Page 33 of Betrayal

“Most people don’t get the chance to even think about it.”She patted his chest, her heart galloping.

“I’ve been invited to a party on Saturday night.Come with me?”

“You were saving this up for the penultimate moment?”Anna glanced over his shoulder, recognising the plate number on the car approaching them.She tilted her head to the side, unsure of her next step.“Did I pass some kind of test?”

“I wasn’t planning on going,” he admitted.

“And now you are?”She started along the path to the ride share.

“If you’ll go with me?”

“What’s the party?”She’d thought she’d caught glimpses of the man behind the mask tonight.The sudden invitation to a party he hadn’t planned to attend reawakened all her cautious instincts.

“Posh.Eastern suburbs.Marygai Renouf, a friend of my mother’s.”

“Will your mother be there?”Meeting his mother would be a ...step into new territory.

“My mother died a few years ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So am I.”He leaned forward to double-check the ride was hers, and his concern for her safety cemented her decision.

“Yes,” she said.His mother’s friend lived at a posh location, and he’d been couch-surfing at sixteen.Was he dropping another veil or adding a new one?

“I’ll pick you up.”His expression didn’t change.

“I’ll meet you there.”Anna slid into the car.“Text me the address.”

He leaned forward to brush his lips across hers.“I’ll call.”

* * *

“What are you doing?”Casildo demanded when Hunter returned upstairs.

“Negotiating a long-term lease for part of a floor in The Hariri building.”Hunter essayed an innocent grin.He didn’t know what the hell he was doing, just that every time he left Anna Turner, he started counting the minutes until he could see her again.

“Bull dust, my friend.”

“Any objective observer can read Bizgos and see I’ve bought a new building and am leasing floors.”

“Did you feed that blogger, who I’m convinced is Nick’s gossip pigeon, the line that you’ve overstretched resources and might have been summoned to see your bank?”

“Not directly.”Hunter looked down his nose at his friend.“I finessed him through a third party.”

“As a cover for your seduction of Anna.”Cas stood hipshot.

“Am I trespassing?”The flash of knowledge he’d fight for her unsettled Hunter.Fight for what?A few kisses, time with her?

“Al’ama.”Casildo threw his hands in the air.“No, you’re not trespassing.I’ve seen her at work functions for years.If I’d been interested, I’d have made a move before now.”

Cas was as cautious about women as Hunter.

“I like her but know nothing about her other than what she chooses to share.”

“So, she’s a private person.”Hunter breathed out the tension that had hit like a sucker punch.

“She’s capable, loyal and the dress was—"