Page 30 of Safe With Me

She rolled her bright-green eyes and shook her head. Other than the same color hair and striking eyes in different and unusual hues, I didn’t see a resemblance. The playful disdain between them reminded me of my friends with siblings.

But not of my own brother, who’d always had a pure and more direct contempt for me.

“It’s great to meet you, Lila. It’s nice to put a face with the name.”

I blinked as I took her extended hand.

“All good things, I promise.” She squeezed my hand when she probably noted the confusion in my features. “My uncle stopped by the other day and gushed how you were his lifesaver the past few weeks at the office.” She flicked her eyes to Mike. “So, how did you end up with him tonight?”

“I told her I’d introduce her to some of the people she may have invoiced over the last couple of weeks,” Mike said, sneaking me a smile.

She cringed and swept her gaze over the crowd. “This is certainly one way to do it. You can meet basically everyone in town between tonight and tomorrow.”

I smiled as my stomach coiled. The notion of meeting everyone at once was already daunting, but Chloe’s comment triggered a wave of nausea.

“Why did you have to scare her like that?” Mike glared at Chloe before draping his arm over my shoulder. “Everyone is harmless. Mostly. I promise I’ll keep the number of introductions low and just point to everyone else, okay?”

Mike dipped his head to meet my gaze, distracting me from the new-girl-in-town nerves. The crinkles at the corners of his eyes when he smiled were adorable enough to make me forget other things too.

If he’d only dial back a little on the sweet and sexy… But the more I got to know him, the more I learned that was just who he was.

I’d thought Ted was sweet and sexy at one time, but it had turned out to be an act. Still, I couldn’t recall this many full-body reactions simply from being close to Ted. Maybe it was the line I knew I couldn’t—or shouldn’t—cross that made Mike so irresistible.

I wasn’t supposed to date Ted either and had enjoyed pissing my brother off when I’d finally agreed to go out with him. Maybein the back of my mind, I’d been with Ted out of spite, at least at the beginning.

But I had been into Ted enough to stay with him for a few months before our relationship had taken a weird and creepy turn.

“Come on,” Mike said, crooking his elbow. “You can hold on so I don’t lose you in the crowd.”

“The festival is that dangerous?” I joked, slipping my hand over his hard bicep as we headed away from his cousin.

“Think of me as your guide and off-duty police escort.” He glanced back, smiling widely enough for the crinkles at the corners of his eyes to pop out again.

“As long as you’re off duty. I’d hate to waste taxpayer money.”

Mike smiled, and I couldn’t tell if it was him, my nerves, or the hot evening air making me dizzy. I’d guess a little of all three.

Mike pulled us away from the bar and down the street, waving to everyone and introducing me to whoever stopped to talk to him. I bit back a smile when a few of the older residents called him Mikey.

He’d explain how I was working for Jake and new in town, but I’d caught a few curious stares when we’d walk away.

By the time we made it to the end of the street, the smells from all the hot food at the restaurant booths mingled together. I hadn’t eaten dinner, and my stomach had started to settle enough to remember it was empty.

“Could we stop to get something to eat? I skipped dinner after work.”

“Sure, we could stop anywhere you want. What’s calling you the most?”

“I think that one has pizza.” I pointed to the booth at the far end of the street with what appeared to be an outdoor brick oven.

“That’s Dino’s. If you like Italian, they’re awesome. My grandparents were friends with the owners.”

“Of course they were,” I said, arching a brow when Mike turned his head. “How about we find a slice and a table.”

“Works for me,” Mike said, his voice dipping low as he stepped in front of me. “See? This isn’t so bad, right?”

I shook my head, my heart kicking up a couple of beats when Mike’s smile faded but his eyes stayed on mine. The heat rising up my neck and charging between us had nothing to do with the temperature.

“No, this is nice,” I managed.

---