"It's close to work," she explained. Meeting his gaze the same way she always had, with the sly challenge that he keep his eyes wrangled above her neck. It was impossible.
James wasn't a woman to be flittered over or preserved. Her honor -- however paperthin it might be -- didn't need defending. Rick, in their time together, had at least understood that. James remembered it as only one of the reasons they'd gotten along.
"And you are?" Pivoting her attention onto the other man that had greeted her. Dealing through him or Li felt safer somehow. Jude was out of the question. And she wasn't entirely sure what to make of Rick, after all this time.