Page 53 of Dangerous Men

Because now is the worst time possible for them to be distracted like this.

“You seemed comfortable enough with them before,” I tell her, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. I say it without thinking, remembering how easily she had come for them while I watched, and to cover, I quickly add, “Seemed like flirting with two rich men came quite easily to you.”

She flinches at that. A direct hit. “I’m not…it wasn’teasy,”she insists. There’s a flare of anger in her eyes when she says it, and that flash of emotion beneath her perfectly curated nice-girl persona is intriguing. “And I don’t care that they’rerich. I didn’t even know who they were!”

I don’t say anything, letting my silence speak for itself.Methinks the lady doth protest too much.Her obvious sensitivity to what I said makes me think I’ve hit the right nerve. Maybe that’s her game. Just another gold digger trying to get her claws into Alec’s fortune.

How boring. How utterly plebeian.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” she adds defensively when I don’t react, rapping her fingertip hard against the table for emphasis.

“If you’re not doing anything wrong—if all of this is perfectly fine and normal—then why are you here complaining to me about it?” I press. I know I’m probably being an asshole, but I really can’t bring myself to care. If my attitude is enough to scare her away, then what would Viper do?

Send her screaming. That’s what.

“I wasn’t trying to complain,” she responds haughtily. “Listen, you obviously know them. And you’re acting like this isnormal. But it’snot. It’s not normal to send someone to watch over the woman you’re… I don’t know, the woman you’recourting.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Courting?” I repeat in a mocking tone. “I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself, don’t you?”

That curious flash of anger, quickly repressed again. Tragic. It might be the only interesting thing about her I’ve seen so far.

She takes a deep breath through her nose, closing her eyes as she does it. When she opens them again, that spark of anger is gone, and the dull, boring girl is back.

“I’m just scared,” she admits, hugging herself as she says it. “Scared of losing myself in someone else, I guess. Being with them feels like being pulled into a riptide. And I worry I might not resurface this time.”

She looks at me, then, as though remembering who she’s speaking to. “But why would you care? You’re obviouslyextremelybusy with…whatever the hell adoctor accountantdoes.”

This time, she almost pulls a real laugh from me. My lips twitch up a fraction.

“If you’re so worried about that, why not just walk away?” I ask.Make it easier on me, I want to say. Get out before I have to waste any more of my time here.

“Not that it’sanyof your business, but I just got out of a bad relationship, okay? And Alec makes me feel…good.” She exhales slowly, and I get the impression she’s speaking more to herself now than to me. “And maybe I need that right now. Maybe after the shit he put me through, I deserve to feel good.”

“‘He’ being your ex,” I say. Not a question, just a statement. “Chase Levine.”

Sydney frowns, brows furrowing as she turns back to me.

“How do you know his name?” she asks, eyeing me suspiciously.

Fuck.

Lie or truth? I consider the consequences of both before deciding. “I just finished reviewing his employment contract this morning. And started drafting his termination notice, on Sterling’s orders.”

Sydney’s face goes blank.

Huh. I guess I should have lied.

“Alec was serious about that?” she asks, voice cold.

I stay quiet, watching her.

Her eyes narrow. That fire is back, raging in her gaze as her lip lifts in an angry sneer.

“This isn’t his fight. And it’sdefinitelynotyours,”she seethes. “If Alec fires him, I’m canceling our date,” she tells me, a surprising amount of steel in her voice. “Tell him that.”

“I’ll be sure to pass along the message,” I say, just the barest hint of amusement creeping into my voice.

She stands up, pushing her chair back too hard. She looks ready to storm off, but before she does, her eyes focus on the sandwich she’d brought me, forgotten on the table.