I knew I was falling for Mensa. It wasn’t until that moment, I realized I’d fallen in love with him. But Mensa deserved to hear it first.
“It’s serious. You know it or you wouldn’t have gone to see him.”
“Jesus. Do you love him or something?”
“He’s not as bad as you think he is, Wyatt.”
My twin shot me an incredulous look. “It wasn’t that long ago, you wanted to convince a prosecutor to indict him.”
My lips tipped up and I shook my head. “No. Get it straight. I wanted to be the one to arrest him.”
“And now you say he’s not as bad as I think he is?”
I nodded. “Yes. Wasn’t it you who said, if law enforcement is doing their job, then his record would reflect his crimes and I needed to get over my obsession?”
His eyes traveled toward his eyebrows. “Yeah, but that didn’t mean getting involved with him.”
The girl at the counter called out my order number. I slid to the end of the booth, but kept focused on Wyatt. “I hate to mention this, but Aunt Nadia said fate had put Mensa in my path. I’d love it if you could just try to be happy for me.”
He leaned forward. “It isn’t that I’m not happy for you, sis. It’s that if you make a life with him, and he is caught up in something illegal, you know damn well they’ll come after all the assets. You could lose your home, and if you got kids—”
I matched his lean. “You’re right, Wy. I do know all that, so you don’t need to remind me. The moment I catch wind he’s doing illegal shit, I’m out. Especially if there are kids involved.”
Wyatt sighed. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”
I stood. “I promise.”
“I never thought I could eat that much parsley,” Mensa muttered before sipping his beer.
We were sitting on the floor around my coffee table eating picnic style because I still had boxes on the dinette table. I swallowed some wine. “But did you like it?”
“It was… a change of pace.”
I leaned toward him. “I shouldn’t tell you this, but you sound just like my dad.”
He choked on laughter.
I put my wine glass down. “Speaking of family, I’m sorry my brother cornered you this afternoon. That was uncool and uncalled for.”
He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “He cares about you, so it wasn’t uncool at all.”
“Still uncalled for.”
“Not if he’s worried about you. A man like me in a woman’s life makes certain men worry. It’s all good, Whit.”
“I don’t know what Wyatt said to you, but most men would run after that kind of invasive visit.”
“Baby, I’m not most men, and if I had a sister – you can bet your sweet ass I’d be just as protective.”
My eyes slid to the side. “Pretty sure holding a man with a knife at his throat proves that.”
He had one leg stretched out straight, and he pulled his other leg up, propped his arm on his knee and tipped his beer bottle at me. “That still bothers you?”
I gathered up a couple napkins from the table and stuffed them in my to-go box. “It didn’t… until Wyatt pointed some things out to me.”
Mensa took a pull from his beer and set it down on the table. “When did he call you?”
“He was watching the location of DeeLight’s that I stopped at. Rod ordered the prospects and Wyatt to watch all three restaurants.”