Page 61 of Sweet Temptation

“But you realize Vancouver is pretty chill,” I pressed. “I know celebrities who come here specifically because they can go to a restaurant like a regular person and not be harassed and swarmed. As long as you keep it low-key, you can get away with that here. If I show up at some club in L.A. in full party gear, it might be a different story, and I’d be ready for it. Especially if I’m with someone like Ash.”

“Are you in public with him a lot?”

“Yes. We actually did a photo shoot a couple months ago, when Brody had his publicists announce that we were forming a band together. There was some buzz after that. People wanted to know if we were getting back together.” I rolled my eyes a little.

“Are you getting back together?”

“No, we’re not. I’m just saying, I know what it’s like to be swarmed. But my daily life isn’t that. I had to be a little more careful when I went out for a while, avoid the media, but it died down pretty quick.”

“While we’re on the subject,” Ronan said, pushing his plate away. “If you’re dating anyone, I need to be made aware.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “So you can run a criminal check on him?”

“Yes.”

“I was kidding.”

“I’m not.”

Okay… This whole thing was getting weirder by the hour.

Now I had to run my potential dates by my bodyguard first?

“There’s this thing called situational awareness,” he said evenly. Maybe he was picking up on my irritation and decided to side-step again. “You’ve probably used it without even knowing it, like when you knew the media was paying attention after that photo shoot. You scope out your surroundings and get more tuned in to what’s going on around you. You look for quick exit paths, places you could get trapped and accosted. I do it constantly. And you should be doing it whenever you meet new people, and when you potentially get into a dating situation. You’re mentally looking for warning signs, red flags that the guy could be trouble. For ways out.”

Okay, I did not love what he was implying.

“What do I need awareness for?” I challenged. “That’s what I have you for. Right?”

It was his job to keep me safe. It was not his job to tell me that I should’ve seen the signs that Blair was dangerous. That I should’ve known.

Like it was my fault he chose to creep on me or something?

“It’s something you can work on developing,” he said calmly. “When my clients learn to think in those terms, it goes a long way to avoiding situations that I have to pull them out of.”

Yeah. That made sense.

But… “I’m pretty good at trusting my own judgment with people,” I informed him. He had to know I wasn’t a total idiot. I met people all the time, and I had a pretty strong internal radar for weirdos. Or so I’d always thought… “Honestly… I’m kinda pissed that I didn’t see what Blair was about from the start.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong there, Summer,” he told me, just like he’d told me earlier today, in my car.

Right… Then what was all that “situational awareness” stuff?

I took a breath and tried not to be so damn defensive. I knew he was trying to help. To make sure I was safe. He wasn’t blaming me.

It was me who still felt guilty.

“I went on a date with him,” I said quietly. I’d already told him that in the car. But maybe I was still looking for someone to absolve me of it. “I mean… sort of. There were other people there, with us. But I flirted with him.”

“And that gives him the right to climb the wall of your house and break into your bedroom in the night? I don’t care if you married him. Nothing gives him that right.”

“Yeah.” I pushed my plate away. I hadn’t finished, but I’d definitely lost my appetite. “Agreed. But maybe I do need to be more… situationally aware.”

I looked at him. At his solid frame, his stony face, and those gorgeous eyes. There was so much more going on in his eyes than he put across with his body.

His body was inaccessible, but his eyes… they were all-seeing. There were deep wells of compassion in there.

Surely, this was what made his clients feel safe. I could feel it when I was around him… The sure, alpha presence. The decisiveness and control.

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