Page 50 of Nothing to Do

“Alessia will be worried and—”

“She’s eating with Alana, Lark, and some other girls. She knows you’re safe.” He tucked her hair back from her cheek. “I’ve posted security to keep her in their eye line. You don’t have to worry about her.”

Because he’d done it for her. Without asking. Was that an overstep or…?

“Thank you,” she said, having learned her lesson about jumping to blame him for things that weren’t his fault.

Okay, so maybe acting without her authority could be classed as his “fault,” but it came from a place of love, well, affection anyway. Love would be getting carried away… though if she thought her sense was on solid ground, she’d be lying to herself.

“I said I’d make you happy and I meant it. Whatever you care about, I care about. Nothing will happen to Alessia. Not here or at home, anywhere. If you want security to stay with her for—”

“The rest of her life?” she asked, her lips quirking. “She might have something to say about that.”

Though if the guys posted were hot, her little sister could get them into all kinds of trouble with her flirting.

“Unfortunately for her, it’s your happiness that means most to me.”

And, geez, the guy didn’t let up for a second. She’d wanted him since they’d met… okay, so maybe not the exact moment they’d met—why did it feel with every step, she was slipping deeper into trouble? Not the bad kind of trouble, the kind of trouble that led to ideas of grandeur. Ideas of tomorrow, and the next day, and every one after that. She couldn’t let herself think—no, be smart, sensible.

She tried to back away, but he kept hold of her hand. “Still, I shouldn’t…”

“Shouldn’t what?”

“This is a family thing and—”

“Roman won’t be here. We talk about him, not to him at times like this.”

She winced. “It’s not that,” not only that. “I’m a no one in your life, and the people in there don’t know me. You’re riding the sex high and maybe, you know, aren’t thinking with the right head.”

“You’re not a no one in my life.”

That wasn’t a judgment on either of them, just an observation from an outsider’s point of view. The people in there could think she was insinuating herself into something that didn’t involve her. And from their perspective, it didn’t. Hadn’t she herself said Roman’s addiction was none of her business?

“You know what I mean. Your family may not want to speak freely with—”

“You met Roxie, right?” He smiled. “Think anyone holds back around her? She gets to the root of everything.”

“Zane—”

“Thea,” he said, pulling her to him. “Come and have dinner with me.”

They’d eaten more than a dozen meals together. And did she really want to leave…?

With her single nod, he smiled and kissed her head.

Dinner.

Hands linked, she let him lead her through a vast living space into an even bigger kitchen, dining area. The two far walls were gone, open to another broad terrace. The layout registered fast, then it was the people at the long dining table in the kitchen, who stopped talking, that got her attention.

Okay. Four of them. That wasn’t bad. Roxie smiled. Having a friend in the room was a comfort. Zairn was there too, not exactly known, but not a stranger either. Thank goodness she’d met them in stages.

“I don’t have to tell you who this beautiful woman is,” Zane declared.

So he had been talking about her? And it was just at that, she checked the guys and…

“I thought you said Roman wasn’t going to be here.”

He leaned in, kissing her hair before speaking above her ear. “Thea, meet Struan Lowe.”

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