*** HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS AS MUCH AS I DID! (If you haven't already: Buy gold/platinum Privilege tier today to read EVERYTHING you've been waiting for--and platinum tier readers get a 99% discount on ALL other chapters for the month! It's all there in the Valentine's Day special Mass Release!) ***

Dane

​​

"You really think I'd let someone else—"

"I meant innocently! I meant, like, touching your arm or your back. Opening a door for you. Hell, I wish I could stop other men seeing you, Lila."

She rolled her eyes. "What choice do we have? Can we go alone?"

Dane shook his head. "This is one of the primary dates of our calendar. We use it to highlight the reasons why we exist. We always go—they know us now, that's why people like Tish get invited. One of the reasons she was nervous was probably because she wanted to go," he said darkly. "We can't skip it, and if we all went stag it would look…weird. We've never done it before. People would want to know why…" He trailed off as Lila flapped a hand at him and shook her head.

"I get the picture," she said sullenly, then pushed herself back on the couch, drawing up her feet and keeping her knees bent up in front of her, her arms around them. She didn't look at him as she asked, "So, who will you take?"

Dane swore and sat back too, pulling his arm back from behind her. Their upper arms pressed together as they both stared at the coffee table miserably. "I don't know," he said honestly. "Having to pretend and be close to anyone else…it's going to drive me up the wall."

"Well, you better get thinking. It's in two days."

"That's not a problem. I can always find—" he cut himself off, wincing as she flinched away from him.

"Glad to know they're lining up for you," she spat and turned her face away from him. He prayed she wasn't crying.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. Call it a benefit of being rich. It's never hard to find a date."

She turned to gape at him. He waited, but when she didn't say anything he had to ask, "What?"

"Are you seriously trying to say they only make themselves available because you're rich?"

"Well, maybe not the only reason. But probably the biggest one."

She shook her head at him, her mouth still open.

"What?"

"For a smart guy, sometimes you're incredibly dense, Dane," she said. He started to argue but she shook her head and looked away. "It doesn't matter. Look, we have to do this, so let's just do it, okay. But… I want the record to show that I hate it. I hate being away from you. I hate letting someone else touch you. And I hate hiding."

"Me too," he said quietly, pulling her towards him as he slumped back into the corner of the couch. She resisted at first, but when he kissed her hair and laid down, propped into the corner, she relaxed and let herself slide down so her head rested on his chest.

He combed his fingers through her hair and rested his head on hers. She sighed and snuggled into his chest.

Dane finally felt like he could breathe.

*****

Lila

She didn't know why, but she couldn't bring herself to kiss him. She felt…wounded. Afraid. Even though she knew he hated this as much as she did, there was still a little piece of her that kept screaming the minute he had a chance to be alone with a woman who wasn't in danger of being hunted by his father, that he'd take it. Release his tension.

A mental image of him pressing some curvy model into a wall and kissing her the way he'd kissed Lila the first time flashed in her head and she tensed.

Dane had been dozing, his breathing slow and steady. But when she stiffened he jolted awake immediately, still and listening. "What is it?"

She shook her head. "Just a bad idea," she said.

"You have those?"

"Ha ha. I was thinking about going to the fundraiser alone anyway—since I'm new to town and busy, I could get away with it as long as they don't already think I'm with you, right? But then I thought about being there by myself and watching you with someone else…" she trailed off into a groan.

"Stop torturing yourself. And me."

"You've seriously never gone to one of these things alone?"

"It isn't the done thing. Even Chris always has a date."

"You say that like it's a surprise," she replied dryly.

"Frankly, I don't see the appeal. You women are weird," he said. She elbowed him and he chuckled. Then she pushed herself up so she could look him in the eye.

He looked delicious, curled up on her couch, his head propped up, hair in his eyes, tie pulled loose and his top buttons undone, the shirt wrinkled. Thoughtlessly, she put her hands at the highest button he'd left closed, and her mind flashed on his words that afternoon in the breakroom.

She yanked her hand away like it burned her. But Dane caught her hand and put it on his chest, flattening it there with his own. "Stop torturing yourself," he said softly, using one finger to push a strand of hair off her face.

She nodded, focusing on the warmth of his palm keeping her hand pinned to his broad chest. "Maybe we could convince the whole team to go alone," she quipped. "So it doesn't look suspicious when we do."

"Chris would have kittens. Let's do it," he replied, smiling.

"We could go as a tribe like me and my friends used to in high school when no one asked us so we were…" she trailed off, her mouth dropping open.

"What?" Dane pushed up on his elbow, frowning at her.

"A unified front," she said breathlessly.

"What?"

She bit her lip. "Look, one of the reasons I think we should go is to look strong. Like we're still working for the things that are important to you, even though it's an awful time—Dane, it's perfect. We could literally use it in the press: Daniels Security Team Raise Money for Victims of Violence."

"What are you talking about?"

She put both hands to his chest and leaned in. "I'm saying we make all of them not bring dates—that we all go. As a team. We present a united front. We 'leak' that we're so busy working to find Becky's killer that it was something we decided to do together, to show how much we believe in you and the whole cause of women's safety."

Dane blinked. "All of us go stag."

"Yes! And we make it something the Press know coming in. A story. A stunt. We can literally make it work in the company's favor—and not have to torture each other. Dane, it's perfect. If they'll do it? Do you think they'll do it?"

"The team?"

She nodded, nervous.

Dane snorted. "There's an advantage to having a reputation for being an unreasonable boss. People don't question the strange things you tell them to do," he said, smiling his real smile for the first time.

Lila felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "Do it. Let's do it! You'll have to let them know, some of them might already have dates. And that'll suck, but—"

"Who cares. It's for positive publicity. They can take one for the team. I'll give them an extra day off to make up for it, or something." He was already pulling out his phone. "I'll text them all now."

"Dane, it's after ten o'clock."

"Again, the advantage to being seen as an asshole: No one expects you to pay attention to basic manners."

She snorted and snuggled into the crook of his arm while he set up a text group with all those invited to the fundraiser.

SORRY TEAM, WE HAVE A PUBLICITY

STRATEGY: FUNDRAISER IS NOW A

TEAM BUILDING EXERCISE. WE'RE PRESENTING

A UNITED FRONT. IF YOU HAVE A DATE,

CANCEL IT. WE'RE ALL GOING ALONE. TOGETHER.

He pressed send and Lila giggled, then snuggled deeper into his chest. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be so happy but…"

"I know," he said quietly and turned her chin up to look at him. "I get it."

She shifted, rolling over so she was facing him, leaning over him, on his chest. He just stared at her like she was the sun and that thrilling combination of desire and bittersweet grief spiraled through her. She put her hands to his face. "You're amazing sometimes, you know that?" she whispered. "God, I love you so much. I just…" then she trailed off in horror as it hit her what she'd said and she gasped, clapping a hand to her mouth and scrambling back from him. "Oh my—I didn't—I mean, I'm not—you don't have to say it, Dane, I wasn't thinking, I just—"

But his eyes lit up. Ignoring her protests, he sat up enough to pull her back into him. When she froze, he slid a hand to her face and pulled her into a kiss so deep and searing, she almost forgot what she'd said. When she stopped trying to speak and just fell into his kiss, he leaned even deeper into her, his tongue teasing hers until she was gasping.

Then he pulled away and met her wide eyes.

"I love you, too," he whispered huskily. "Never doubt it, Lila."

And he kissed her again.