Page 18 of Forbidden Devotion

Lauren’s eyes were wide. “I had no idea,” she breathed.

“You wouldn’t. My father buried the story,” I shrugged. I’d been very young, so most of my memories from then were fuzzy, but there were things I could never, and would never, forget about that final night.

Being bodily dragged from my kidnapper’s car at gunpoint, half-awake, in some other child’s pajamas, looking across the concrete field to see one man standing alone against the army that had held me captive for what felt like an eternity with a resolute look in his eyes.

I had felt this sort of… relief, but also terror, because someone had come for me, yet they couldn’t fight off all these people alone.

I’d had the wild thought that he must have been a superhero if he was so sure he could take out all of those bad guys.

After that, I mostly remembered the sounds, so loud I couldn’t hear quite right for days. Gunshots blaring, and there were a lot of guns involved.

I remembered running, panicked, into my mother’s arms, protected from stray gunfire by the mysterious superhero, while all of his friends fought the bad guys. I remembered the genuine fear on his face like he couldn’t imagine losing me even though we’d never met.

So, yeah, I wanted to be like him.

“He’s an incredible man,” I ended up saying. “Not a good man, sure, but he’s my idol and my hero, and if I can do for some scared kid what he did for me that night, then I’ll consider myself worth my time on this earth.”

Lauren just looked at me for a moment, eyes wide. It was probably a lot of cognitive dissonance for her, hearing someone so genuinely praise a man whose violence was notorious, but he was a truly loving father. If he had to die for us, he’d do it in a heartbeat. No one was more devoted to his family, and I loved him.

I breathed in slowly, trying to settle the emotions rolling around in my chest. Every day that passed with him locked up and suffering was a day my tension became harder to control. Mom always said I felt my feelings bigger than most, and I’d come to appreciate the ferocity of my passion, but that didn’t mean I wanted Lauren to see me that vulnerable.

Everything would be fine. Dad would be out soon.

“So, uh, yeah,” I said lamely, “I get where you’re coming from. I have a lot of respect for what you’re planning to do.”

“I… Thanks,” Lauren said, blinking. “And I’m glad you were rescued.”

I smiled, grateful.

Before I could redirect the conversation into neutral waters again, though, our waiter was back—except it wasn’t our waiter.

It was a younger guy, early twenties if I had to guess, physically fit and immediately overly friendly, and for a moment, my whole body tensed. If this was someone hired to spy on or assassinate me, then this would be a perfect way to get close enough to do it. He could have slipped something into the food or been listening just around the corner.

We hadn’t said anything incriminating, but the idea of him listening to Lauren’s dreams and goals without her knowledge made my blood boil.

But then our waiter, the one from before, came up behind him with a second plate, apologizing for the delay, and it became clear very quickly that the younger man wasn’t here to take that kind of shot.

I kept a sharp eye on him as he leaned a little too close to Lauren to put her plate down in front of her, looking at her with blatant interest as he tried to draw her in with his face and physique. All my actual worry evaporated instantly, but my scowl did not. I did not like this kid.

Our original waiter refilled our waters from a carafe, but the new guy insisted on bringing Lauren a new tea ‘on the house’ since hers had gotten cold while we talked. Technically, he wasn’t doing anything wrong, but I still wanted him to back off.

Couldn’t he see he was trying to hit on a woman in a totally different league? Lauren was far, far more attractive than him and a lawyer. What could he offer her exactly? Nothing, that’s what.

Lauren responded with perfect politeness, and as the two waiters took their leave, she looked at me with amusement. I felt my ears burn at being caught, but I wouldn’t apologize. That nobody didn’t deserve her.

Still, that was technically her choice, so I swallowed the thought down with some difficulty and picked up my water. “Cheers,” I said, clinking it with hers, “to bringing my father home.”

Chapter Eleven

LAUREN

Ihadn’t had shrimp scampi in years. I hadn’t eaten anywhere nicer than a drive-through in quite a while, either, and the last time was at an IHOP with Jen to celebrate me passing the bar.

A stack of cheap flapjacks had heralded the biggest achievement of my life, and here I was, eating a decadent meal for no good reason. It was a damn nice change of pace.

It was also nice to be sitting across from an absolute model of a man while I did it, making small talk and watching him get just a little more aggravated every time that young waiter came over.

That happened often, and I could tell it was rankling Richard something awful. It was starting to aggravate me, too, but I enjoyed watching my dinner companion stew over it. It’s not like I was egging the waiter on anyway, so there was no harm.

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