Page 26 of Captivating

Oh well.

She blinks, like she can’t believe I managed that sound, before schooling her face. “I cannot divulge my sources.”

“Ugh.” I flick her forehead, and she tries to shove me back but misses. “Mom.”

“Sorry, Tink. That’s what I heard too. Well, sort of.”

I swear sometimes when I look at my mother, I feel like I’m looking at my reflection in twenty years, and it makes me so happy. She’s beautiful and kind and awesome... and I’m gonna kill her. “You two are such bullshitters.”

My mother sips her wine and pulls herself up to sit on the counter. “But it’s so much fun, honey.”

“I hate you,” I groan, but at least I do it with a smile.

“No, you don’t,” they both chime back.

“Fine. Yes. I agreed to let Killian act as an additional bodyguard.” Even saying the words makes me feel so incredibly pathetic. I’ve worked my whole life for this career. Sang my first time in front of a crowd when I was five years old. Twenty years ago. And this is what I’ve been reduced to.

“And he’s going to be acting like your boyfriend too? Are you going to be sharing a bed?” Mom asks, and for a hot second, I wish she was an accountant instead of a world-famous romance author with two different shows running on Netflix and a movie in post-production.

“No, Mom. This isn’t an only-one-bed romance.” Of course, the little pang in my chest when I think of sharing a bed with Killian pisses me off almost as much as it turns me on.

No. Nope. Not happening.

Uh-uh.

It pisses me off more than it turns me on.

“Damn, Tink. That man looks so fucking hot when he’s sparring. And he’s so much bigger than you. Like holy size kink, batman. I’d let him do anything he wanted to me. The more depraved, the better.”

Mom and I both stare at Dillan, shocked.

“Dillan Laine Ryan—” Mom finally gasps, and Dillan just shrugs and smiles.

“Seriously, Mom. His muscles have muscles. You just know he’d be?—”

“Stop. Please, God, stop.” I shove my spoonful of ice cream in her mouth, and she coughs. Oh well. Definitely the lesser of two evils because if my little sister keeps talking about Killian like that, I might just come up with a less tasty way to shut her up.

I may not want the man, but there was a time... Nope. Not thinking about that.

The little brat swallows the spoonful, then smiles so big, her dimples show.

She licks her lips and runs her finger over the corner of her mouth. “I see how it is.”

“Girls,” Mom warns. “Be nice and use your words. Wait... actually, Dillan. Maybe you should use less words. There are some things even I don’t want to know.” I’d saypoor Momas she stands there cringing, but it serves her right.

“Yeah well, it worked.” The little twat-waffle looks triumphantly between us.

“What worked?” My body tenses, feeling like somehow I just got tricked into something, but I’m not sure what.

“You, big sister, just told me what I needed to know.”

Oh, I so know I’m going to regret this. “And what exactly was that?”

“Killian St. James might be playing the part of bodyguard and boyfriend, but there’s enough truth buried in the lie to make it dangerous. Be careful. He’s supposed to keep you safe, but it sounds like he could be more dangerous than you realize.”

“Dangerous to your heart,” Mom adds, and I can’t help but think the romance author in her has read too many of her own books.

But the truth is they’re not wrong.

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