Page 70 of Enemies

I extend my legs in front of us. “Business came up.”

I feel her turn toward me. “Why do all this if you weren’t going to participate?”

“Because you deserve it.”

She turns that over. Her black shorts and sleeveless top leave her long, curvy limbs on display. Her hair, swept up in two piles on top of her head, makes my fingers itch.

“No one deserves to rent a forty-five-meter boat,” she decides.

My lips twitch. “Charter.”

I think about Leni’s suggestion that we could use Rae to get good press. To show the world Echo Entertainment is moving in the right direction. A month ago, she wouldn’t have considered it. But now…

“Look!” Beck calls, leaning over the front row of seats. “Remember the releases you signed for this clip from your wedding party in LA? We used the footage.”

Annie and Rae are in the background, and as the video captures Beck’s speech, Rae stiffens next to me.

“What is it?” I ask, instantly on alert.

“At the party, I had bruises on my wrists. A fan got past security the night I played your club and grabbed me.”

Every muscle in my body goes tight, anger simmering up from somewhere deep and dark.

“You told me another woman was hurt,” I grind out. “You didn’t tell me you were hurt.”

She returns to watching the screen, but I can’t.

Annie laughs in the front row, and Tyler ducks his head to kiss her, making her laugh more.

“I can’t promise to have every woman’s back,” I hear myself say. “But I will do my utmost to ensure that never happens in my clubs again. And I will damned well have yours.”

Rae stiffens for a moment, then relaxes.

I rest my thumb and forefinger at the back of her neck, pressing lightly through the rest of the show.

18

RAE

Dinner is chef-prepared and exquisite, and I wish I could enjoy it fully.

From the head of the table, barefoot in chinos and a white shirt, Harrison watches me with a protectiveness that’s unsettling. But somewhere between the cool evening breeze, the laughter on the air, and his grin when he brings out the cake, I can’t hate it.

Beck insists on feeding me cake, and I don’t realize until I’m laughing through a delicious bite that Harrison has gone still.

Annie groans, bracing an arm on the railing as we sit on the lounging deck after dessert. “That was better than sex.”

“I came at least twice just from the cake.” Elle rubs her stomach.

“Where’s the testosterone?” Ash appears from belowdecks, his hair blowing in the night breeze.

“Drinking at the other end of the boat.”

Ash’s smile vanishes as he cranes his neck that way. “Hollywood too?”

I shift forward. “You don’t like Beck.”

“The guy made us watch his home movie,” he gripes.

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