Page 51 of Exposed

“You should. I’ll never lie to you.”

I hold up a finger. “You’ve lied to me plenty.”

That wins me a smirk. “That was necessary. But from here on out, no more lies.”

I pull in a deep breath. “Okay. I promise not to flip out on you again.”

He finally gives me some space and sits up straight. “Okay. Let’s get to work.”

“Now?” I ask. “We already agreed to meet tomorrow. It’s late.”

My eyes follow him up and up and up as he stands over me and reaches behind him to pull out the gun from beneath his shirt that I felt earlier. He places it on the table and starts to unload his pockets. “Rand already tried to break in here once. I bet they have someone outside watching. I’m staying.”

My eyes go big, and my wine sloshes when I stand abruptly. We’re so closely smushed between the sofa and coffee table, that my breasts brush his chest for an instant before I lean back. “You’re staying? The night?”

He finally takes a step to the side and goes to my kitchen. “Just told you I’ll keep you safe. I can’t really do that from twenty minutes away sleeping in my own bed. I’ll crash on your sofa.”

“Wait.” I follow him the short distance to the kitchen as he starts to dig through my refrigerator again. “You can’t sleep on my sofa.”

“Your sofa is like the Ritz compared to some of the places I slept when I was a Ranger.” He gives up on my fridge and opensthe freezer. “Bingo. A pizza.” He looks from the box to me and frowns. “Are you a vegetarian?”

“No, but I don’t eat enough vegetables, so buying a veggie frozen pizza is my way of trying harder.”

“A frozen pizza isn’t the place to try to be a better person, but if this is all you’ve got, we’ll make do.” He preheats the oven and turns to me. “Is that a yes?”

No. I am absolutely not ready.

“I guess,” I mutter

“That’s better than a no. Are you ready to create a life with me from the ground up in a matter of hours?”

Take down Dex. Get my share of The Pink back.

Make it or break it.

“Sure. I mean, yes. Yes, I guess I’m ready.”

“Let’s do this.” He claps his hands so hard, it makes me jump. “Time to fall in love.”

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

11

OLIVES

King

“Sorry, but I would never fall in love with a money launderer. The minute I found out you were a cleaner, I would run the other way. I did the same with Dex. And the fact that I turned my back on the Carter Cartel will blow our story out of the water. No one will believe us.”

We’ve been at this for hours. We’re getting nowhere.

I have no idea how Brax did this for two years. I don’t have the patience or the acting skills to pull this off.

I turn and hold out my arms motioning to myself. “Can you not make an exception for this? Not to yank my own chain, but it’s not like I’ve let myself go.”

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