Read Online In my Arms Tonight (NYC Singles Book 2) by Sasha Clinton - Free Book Online Page A

her heart. Alex was acting so different tonight. The superficial politeness was gone now and between the cracks in his guarded armor, she glimpsed a different man.
    And she liked this man.
    “Trust me. It’s entirely possible, the rate at which you’re going,” she retorted.
    The big white letters printed on black and flight of stairs going down said they’d reached the subway station. It was time for her to go.
    Shaking his head, Alex flicked the lighter and a flame leapt up, but then unexpectedly, he killed it and tossed the cigarette away.
    “Yeah, you’re right. It’s late.” A beat passed. Kat knew what was coming next. “Thank you for what you did today. You didn’t have to. You went out of your way, writing an article and all. I’m really—”
    “Don’t be ridiculous. You saved me and almost lost your chance at becoming mayor because of it,” Kat interjected.
    He rubbed his palms together. “But just to be clear, I’m never saving you again. I can’t handle a repetition of this.” There was a glint of humor in his broodiness.
    “Good. I’m never bailing you out after a fiasco like this again, either. I had to take the day off.” Burying her fingers in her hair, Kat combed through her hair, frizzed by the humidity.
    Then they both looked at each other and then a smile split their lips. A moment of understanding passed.
    “You’re lucky you saved a reporter. Imagine if you’d saved a teacher or a front-end developer. She wouldn’t be able to help you get out of this.”
    “True.”
    Making eye contact, Kat gave his upper arm a sympathetic squeeze. “Although things look really bad now, I’m sure that in a while, it’ll all go back to being like it was.”
    “I hope so.” In the distance, the sky was pitch black. Alex’s hand dove into his pocket, and he retrieved his phone. “Can I have your number? If I need to call you in the future.”
    “Of course.” Kat fed her number into his phone. She had his already, so it was only fair to exchange. And she was kinda hoping that he’d call her and ask her out for coffee sometime. Unlikely, but hey, it could happen.
    When he got back to the main screen of his phone, Kat spotted his screensaver and her reporter’s brain went into overdrive.
    It was a photo of a woman holding a baby and smiling.
    Wrapped in a slightly out-of-fashion dress, the woman on the screen wasn’t young—mid-thirties, likely—but she was graceful with a nurturing aura around her. The woman’s eye color was the same as Alex’s—an endless dark brown.
    Since she knew that Alex wasn’t married or in a domestic relationship, what was a picture like this doing in his phone?
    “Who’s she?” Kat questioned, leaning closer to Alex.
    “Guess,” Alex challenged.
    “Your lover and the mother of your secret child?”
    A full-bodied, spontaneous laugh ripped out of his throat. “You have a colorful imagination; I’ll give you that.” He waited for the hiccups of laughter to subside before continuing. “She’s my mother. Was my mother.”
    A gasp wrestled out of Kat. “I thought you didn’t have parents.”
    “She died when I was four.” That faraway look again, along with the same melancholic tone.
    Reexamining the photo, she could see vague similarities between the baby and Alex. He wasn’t the cutest kid she’d seen, but he had a certain sense of purpose about him—as if he knew he was going to become someone important when he grew up. That was a weird thing to say about a baby.
    “How did she die?” Rolling up the sleeves of her T-shirt, Kat fanned herself. It was really humid today.
    “Road accident. Hit by a truck. She was dead before the paramedics got to her.” Alex’s narration was unemotional, distant.
    “I’m sorry,” was all she could say.
    They stood in silence. His expression become darker and darker. He looked her way a few times, like he was trying to say something, but held his tongue.
    Clamping her lips, Kat hummed, hoping that would