by Lisa Childs
“Lars will go ballistic.”
Dane nodded. “Yes, he will. But we don’t have another option, not if I’m going to catch whoever’s doing this to you. I have to stick close to you.”
“And everyone will wonder why you’re doing that,” Emilia said. “They’ll realize something’s going on. And they’ll worry about me.”
They were already worried about her. But because Dane kept secrets, he didn’t share that. He also didn’t want to upset her or make her feel worse than she already did.
But he had a solution to everyone’s problems—everyone’s but his. “Not if they think the only reason I’m sticking close to you is because I’ve fallen for you.”
She laughed. “I must be going crazy. I thought you just said...” She laughed again, albeit a little hysterically. “Maybe you’re the crazy one. Nobody’s going to believe that.”
“We’ll make them believe it.”
Her mouth stayed open, but her laughter dried up. Her eyes huge, she stared at him. Then she stammered, “H-how will we make them...?”
He moved closer to her, but she stepped back. And her eyes widened even more. He reached out and skimmed his fingertips along her jaw.
She shivered and whispered, “How?”
“Like this,” he murmured and he lowered his head to hers.
* * *
When Lars stepped into the Payne Protection Agency conference room, everyone fell silent for a few long, awkward moments. He narrowed his eyes and glanced around the room—at his boss and coworkers—all of them friends. What the hell was going on?
Then a slow clap began, echoing throughout the room. Cole stood up, put his fingers between his lips and let out a shrill whistle. Lars wasn’t sure why they were applauding, but he took a bow anyhow.
Cooper, at the head of the conference table, shook his head as if disgusted. But his mouth was curved into a slight grin. “Hey, since Romeo showed up, we can start the meeting now.”
“Juliet isn’t here,” Manny murmured. He must have been referring to Nikki.
“She’s checking on the wedding chapel while her mom’s on her honeymoon,” Lars explained. And he knew why. She didn’t trust his sister right now.
Emilia was too distracted. What the hell was going on with her?
Had Dane had a chance to talk to her?
Lars settled onto the empty chair next to his best friend. But Dane didn’t meet his gaze. He didn’t even glance at him during the meeting Cooper led. The boss discussed assignments, which weren’t in abundance at the moment. He was still building his business, and this was fine with Lars. This way, he had more time to spend with his fiancée as well as to check on his sister and nephew.
Since the night he’d gotten engaged, he hadn’t had much time to look up Emilia and Blue, though. The past couple of days had passed in a blur of passion with Nikki. But despite how happy he was, Lars was worried about Emilia.
He’d asked his friend to watch out for her during the wedding, which he had. But had Dane talked to her? Had he found out what was bothering her?
Lars wasn’t the only one concerned about his sister. Nikki was trying to protect him, but he knew how she’d stepped in to save her mother’s wedding ceremony. And now she was worried enough that she had skipped a bodyguard meeting to check on the wedding planning business.
What was wrong with Emilia? She loved Penny Payne; she wouldn’t have consciously done anything to derail the wedding.
As preoccupied as he was with thoughts of his sister, Lars didn’t realize the meeting had concluded—until Dane stood and headed toward the door without a word.
“Hey,” he called out. But before he could scramble out of his chair, a big hand settled on his shoulder and shoved him back down onto the seat.
“What the hell’s going on?” Cooper asked him. “Where is my sister really?”
“At the wedding chapel,” he said.
Cooper snorted. “Yeah, right. Mom’s been trying all Nikki’s life to get her to help out at the chapel. You can’t expect me to believe that. Did she come to her senses and dump you already?”
Lars snorted now. “That will never happen.”
“She’ll never come to her senses?” Cooper asked and shook his head as if disgusted. But it was clear now that he was just teasing.
“She’ll never dump me,” Lars said. “She really is checking up on the wedding chapel.”
Cooper narrowed his eyes speculatively.
“Hey, she and I have a wedding to plan.” And it couldn’t happen a moment too soon for Lars. He wanted to make sure that Nikki didn’t actually come to her senses and dump him. She could do so much better than him.
“You have some time to make those plans,” Cooper said, and now his brow furrowed with concern. “Until we pick up some more cases.”
“We will,” Lars assured him.
“Hope the guys don’t abandon ship,” Cooper said, “because I can’t keep them busy enough.”
Lars glanced around and realized they were now alone in the conference room. Not just Dane but everyone else had left, too. “Don’t worry,” he assured his friend. “We’ll be busy again soon.”
Cooper nodded, but from the furrow between his dark brows, he didn’t look convinced. “Will you talk to them?”
“Oh, I intend to,” Lars said. He most especially wanted to talk to Dane, who curiously seemed to be avoiding him. Why?
After a short truck ride to Dane’s apartment, Lars knocked on his door. “What the hell’s going on with you?” he asked when Dane opened up.
Dane didn’t even blink, just stood in the doorway staring at him. He held the handle of the door and the jamb on the other side, blocking Lars’s entrance.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I asked you to check on Emilia for me and I haven’t heard a word from you. I even came by here last night, but you weren’t home.” And because there was something furtive about Dane blocking his entrance, Lars pushed aside his friend and forced his way inside.
It wasn’t much of an apartment really. It was a studio loft in an old warehouse. If not for Emilia, Lars might have rented a place like that himself, but he’d wanted to have room for his sister to stay with him. Now she was staying alone with her son.
And from the clothes overflowing Dane’s duffel bag, it looked like he was packing to leave. “Where the hell are you going?” Lars asked.
Dane had tried to quit once. Now that there was less work at the agency, had he decided to leave?
“I’ll be at the same place I was last night when you came by,” Dane remarked.
Lars waited, but of course his stoic friend didn’t freely offer any information. He had to prod him. “And where was that?”
“Emilia’s.”
Alarm squeezed Lars’s heart. “So she is in danger!”
“No, she’s not.”
Lars tensed. “Then why else would you be moving in with her?” In addition to the duffel bag, there were boxes. “Why did you stay there?”
A thought immediately came to his mind. But he pushed it aside. No. Not Dane...
“She must be in danger,” Lars insisted. “She’s not been herself at all. That’s why Nikki went to the wedding chapel instead of the meeting. She wanted to make sure Emilia was handling everything all right.”
“If she’s been a little distracted lately, it’s my fault,” Dane said.
Lars turned away from the bag and boxes to study his friend’s expressionless face. “Why the hell would that be your fault?”
“Because she and I have been seeing each other.”
Lars laughed. His friend had to be kidding. Dane had that weird sarcastic sense of humor. Fortunately Lars usually found him funny.
“I’m not kidding,” Dane said. “We
’ve been dating for a while now.”
“No!” Lars exclaimed in anger. It wasn’t possible. “You’re joking.”
Dane shook his head. “No. We’ve just been keeping it quiet because we didn’t know for sure it was going anywhere.”
Apparently it was going—with boxes and a bag of clothes—to Lars’s house. Well, the house he’d rented.
“You’re lying!” he growled, refusing to accept the betrayal.
Dane shook his head.
“You’re going to wish you were lying,” Lars threatened. “Or dead.”
He couldn’t believe that Dane—of all people—would take advantage of Emilia like this, when she was vulnerable.
“It’s true,” Dane said. “We’ve been seeing each other for weeks. And it’s gotten serious. That’s why I’m moving in with her.”
“No!” Lars exploded in fury. “You’re not going to be able to move at all once I get done with you.” And he swung.
Chapter 7
“No!” Emilia screamed. But she was too late.
Her brother’s fist connected with his best friend’s jaw. A blow like that would have felled a lesser man. But Dane didn’t even stumble back. He just shook his head as if a fly had landed in his hair.
Not that he had much hair, since the dark strands were buzzed so short. She had run her fingers over it the other night when he’d kissed her. Her skin tingled as she remembered the softness of his hair and the hardness of his body as it had pressed against hers.
Even though that kiss had happened a couple of nights ago, she could still taste him on her lips, still feel the sculpted hardness of his mouth moving over hers.
And the heat, it flashed through her now, like it had then. The desire overwhelming her.
But that had been one-sided. He’d kissed her, but only briefly before lifting his head and stepping back. “We’ll have to get used to doing that,” he’d said. “If we’re going to fool your brother.”
It looked like he had fooled Lars all by himself. She had left Blue with Nikki and come to Dane’s apartment to tell him she’d go along with his plan. But she could see now what a bad idea it had been, how it would drive a wedge between men whose friendship had helped them survive war.
“What are you doing here?” Lars asked her, his eyes bright with anger.
“What the hell do you think?” Dane asked him. “We’re seeing each other.”
She opened her mouth to admit the truth, but if she told him they weren’t dating, she would have to explain why Dane had lied about it because she’d asked him not to tell Lars about the intruder and the crying.
Before she could say anything, her brother spoke, his voice a roar of anger. “I won’t allow it!”
“Why not?” she asked, his attitude piquing anger in her now.
“Because friends don’t date friends’ sisters.”
She snorted. “You’re a hypocrite. You’re engaged to Cooper Payne’s sister.”
Lars’s skin flushed. “That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because Nikki isn’t...”
“Isn’t what?” she prodded when he trailed off. What was he unwilling to call her?
His face flushed a darker shade of red.
“What?” she persisted. “Nikki isn’t fragile like I am?” She was so damn sick of his treating her like she was made of glass. What would he do if he learned that she’d felt like she was losing her mind—over that crying, over her phone being used to make calls she never would have made...
He would smother her with protectiveness.
“Nikki isn’t vulnerable,” Lars said, “like you are. And if Dane was truly my friend, he wouldn’t take advantage of your vulnerability.”
He was a better friend than Lars knew. He was willing to lie to Lars to protect him. And in lying to him, he was risking their friendship.
But perhaps it was she who was risking their friendship by asking Dane to lie. The way Lars was talking about her convinced her she’d done the right thing, though.
“I am not vulnerable,” she told her brother. But she heard the hollow ring to her protest, too. She knew better than Lars just how helpless she’d been. Until Dane had come to her aid, she’d been worried she was losing her mind.
Now that she knew she wasn’t, she felt strong again. “No one is taking advantage of me,” she said. If anything it was the other way around.
She was using Dane’s friendship with her brother, exploiting Dane’s sense of duty and protectiveness. She knew that was the only reason he was helping her since it was in his nature.
That kiss the other night—and how quickly he’d pulled away from her—had proven to her that he did not feel the attraction she felt for him. He was only doing a favor for his friend.
His stupid, stubborn best friend.
“Emilia,” her brother began, and along with the concern in his voice, there was condescension. Like he knew more than she did.
And when it came to Dane, maybe he did. But he had shared with her that the man had no emotions, that he didn’t get attached to people. Perhaps that was because he was adopted or because he was incapable of feeling.
That didn’t matter. She didn’t want him to fall in love with her. She only wanted him to protect her. And Lars.
In order to shield Lars, they needed to pretend that their relationship was real. That they were romantically involved. If Lars didn’t believe that, then he would know that the only reason Dane was staying with her was for her protection.
So she pushed her brother aside and approached his friend. She skimmed her fingertips along his jaw, which was slightly swollen from the blow Lars had delivered just as she’d appeared in the open door. Pitching her voice low and husky with concern, she asked, “Are you all right?”
He nodded. And his caramel eyes darkened to the color of espresso as he stared down at her. “I’m fine.”
“I’m sorry my brother’s an idiot,” she said.
And the corner of Dane’s mouth curled up into a slight grin. Maybe he was enjoying messing with his best friend. He did have a slightly warped sense of humor.
She felt sick lying to Lars, though. But it was for the best.
And maybe so was this. She rose up on tiptoe and pressed her lips to that red mark on Dane’s jaw. Then he moved and brushed his mouth across hers.
Her skin heated, and her heart began to race. And she forgot why she’d kissed him. She could focus on nothing but the sensations rushing through her—the heat, the fire, the desire...
* * *
Desire rushed through Dane just as it had two nights ago when he’d been stupid enough to kiss her. That had been a dumb idea then—to try to get her more comfortable around him so that they could fool her brother.
But he’d been fooling himself. He hadn’t kissed her for Lars that night. He’d kissed her for himself, because he’d been wanting to ever since his friend had sent him that damned photo of hers that had so captivated him.
She was so beautiful. And sweet and soft. Her lips had felt like silk beneath his. Today they felt like warm silk moving over his mouth, parting for him to deepen the kiss. That night he’d held on to his control—barely. But he’d had to pull away quickly. He’d had to step away from her.
And when he’d settled onto the couch a short while later, he’d had to open the window for the cold air to clear his head, to clear the desire away.
His control was slipping now as he deepened that kiss, as he dipped his tongue inside her sweet mouth. And his arms slid around her, pulling her closer—for just a moment—before she was ripped away from him.
He’d forgotten Lars was there until the big man tugged Emilia away from him. This time, when the meaty fist swung toward him, he ducked and caught it in his hand. And no matter how ha
rd Lars struggled, he held it tightly.
“I let you have that first one,” he told his friend. “Because I probably had it coming.” He hated keeping secrets from his friend. But Emilia was right. If Lars knew she was in danger, he would lose his mind just like she’d feared she was losing hers. “But that’s your only freebie.”
“I should tear you apart,” Lars threatened him.
He should—if he had any idea the thoughts that had flitted through Dane’s mind during that kiss. He wanted Emilia, and not just to protect her. He wanted her in a way he couldn’t remember ever wanting anyone else.
“No!” Emilia exclaimed. “You’re going to get the hell out of here until you can get yourself under control and accept that Dane and I have something special.”
Secrets and lies. That was all they had. And Dane had to remember that. That kiss wasn’t any more real than the one the other night. It was just to fool her brother, which had apparently worked.
Lars was furious—so furious he couldn’t fight—not when Emilia pushed him toward the door. She slammed it closed in her brother’s face and turned the lock. Then her breath shuddered out, and she trembled.
Dane wanted to reach for her again, wanted to comfort her. Hell, he just wanted to kiss her again. But when he approached her, she whirled around before he could touch her.
“He can’t ever find out the truth!” she said, her voice trembling with emotion.
Dane blinked, surprised by her intensity. He’d rather have all that intensity—that passion—focused on him.
“You have to promise,” she implored him, “that Lars won’t ever find out we’re lying to him. That no one will find out.”
“Eventually he’ll find out,” Dane said. It was inevitable.
She shook her head. “No, no. Why do you think that?”
“Because I will find out who is gaslighting you and stop them,” Dane said. “And then Lars will learn what’s been going on this whole time.” And he would no doubt hit Dane again for not being truthful with him.
