Page 24 of Sweet Temptation

And maybe he’d have a reason to laugh.

I stared down the dark hall that led to Summer’s bedroom.

Brody had given me her cell number before he left. I wasn’t sure exactly what he’d told her before she went upstairs, but she hadn’t looked happy.

And she’d definitely been crystal clear about her lack of desire to hire a bodyguard.

She probably hated me right now.

At least I knew I wasn’t gonna bill her, or Brody, for tonight. They could pay whoever came on as her permanent bodyguard, starting tomorrow.

I sent her a quick text.

Me: I’m on the couch tonight if you need anything. Ronan.

Then I tried to sleep, though I didn’t, all that much.

It’s just for tonight.

I kept telling myself that, over and over.

For some reason, I didn’t believe myself.

I could already feel that this job, for whoever took the assignment, was gonna be long and messy.

Call it professional instinct.

And I knew I couldn’t risk getting sucked back into a job I’d already mentally put behind me.

I knew that… and yet, for some reason, here I was.

Chapter Five

Summer

I tried, but I barely slept for the rest of the night.

I lay in bed as the sun came up and well afterward, just trying to get some rest so I wouldn’t be a groggy bitch all day. I wasn’t usually an early riser. I was a nocturnal creature. But around eight-thirty a.m., I finally gave up and checked my phone.

There was a text from Ashley, and a couple from Brody.

Ash: Yo what’s up

Brody: I hope you were able to get some sleep. We’re having an important meeting this morning. My place. 10:30

Brody: Ronan will drive you.

So… Ash hadn’t heard about my unwelcome nocturnal visitor yet, and had no idea why Brody and I had been calling him in the middle of the night.

And Brody was out of his damn mind.

Me: I can drive myself.

I sent that to Brody, not even bothering to try to beg out of this “important meeting.” If he deemed it important and he was having it at his home, he considered it very important.

And the longer I tried to avoid it, the more overblown this whole thing was gonna get.

Besides, he had my schedule; my assistant kept it updated to the fucking minute and it synced to Brody’s phone. So it’s not like I could make up some excuse why I couldn’t attend this meeting. My morning, like most mornings, was clear, obligation wise.

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