She laughed. “Now you’re just sugarcoating the truth.”
“And you’re trying to avoid discussing what happened here.” He pulled her over to the nearest table and held out a chair. “Sit and talk to me.”
She narrowed her gaze as she lowered herself into the chair. “I came in early on Sunday and found … this.” She gestured to the window, her expression alternatively sad, then furious.
He slid his chair closer to hers before settling in. “Do you think it’s related to the slashed tire?”
“I have no idea,” she said, as her entire expression suddenly shut down.
It hadn’t been his imagination, either. One minute she’d been engaged in the conversation; the next she’d closed herself off to him.
From the minute he’d laid eyes on her, he’d marked her as special. He still wouldn’t let himself think of her as his. She was right in saying they barely knew each other. But if she thought he was going to let her get away with deflecting about something as important as her safety, she was about to learn that Jason Dare didn’t screw around when it came to people he cared about. And she’d just been added to that short list.
Chapter Three
Jason understood when to tread carefully, so he studied the suddenly panicked look on Faith’s face and decided to tackle things from another direction.
“Okay you obviously don’t trust me … yet. So let’s start this way. I’m going to get your business back up and running.” He’d prove to her she could believe in him and he wouldn’t let her down.
She frowned, shaking her head. “I called everyone in the area and some beyond. People are booked up.”
He raised an eyebrow at the challenge and pulled out his cell, dialing one of his contractors who’d done work at Club TEN29 and who owed him a favor.
“Sam? It’s Jason Dare.”
“Hey, man. How are you?” Sam Fremont asked.
“I’m okay. You? How are Lisa and that princess of yours?” he asked of the man’s daughter.
“Doing well. The doctors say just two treatments left,” he said, his relief obvious in his voice.
“Good! Listen, I’m sorry for the short notice, but I have a friend with an issue.” He went on to explain about Faith’s graffiti and the glass on the door. “How soon can you get someone out here to fix both?”
Sam had access to glass cutters, window cleaners, and anything else Faith might need.
“I’ll come over myself to assess the situation and handle what I can. What I can’t, I’ll call in reinforcements to fix. Be there in an hour. Just text me the address.”
“Great. I owe you one. I’ll be here to meet you in an hour,” he repeated for Faith’s benefit, whose eyes opened wide.
“How did you do that?” she asked, as he typed her address and store name into his phone for Sam.
He didn’t find it easy to talk about this, but it was a step toward building trust, and if he was going to keep her safe, he needed to understand what she was up against. It was more than neighborhood kids. That much he knew.
He cleared his throat and looked into her pretty green eyes. “Sam’s daughter was diagnosed with childhood leukemia and he panicked. He was a freaking mess.”
“I can’t even imagine,” she said, her heart in her voice.
“Well, my sister lived through it when she was young. She had a bone marrow transplant.” The necessity had led Jason’s two-timing father to reveal to his wife that he needed to have his full siblings tested to see if they were a match. Their lives had all blown up at the time.
“Jason, I’m so sorry.” Faith reached out and held his hand. “How is she?”
“Fine now. Healthy. A mom.” He grinned at that. “But I got her in touch with Sam and his wife, Lisa. She talked them through the process, kept them calm, reassured them when she could.” He shrugged. “Sam feels like he owes me.”
He shook his head, and when things came back into focus, he realized Faith had tears in her eyes.
“You have a big heart,” she murmured.
“It just made sense,” he said, uncomfortable with the praise for something so minor. “Sienna went through the same experience and I knew she could help them. And now Sam will help you. This place will be back to itself in no time.”
“I don’t know how to thank you,” she murmured.
“I do. Go on a date with me,” he said, back to his pushy, what he hoped was charming, self. Was he playing fair? No. did he care?
Not one bit.
He started to rise before she could answer him, deciding that he’d effectively backed her into doing something she wanted to do anyway.
“Jason–” she said, warning him with her tone she didn’t like being pushed into a corner.
“I know. It’s not a good idea.” He met her gaze. “I’m just waiting for you to explain why the hell not?”
“Fine. Sit back down.”
He did as she said and waited patiently, understanding whatever she had to explain was obviously difficult for her.
“My mom passed away without warning a little over a year ago.” Tears filled her eyes and he reached out, clasping her hand in his.
“I’m sorry.”
She sniffed. “Thank you. Me, too. Anyway, I lived in Iowa, where I grew up. My dad left when I was almost eleven. I have no idea what happened to him, but Mom somehow made it okay. She worked to make ends meet, and I went to a local college, worked in a store in town. It was my brother who was the problem. He acted out after Dad left, and eventually he was doing drugs, selling with a local dealer. Mom threw him out.”
He listened, sad for the little girl who’d lost her dad and whose brother hadn’t manned up. “What happened?”
“After Mom died, Colton showed up, demanding his share of the inheritance. There wasn’t much, but Mom had saved money from her parents, and she’d taken out a life insurance policy. Everything went to me.”
“She disinherited him,” Jason said and Faith nodded.
“She had no choice. He would have spent it all on drugs. Where he lived, who he hung out with … he was strung out all the time…”
With a shake of his head, Jason reassured her. “I’m not judging her. Go on.”
She swallowed hard. “I was sleeping one night and he broke in.” Closing her eyes, her entire body shuddered under the weight of the obviously painful memory. “He tried to cajole me into splitting the money, and when that didn’t work, he got angry. So angry.”
Jason listened, knowing he wasn’t going to like what came next. Knowing, too, he couldn’t go back and prevent whatever it was she’d lived through.
She wrapped her arms around herself, rocking as she spoke. “He shook me and then his hands were around my neck, squeezing–” She forced her eyes open wide. “When he released me, I screamed. He said he’d be back for what was his and he took off.”
A possessive fury took hold, that anyone would hurt this sweet woman whose smiles came so easily despite everything she’d been through.
“So what did you do?” he asked, his jaw clenched so his own anger didn’t spill out and scare her. Because at this point he wanted to kill her brother.
“I ran. I packed up everything I could take with me overnight and disappeared. I figured New York City was the largest, easiest place to get lost. I started in a hotel, found a lawyer, changed my last name … and here I am.”
He blinked, knowing it couldn’t have been that simple. “A name change is public record.”
“Not when it’s sealed because you can show the judge the fading bruises on your neck,” she said, her hands coming up to clasp herself there.
Yep. He was going to fucking kill her sibling.
“So somehow he found you?” Jason asked, managing not to clench his fists and scare her away from him.
She nodded. “I’m guessing the slashed tire was a warning, though I have to admit, I’d hoped that was a freak neighborhood kid incident. But the vandalism and the brick? He wants me scared so by the
time he comes in person, I’ll give him whatever he wants.” She’d lowered her hands from her neck, leaving red marks from where she’d made her point.
Jason had had enough. He stood up and walked over, pulling her into his arms because he needed the connection and felt certain she did, too.
She relaxed into him, her soft curves easing against his. He breathed in her sweet scent and held her as the trembling in her body eased. Too quickly, she pulled away.
“You aren’t alone anymore. Got that?” he asked.
She glanced up at him. “I appreciate you helping me get things fixed here at the shop, but make no mistake. I’m very much alone.”
He wasn’t going to argue now. There would be plenty of time for that later, when she balked against what he was beginning to plan out for her in his mind.
He might not have wanted someone else to find their way into his emotional cocoon, but this woman had done it. There was no way he was leaving her to fend for herself now that he knew what she was up against. And if that meant fighting her in order to keep her safe, he’d do it in a heartbeat.
* * *
Faith watched as Sam Fremont, a tall man with hair pulled back in a ponytail, and the workman he’d brought with him scrubbed the spray paint from her window. He’d called in a glass company, who’d sent a guy to measure her door. He’d then left to cut the glass and would return with the right size to fix her entrance. It was as if Jason Dare had spoken and all her problems were going away.
If only things were that easy.
She already understood he was more complicated than his surface grin led her to believe. A sister who’d conquered childhood leukemia, a college friend who’d died under mysterious circumstances, a nightclub and a life she knew nothing about. She wanted to know everything and that was dangerous.
Still, she owed him, and though she didn’t think he truly felt that tit for tat was necessary, she did. If it was a date he wanted, then she’d go out with him. At this point, it could no longer hurt. Colton had already found her. He was probably watching her shop as all this activity occurred. Did it really matter if she went out with Jason after this? It was obvious the man was a part of her life, as her friend, at the very least.
He’d settled into a chair in the center of the shop, surveying the work going on around him. He’d already left once, returning with sandwiches and sodas for everyone. As the hours passed and he vacillated between returning messages on his phone and talking to the workmen he obviously knew, she grew more confused.
“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” she asked him.
He raised an eyebrow as if to say, Really? “Nowhere more important. I want to make sure the work here is done correctly and this place looks exactly the way you want it.”
She appreciated his thoughtfulness, but he had to have better things to do than worry about her. “Okay, but I can handle that. I don’t want to take up more of your day than I already have. I can stick around until the guys are finished, lock up, and head home.”
He folded his strong arms over his chest, his olive-green Henley pulling tight over his muscles. “And do you think I’m going to leave you here alone after what you told me about your brother?”
She’d been pushing thoughts of Colton aside all day. “I have pepper spray on my keychain.” The words sounded ridiculous, even to her.
She was no match for her brother, and if he was strung out? He’d have a wiry strength she couldn’t handle. She knew that firsthand, memories of her hands trying to pull his wrists off her neck very clear in her mind.
“Okay, fine. I appreciate you making sure I get home safely.” She’d be a fool to fight Jason’s protective nature.
“You still don’t get it. But you will.” He shook his head, amusement warring with a more serious expression. “You’re coming home with me, sweetness. I’m not leaving you here or in that shitty walk-up with a crappy lock your brother could break with one good kick.”
“Hey! That’s my apartment you’re insulting!” And all she could afford.
“It’s only an insult if I’m wrong.” He studied her, as if daring her to argue.
“I can’t just move in with you!”
He sighed. “Fine. You need someone to vouch for me? We can call my partners. Or my sister. Or… Hey, Sam! Am I trustworthy?” Jason yelled out to the man who was just climbing down a ladder, her clean window staring back at her.
Sam strode up to them and looked from Jason to Faith and back again. “Best man I know. Take a look at this.” Reaching into his pocket, Sam pulled out his phone, then began scrolling through his pictures.
“This is my girl.” He turned the phone so Faith could see a picture of a grinning little pixie with a bright smile and a pom-pom hat on her bald head, no hair hanging down beneath the folded brim.
“She’s beautiful,” Faith said, sliding her finger over her face.
“And if it wasn’t for this guy introducing us to his sister, I don’t think my wife and I would have made it through the roughest parts of her illness.” He shoved his phone back into his pocket.
Looking up at Jason from beneath her lashes, she caught a flush on his cheeks.
“It just so happens I could help you, man. But I’m glad Sienna could do her part. She loves fundraising and doing anything she can for kids who’ve been through what she has.”
Faith would like to help her one day, when there was no danger following her around, she thought sadly. For now, though, she had to fight through her own problems and not bring them into other people’s lives.
“Thanks, Sam.” Jason all but dismissed his friend, who waved and walked back to the other guy helping him.
“So? Still think I’m a serial killer?” Jason asked her.
“I never said–”
“Oh, by the way, my cousin ate one of your marshmallow pops and went crazy for them. She’d like you to contact her about doing the party favors for her son’s birthday party. So now I’m hooking you up with business. I really think you can trust me to keep you safe.” He grinned at his smug proclamation.
She wanted to smack him … and kiss him at the same time. He had her head spinning, and she knew that was his intention. To keep her off-balance and win her over at the same time. So she was too overwhelmed to say no to his proposition about her moving in with him.
But she had to be smart about things. “I’m not questioning your ability to keep me safe, I’m wondering why you’re taking me on as your responsibility?” Her tone along with her emotions sobered.
He grasped her hand and pulled her into the back kitchen area, where they could be alone. Backing her against the prep counter, his big body hovered over hers.
“From the second we met, there was a connection between us. I felt it and so did you. Then I ignored your tire and my gut screaming it was more than vandalism, and this happened. Now I know I should have paid attention.” He drew a deep breath.
So did she and his delicious cologne swept over her. She steeled herself against his appeal because what they were discussing now was deadly serious.
“There’s a lot about me I don’t talk about,” he went on. “I’m not saying never, I’m just saying for now. All you need to understand is that I’ve been in this situation before, being able to possibly prevent something bad from happening and ignoring my gut. I won’t do that again. So when I say you’re coming home with me? I mean it.”
This was the second time he’d mentioned the connection between them, and despite her wariness, she agreed that there was one. But if she went to his home, it had to be about necessity, not desire.
“Thank you.” She appreciated his honesty and felt he deserved hers in return. “I’ll come with you, but connection or not, we’re not sleeping together.”
An amused smirk pulled at that sexy mouth. “I was planning on giving you your own room.”
“Oh.” Now she felt stupid and her cheeks burned with embarrassment.
He brushed his hand down her cheek and her bo
dy trembled with awareness. “But if you get scared in the middle of the night, feel free to come sleep with me.”
* * *
Jason gritted his teeth as they walked up the dark stairs to Faith’s apartment so she could pack up her clothing and stay with him. The building was small and narrow, with plenty of dark corners for someone to hide in, and he was glad he was getting her out of here before something worse than building damage happened. Her brother would have to go through Jason in order to get to her.
While she disappeared into the bedroom to gather her things, he dialed Gabe, a man who had a private investigator on retainer. At this point, Jason was going to owe his cousin more than just money for the favors he was accruing, but it couldn’t be helped.
“Gabe? I need a favor. Your private investigator? I have someone I need him to dig into. Colton Holland,” he said, giving Gabe Faith’s former last name. “Start in Cedar Pointe, Iowa, but I think he’s here now. Drug addict, so he isn’t hanging out with the best people in town. Whatever he can find on him, I need.”
He went on to explain what had been happening with Faith so Gabe could give the PI the rundown. At best, Jason wanted her brother behind bars. At the very least, he intended to make sure he was out of Faith’s life for good.
“I’m on it,” Gabe said. “I’ll have Jack Renault contact you personally so you can deal directly with him.”
“Thanks, cousin.”
“So much for not seeing her again,” Gabe said, chuckling as he disconnected the call.
At that moment, Faith walked out of the bedroom, rolling a suitcase behind her. Jason shoved his phone into his back pocket. “Ready?” he asked her.
She nodded, letting him take the suitcase from her hand.
“Don’t you have a club to run?” she asked.
“Yes. And two partners to help in case of emergencies. Getting you out of here and settled at my place is an emergency.”
Her lower lip jutted out in a pout, and it was all he could do not to kiss her and taste that plump flesh for the first time. He understood she was frustrated with the situation, that doing as he said bumped up against her independent streak, but she was also smart and knew that he was right about her apartment and its location.
Sexy Dare Page 4
