Page 52 of Duty Bound

“Complicated how?”

She stretched, ironing out her curves. “Looking back now, it seems ridiculous, but I was scared that I’d lose him.”

“Who? Spade? No way. He was nuts about you.”

“I know.” She paused, her wide, brown eyes settling on him. “It wasn’t him I was worried about. It was you.”

He scowled. “Me?”

“I thought you might rub off on him.”

He didn’t say anything for a long moment, and when he did, his voice was husky. “You thought I was a bad influence on Spade?”

Lily looked out over the darkened valley. “Do you blame me? You were with a different girl every time you were back in town. Joe told me so.”

“I explained that,” he snapped.

She held up her hands in a gesture of defeat. “I know you did. I was wrong, okay. I admit it. I didn’t know you back then. All I saw was this hot, broad-shouldered guy with perfect teeth and a blonde hanging off his arm.”

“You didn’t take the time to get to know me.” He blinked. “Wait a minute. You thought I was hot?”

She flushed. “That’s not the point. I made an assumption, and it was wrong. I’m sorry.”

His chest tightened. “All that time, I thought you were just a stuck up bi—” He cleared his throat. “That you thought you were too good for us. Too smart to be seen with the likes of us.”

She gasped. “It was nothing like that.”

He fixed his gaze on her. “We were both wrong.”

She didn’t smile, but there was warmth in her eyes. “Yes, we were.”

They set off, treading carefully over the loose gravel. Blade led the way, more used to the terrain that she was. Lily followed close behind, mimicking his steps, squinting at the loose ground in front of her.

The path, if it could be called that, wound its way down the mountain, following the contours. After Lily slipped a couple of times, Blade took her hand. He’d promised himself no contact, but he couldn't let her fall to her death. A purely professional connection.

That was his story, and he was sticking to it.

They walked on, him helping her over the more difficult parts of the descent, until they stopped for a water break.

“You know you said you thought I was a bad influence on Joe?” He couldn’t keep that question to himself, either.

She glanced up, surprised. “Yeah?”

“Well, you might find this strange, but it was actually the other way round.”

“I don’t get it. You’re saying Joe was a bad influence on you?”

“Yeah.” He worked his jaw, unsure how to proceed, but she should know the truth about the man she’d been living with. “Spade was always the one who got a little out of hand when we went out. It was like he had all this pent-up aggression and didn’t know what to do with it. More than a few times I had to pull him out of a fight or take him back to my place to sleep it off.”

Lily was staring at him like he’d grown horns or something. “Joe? My Joe?”

Blade nodded. “He said it was because he wanted to let his hair down, have some fun, you know? I suppose he was always so well behaved at home. His father expected a lot of him, and then there was you—” He bit down on his lip.

Shit, he’d said too much.

It was all true though. Spade had been a firebrand when they went out drinking. He’d once how said how perfect Lily was, and trying to match that standard kept him from relaxing. Said he couldn’t be his usual carefree, foul-mouthed self around her. At the time, Blade had thought she’d been the one with unreasonable expectations of him, but what did he know? He’d never been in a long-term relationship. Now he was starting to think Spade had put those expectations on himself.

“What about me?” Her voice was a tight whisper.

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