Page 58 of Dirty Dancer

She hadn’t.

I dropped the empty beer bottle into the trash. The sound of the bottle clinking yanked Vaughn and Kellan’s attention toward me.

Yep. She was going to get them all killed.

None of us needed this distraction.

Fuck.

“Don’t say it,” I told Kellan. “I’ll grab my shit and go as long as you’re here now.”

“Yeah,” Kellan told me slowly. “Rome shouldn’t have asked you.”

I shrugged and headed out. We weren’t going to have this argument again. I had my reasons. They had theirs.

It was what it was. Snatches of conversation leaked through the door separating the princess from Kellan’s room and I shook my head. Jasper had all but peed on her to mark his territory. Doc was not one I would have suspected as falling into the orbit of her allure.

I could see why though.

I just had to make sure it didn’t happen to me.

Yeah, I’d help keep an eye on her. I’d protect her if necessary.

But I wasn’t about to let her distract me.

Distractions got you killed.

EXPECTATION (BONUS POV)

KELLAN

The flight landed only fifteen minutes behind schedule. I kept one eye on the board and the other on my surroundings. It wasn’t like I had reason to come to the airport often. With the exception of one summer job and the time Milo had wanted to drive to see his sister, I’d never left Braxton Harbor. Those trips didn’t really count, one was for work and technically one was for business. Family business, but still business.

Waiting gave me plenty of time to study the passengers exiting through the automatic doors. Without a ticket, you couldn’t get back there. Some came out in business wear. Others were dressed in sweats and t-shirts. There were plenty of travelers wearing jeans and sweatshirts. Every one of them had a story.

Was this a vacation for them? Business, for sure, for a few of them. Were they coming home? Where had they gone? One of the reasons joining the army tempted me so much once upon a time. I’d get to leave. See the world. Be somewhere else.

Be someone else.

I shook off the malaise and depressing thoughts. This wasn’t about bloodlines or family legacy. Well, at least notmine. Milo’s,on the other hand, would be strolling through those doors any minute and I would be closer to her than I had been ever. The ride we’d given her when she’d been drunk and likely roofied didn’t count.

In all honesty, I doubted she remembered Milo, much less me. Totally fine. We got her to her hotel, safe and sound. The doors swept apart to let out another wave of passengers. I didn’t catch sight of her right off. Her slighter build proved harder to see behind the other passengers. She didn’t stay with the pack though.

Dressed in dark leggings, an oversized sweater, and furry boots, she looked like a pixie playing dress-up in borrowed clothing that was too big for her. Her hair was pulled up into a single ponytail that bobbed as she walked. Instead of pulling at her features and making them severe, the hairstyle just made her look painfully young.

Too young.

She glanced around carefully as she slowed. Belatedly, I lifted the sign I’d brought with me. A single placard that read Sharpe. Walking up to her without introduction would probably be weird, so I waited for her to notice me.

Slipping her arms through the straps of her backpack, she did another scan. I swore I could almost feel the caress of her eyes as she passed me and the zing when she locked on to the sign. Without hesitation, she strode straight to me.

Lithe and slender, she moved with purpose and the oversized sweater dwarfing her couldn’t minimize the attitude swirling around her. It hadn’t been but a few years since the last time I saw her in person, how the hell had she grown up and managed to still strike me as painfully young at the same time?

“Hello,” she said. “I’m Emersyn Sharpe.” The soft contralto was like a caress all its own. My dick straightened like he’d beencalled to salute. Fucking thing had no sense. Hadn’t since the first time I’d gotten hard staring at Callie Timmins.

Yep, all brawn, no brains. That was my dick.

Really not the time or the place.

---