Page 57 of The Bad Wedding Date

“So, what you do is illegal.”

“Sometimes.”

“But honourable?”

“That’s what we aim for.”

“Dangerous?”

“Sometimes,” he said again, and even though I kept waiting for his mouth to rise into a smile and for him to bend over laughing, neither smile nor amusement came. Fraser’s expression remained steely. Everything he said was real.

“How often is it dangerous?” I asked.

“Whenever we choose it to be.”

I swallowed again, not liking the sound of that but also unable to deny that, of course, Fraser was a hero. Of course he liked to save people. Of course he stepped in where others wouldn’t. Hadn’t that been what he’d done for me already today after knowing me for so little time?

“Let’s say I believe you,” I pushed out. “Where do I come into all of this? Why am I here with you now?”

“At first, you were just a way into the wedding.”

“Our chance meeting at the bus stop…”

“… was planned.”

He may as well have stuck a knife in my chest, the pain swelled, so very real.

“You used me?” I nodded, realising that that particular truth was easier to swallow than for me to think he could have been interested in me in the slightest. “Why?”

“We needed a way into the wedding.”

“And I was the weak link…”

“On paper, yes, you were our best bet. Your file showed us you weren’t like the rest of them. You were more human, more approachable, more—”

“Myfile?” I interrupted, eyes wide.

“We had to gather as much information on you as we could to know if it would work or not.”

“So, everything I’ve talked to you about today, all the things I’ve said and all the questions you asked… you already knew the answers?”

“No. I knew your height, your age, your date of birth, where you worked. All the bullshit anyone can find these days from looking on social media. I didn’t know the other stuff. I didn’t know you—this woman who is clearly so fucking tired of everything she’s had thrown at her but is too proud to admit it. I may have known who you were on some report, but I asked those questions today because I wanted to know everything else. All of it. Even the ugly parts you think you hide so well.”

I rubbed at my chest and looked away from him. “I know I asked for honesty, but…”

“I’m not trying to hurt you.”

“Then, you should have stayed away completely.”

“That would have been easier, I suppose.” Fraser slid off the sofa arm onto the seat beside me. His knees touched mine, and I looked up at him, hating how my heart galloped faster now because he was so close. So handsome, so real, and so, so close. “Dean was meant to be the one to meet you and convince you to let him tag along. He’s the guy the women love—men, too. He’s our sweet smile in a dark world, and we use him as much as we can. He loves it. He loves that role, knows his strengths, and he’s damn good at what he does.”

“Why didn’t he come to me?”

“I wouldn’t let him.”

“I don’t understand.” I scowled.

“I took one look at you at that bus stop today, and I just knew it had to be me who got to spend the day with you.”

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