Page 79 of Forbidden Protector

“I mean it,cara. I’m not sure what I would have done if you hadn’t been there last night.”

“But I was there. No ifs.”

“No ifs.” He plants a soft kiss on my forehead. It feels so natural it takes me a second to realize we’re not actually a couple. “But we should probably face the music.”

“Okay.” I shoot him a glance. “Together?”

He takes my hand in response and leads me through the doors.

Outside, the warehouse is bustling with people once more, and as we make our way to Connor’s office, we turn more than a few heads. But still, Arnie doesn’t let go of my hand.

“Hey!”

We turn to see a dark-haired woman waving at us from the distillery. Arnie freezes up, and I suddenly remember our brief interaction the day before.

“Friend of yours?” I ask Arnie innocently.

“Yeah.”

I look back over to see the woman’s smile fading into something akin to disappointment when Arnie doesn’t acknowledge her. “We should say hello then.”

“Now’s not the time.”

“Hey!” I wave back to the woman as I pull Arnie over.

She looks a little unsure as the two of us make our way to her desk, but her bright smile is plastered on her face again when we get there. She’s staring only at Arnie. Although I don’t miss the way her eyes occasionally drop to our entwined hands.

Arnie looks like he’d rather be anywhere else.

“What have you been up to?” she teases, reaching to touch him on his other arm. “It’s been a while since you stopped by.”

“We were here yesterday,” he replies stiffly.

“But you didn’t come to see me,” she pouts.

I bite my tongue. I’ve dealt with girls like this before, ones that crave male attention like an addiction. Juilliard is full of them, but LA was even worse. Any man with even a smidge of power or authority was usually claimed by someone like the brunette in front of me. And they do not relinquish that claim easily.

“Roisin, this is Diane.” Arnie diverts the attention of the conversation onto me, and I hope she reads the smile I give her as a warning to back off. “She’s the mixologist in charge of your brother’s distillery.”

“It’s half your distillery, too, remember,” she teases before throwing me a sickly sweet look. “Arnie is always so modest.”

Two can play at that game, bitch.

“Oh, I know,” I purr, running my free hand through his tousled curls. “He hasn’t even gotten me a ring yet!”

Diane blinks at me for a moment before gasping melodramatically. “You’re getting married and you didn’t tell me?”

“Why would he?” I laugh. “You’re just colleagues.”

“We’re a lot closer than just colleagues, aren’t we, Arnie?” She gives the man in question insufferable doe-eyes. “He’s my best friend.”

I step in before Arnie can respond. “That’s funny. He’s never spoken about you.”

Diane’s eyebrows furrow into a pitying look. “It’s okay. I know how funny some women get around me. He probably just didn’t want you to get jealous.”

“I fail to see what I should be jealous of.” I give her a once-over for emphasis.

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but marriages these days?” She leans in closer as if to tell me a shocking secret. “They don’t tend to last as long as they used to.”

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