Page 52 of Dangerous Men

“Ashton loves the limelight,” I say. There are fewer than ten profiles left, and I’m quickly running out of suspects. “And Sterling was born to boss everyone around. Viper and I, we prefer working in the shadows. It suits us.”

“Who’s Viper?” she asks, curious.

Fuck.

I grind my teeth together and minimize my research, furious at myself for the slip-up.Thisis why I hate talking to people.Thisis why I don’t want to waste my time making small talk. I keep my voice just as calm and casual as before as I answer her. “He’s the last of our little gang. We’re a bit like brothers, the four of us.”

“Oh.” Sydney twists her hands together again, nervously. When I glance up to watch her, her eyes are full of questions I’d rather leave unanswered. “When will I get to meet him?”

Never, if she wants to live to see another day in her happy little world. She’s lucky he’s away, following up on a business deal gone wrong in Seneca, where Alec has been pushing out our territory. Far, far away from this fragile girl and hercutelittle shop.

“Ask Sterling,” I say.

She shifts a little, from foot to foot, and I finally can’t stand it any longer. Her hovering is making me anxious, and it’s impossible for me to concentrate like this.

“Leave or sit,” I tell her. “Your choice, but pickone.”

I want to take it back immediately when she slides into the chair next to me, smoothing the skirt of her sundress over her legs. Great. Just great.

“Can you answer something for me?” she asks, watching me, hands still nervously smoothing her clothing. “Honestly, I mean.”

Probably not.

“Maybe,” I say.

“Are you here to watch me?” she asks.

Now that? That’s a surprising question. I look away frommy laptop and lean back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest and finally giving her my full attention.

I can almost see the attraction. She’s beautiful. Sexy, in an effortless girl-next-door kind of way. The image of her on that bed, back arched, is burned into my memory.

“Yes,” I answer truthfully.

“Did they ask you to do that? Alec and Ash, I mean?”

I don’t answer that one. Obviously, they did. Why on earth would I be here wasting my time otherwise?

“Does that bother you?” I ask her instead, tilting my head to the side as I say it. “That they want to keep an eye on you?”

She shrugs, idly drawing patterns on the table’s surface with her finger.

“I’m not sure yet,” she tells me. She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth as she considers it. “I barely know them, and they’re having me watched? Doesn’t that seem a bit…intense?”

I snort a laugh but don’t respond. “Intense” barely scratches the surface of the two of them.

But my reaction does something to her. She grins at me like she finally broke through my façade, like that one little sound means we’re becomingfriendly.

We’re not.

“I like Alec,” she tells me, gifting the words to me like I’m her confidant. She smiles a little more when she admits it. “He’s…sweet. Really sweet.”

I straighten my glasses, expression neutral. I can’t imagine anyone calling Alecsweet, but I’m not about to shatter whatever twisted fantasy she’s concocted about my idiot brothers.

“And Ash is, well… Ash.” She shrugs like that explains enough. And maybe it does. I nod without thinking. “But I don’t know if all of this is…right for me.”

Good. Maybe she’s smarter than I initially gave her credit for, if she’s figuring that out all on her own.

This girl isn’t strong enough to survive one day in our world. It’ll be better for everyone if she stays right here, in hercutelittle store, and my brothers go back to doing what they do best. To whatwedo best.