Page 127 of Forbidden Need

A knock from above brought everyone around.

Up there in the office window, Conn zeroed in on her, beckoning twice with two straight fingers.

“He looks pissed,” Lachlan said.

She and her brother crossed the club together.

“He’s in work mode. He takes work seriously.”

“Will you get shit for letting me in here?”

“He’s my partner, not my jailor. Want to come upstairs and say hello?”

When they stopped at the bottom of the office stairway, she got his answer.

“Another time. I have things to do.” He kissed her head. “Take care of yourself. Call if you need me.”

Her brother departed, hopefully lighter than he’d arrived.

FORTY-TWO

WITH A BRAIN SWITCH from sister to girlfriend, up the office stairs she went. If Conn needed her for anything urgent, he’d have called. Maybe he just missed her. Not that he’d admit that out loud if they weren’t alone.

And they weren’t. Well, she was alone with one guy in the office, not her guy, his best friend.

“You have a temper,” Niall said to her.

Offended, her jaw loosened. “I was worried about my man. Sorry for giving a shit. If I’d called and told him direct, he could’ve blown the wheels off this thing without anyone there to dial him back. I thought your job involved protecting him, helping him make choices. I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to talk to you.”

Which was weird because Conn let her in on everything else. Nothing was off-limits, until Niall got involved.

He came a step closer, his volume low. “When I don’t say much on the phone, there’s a reason. Listening ears. People we don’t trust. I’m in an unsecure environment or enemy territory.”

That sucked out some of her gusto. “Oh.”

“Aye. We need to be allies. My job is to protect him. The family. You.” She blinked in surprise. “Secrets and discretion.”

“What secrets?”

“You practice hanging on to your reins, girlie. I’ll deal with the grown up stuff.”

This guy lived to irritate her. It wasn’t malice though. Weirdly, it almost felt like… was he teasing her? She had a brother and knew exactly what needling someone sounded like. That or he was testing her. Would she run to “daddy” and put a wedge between the men? Sorry, Niall, not her style. The more people watching her guy’s ass, the higher the chance it would come home to her.

“What’s going on?”

Connel had passed through the curtain without her hearing a thing.

“Evander sent me flowers at The Chronicler with a message,” she said. “I think it was for you, not for me.”

“What message?”

She took the card from her pocket and handed it over when he sauntered up. After he read it, he handed it straight to Niall.

“Maybe it’s nothing, but I thought that before and—”

“Find out where he is,” Conn said to Niall. “Time to finish it.”

She snagged his hand before he could walk away. “I need to talk to you about something else. A few somethings else actually.”

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