The Favor

“If I let this go, if I don’t come down hard on it now, it will not only continue, it will get worse. So tell me who they are. I won’t drop this until I have their names. You’re already well-aware of that. Save yourself any further aggravation and just tell me what I want to know. Consider it an order from your boss.”

I reluctantly gave him the names. “I think two of them are actually on our reception guest list.”

“They won’t be after I tell Chris and Miley to cross them off it.” Sipping at his coffee, he stared at my rings—something he’d begun to do often. I wondered if he’d decided to keep the engagement ring after the divorce.

“Jeff, the two-faced fucker, shook my hand and congratulated me after hearing you and I got married,” Dane went on. “He said we made a great couple and that he’d always thought there was a ‘spark’ there. He’d been ‘rooting’ for us, apparently.”

“You believed him?”

“Not for even a millisecond. He’s not half as good an actor as he believes he is, and I’ve caught him mooning over you often enough to know he’d be far from happy for us. But I didn’t think he’d pull the kind of shit he did last night.”

I set down my cup. “I think he felt emboldened by you hinting at promoting him. I don’t know if the alcohol had muddied his thoughts, but he seemed to believe it meant he was too valuable to o-Verve for you to fire.”

Dane frowned. “There’s only one person in my company who’s an irreplaceable employee. That’s you. Which is why you’re not leaving.”

Explicit memories crawled all over me. “I’m not even touching that subject again.”

His eyes shimmered with something that made my stomach flip, and I wondered if he too was drowning in some very delicious memories.

I didn’t realize I’d fisted my hand until my nails pricked the pad-covered graze on my palm. I uncurled my fingers and gently stroked over the pad.

“Does it hurt much?”

“It itches and stings sometimes, but it’s not so bad.” I leaned against the island. “I called Officer Griffin before I came down here. None of the enquiries into the burglary amounted to anything.”

“That’s not all that surprising, since—”

The buzzer sounded.

I frowned. “Are you expecting anyone?”

“No.” His thumbs tapped on the screen of his phone, and then his brow furrowed. “It’s Kent and Jen.”

Oh, wonderful. Hey, I had nothing against Kent, but his wife was a moron. “You let them in. I’m going to make some cereal. Want anything?”

He shook his head and left the room.

I poured some fruit loops into a bowl, added some milk, and then settled on the stool at the island. I expected Dane to escort his visitors into the den or something, but he brought them to the kitchen. Chewing cereal, I gave them a little wave.

Kent’s smile faded. “What happened to your hand?”

“I was performing a random gravity test but ended up almost giving the sidewalk a hug,” I replied.

Dane came to stand at my side. “A jeep crashed into a car as we were crossing the road,” he told our visitors as they slid onto the stools opposite mine. “The car skidded toward us, so we had to hurry to reach the sidewalk.” He looked down at me. “Thankfully, you reached it before you tripped.”

“I might not have made it if you hadn’t hauled me out of the way.” I put a hand to my chest and sighed up at him. “My hero.” I snickered at the droll look he sent me.

“Thank God neither of you were hit,” said Kent. “What about the passengers? Did they survive?”

“None died or appeared badly injured,” replied Dane.

Jen braced her elbows on the island. “They were lucky, then. As were the two of you.”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t luck for us. It was Dane’s super-human speed and reaction time. Seriously, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d done an Edward Cullen and stopped the moving car with his hand.” I looked up at him. “You’re not a vamp, are you? Because it would explain your predatory nature, aversion to garlic, why you never seem to get sick, how you seem to be able to read my mind, and why you keep biting me during sex. Not that I’m complaining about the latter. It’s hot.”

Dane sighed, but his eyes lit with a faint glimmer of amusement. He gently flicked the diamond on my engagement ring. “You have a drop of milk on your chin.”

I frowned. “You usually don’t complain when I don’t swallow properly. I don’t know where I am with you.”

He fisted my hair and tugged my head back. “Behave.” He pressed a soft kiss to my mouth. “You’re going to pay for that later.” He released my hair. “Eat your cereal.”