Page 50 of Forbidden Kisses

She smiled. "I like this side of you so, so much."

I waggled my eyebrows. "You haven't seen anything yet. Let's sit on the sand and just watch it."

Since the beach was practically ours for the taking, we found a place that was farther away from the taco truck. I sat down behind her, keeping my arms wrapped around hers.

"This is so nice," she whispered. "I love sunsets on the beach."

"Me too," I said as we kept our eyes on the horizon. "Jesus, I haven't done this in I don't even know how long. It's a privilege to watch it with you."

"And you know how to say cool things," she whispered.

As we watched the sun disappear completely, something buzzed.

"Oh, that's my phone," she said. She reached into the small black bag she’d set next to her on the sand and took it out. "It's my sister. I never reject a call from her," she added apologetically.

"Don't do it on my behalf," I said. "I also don't ignore a call from the family.” I liked that we had that in common.

She answered the phone immediately. "Hey, sister!"

Her face instantly transformed, and I knew something was wrong before she said one word.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Duncan

"Oh, my God. Right. Well, stay where you are, okay? Is there anyone else with you? Can you call the police?"

The police? What the fuck is going on?

"Then just stay indoors and don't open up, okay? It doesn't matter if he fires you. He should have fixed the fucking cameras. Be there soon to pick you up.”

She was shaking when she hung up.

"What's wrong?"

"My sister works at a gas station. Someone just robbed the place, and the owner has no camera." Her voice broke. "I need to pick her up."

"Let's go together."

"What do you mean?"

"I've got my car. We'll drive there together. Do you want to call the police?"

"She already did."

"Is she okay? Did he do something to her?"

"He had a knife, but he just waved it around to scare her, thank God.”

Riley was shaking badly. I kept my hand on her shoulder all the way to the car.

"Where exactly does your sister work?" I asked her once we were inside.

"I'll put the address here." She typed it into my app.

"That’s a seedy area.”

"I know. And she lives there too," Riley said in a small voice as I drove off. To my dismay, her eyes watered. "That's why I was hoping to get the job right away instead of waiting for the stupid bar exam results. I want to be able to help her out so she doesn't have to live in that godawful place. She’s working three jobs to put herself through school. It sucks. I've done it for five years, and I don't want my little sister to go through the same thing."