Page 187 of The Re-Proposal

“You’re hurt.”

“I’m fine.”

“It takes you a while to warm up to people, but when you do, you’re loyal for life. I’m your brother. I know you better than anyone. You’d die for the people you love.” He pauses. “And that includes Joel, doesn’t it? You care about him more than you expected, don’t you?”

“I thought Darrel was the therapist.” I take a sip.

“Well, Ihavebeen going to therapy. Maybe I picked up some skills.”

It’s hard to imagine my stoic, military brother talking about his feelings in therapy.

“Good for you. Is that all?”

“No.” Clay slides a letter over the table.

I stare at it, having seen enough hate mail to know what I’m looking at.

“My team and I have been circumventing your mail. Assessing whether the threats are valid or not. We found this.”

I don’t touch it.

“The sender talks about youand‘everyone you love’ this time. They don’t mention Clarissa by name but—”

My shoulders snap to attention.

Damn.

In the past, these threats meant absolutely nothing to me, but that was before Clarissa. Before I had someone to lose. Someone to protect.

I’m a danger to her.

I tighten my fingers around the hate mail. “Do you know who sent it?”

“Based on the logo, probably your anti-fan group.”

I suck in a tight breath.

“I’ve got a really bad feeling about all this, Cody. I think we should talk to Clarissa—”

“No.”

“She deserves to know about this.”

“I don’t want her to live her life in fear. Not because of me.”

“What do you want to do then?”

“Get her a full detail.”

Clay blinks slowly. “For a full detail, we need her approval.”

I grit my teeth. That willnotbe a pleasant conversation. Clarissa is used to her freedom. There’s a reason I haven’t told her I’ve had someone following her since the Hatchen incident.

Clay’s phone rings.

Mine does too.

His lips curl up and I point. “Island?”

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