Page 2 of Kane (Ghost Ops #4)

He’d been helping her look for a car for months now, but none of them ever met his exacting standards.

She still had Warren’s old beater that he’d loaned her, but she needed to either buy it or give it back.

Warren Trigg was the nicest man she knew.

Even though he’d broken up with her recently, he was still her friend and he’d told her she could keep using the car as long as she needed.

She’d been upset over the breakup, not because she loved Warren or anything, but because his decency had made her feel like she was decent too. So when he told her she wasn’t the kind of woman he wanted to marry, it’d crushed her for a different reason than anyone knew.

She’d told everyone he thought she wasn’t smart enough, that she was too vain.

Warren was too kind to say either of those things, but she’d been drinking that night around the fire when she’d told her friends and she’d let her feelings of self-loathing pour out.

She had been vain at one time, though she wasn’t so much now.

Her old self wouldn’t recognize this version.

“You look like it’s more than the book club. You still upset about Trigg?”

Daphne sniffed and turned her attention to the computer screen again. “None of your business.”

“Just looking out for you, Daph.”

She liked when he called her Daph. She’d never thought of herself as a Daph, or a Daffy, but when these people gave her those nicknames, she liked it. She’d only started going by Daphne when she’d fled New Orleans, but it felt more right than her old name did anymore.

“I need a car, Kane. If you haven’t found one you think is good by the end of the week, I’m buying Warren’s. It feels wrong to keep driving it after we’ve broken up.”

He folded his arms over his chest. She very deliberately did not look at the way it made the muscles of his chest and arms pop. “I’ve been busy. We can go tonight. Or tomorrow.”

“I told you book club is tonight. It needs to be tomorrow.”

“How long does book club last?”

“A couple of hours. We’re starting at six-thirty, and we’ll be at the library tonight, so it’ll be too late when we’re done.”

“Why the library?”

“Paisley Allen. She’s the new librarian since Miss Hettie retired. We’re having a potluck and we’ve invited her to talk about the book with us.”

“So tomorrow then. After work.”

“Works for me.”

“What’s the book?”

She glanced up at him, startled. “The book?”

“That you’re discussing tonight.”

“Why?”

He frowned. “Just being friendly. Don’t friends ask each other questions about the things they’re interested in?”

“Uh, sure. But you’ve never asked before so forgive me for being surprised.”

“I’m asking now. What’s the difference?”

Daphne sucked in a calming breath. “Nothing, I guess. We’re reading a romance novel about dragons and Fae warriors. Nikki picked it.”

“Title?”

She told him. Then she frowned. “Wait a minute—are you asking so you can use this book as one of your flirty pick up lines on the next hot babe to cross your path?”

He scowled. “Why would I do that? I could do a Google search and find a popular romance to talk about if I wanted to. I’m just making conversation here and it’s like pulling teeth from you. Since when did you get so uptight?”

“I’m not uptight,” she said, her ears growing hot. “But I’ve got work to do and you’re distracting me.”

“Didn’t look like you were working. Looked like you were worried about something.”

Daphne made herself smile. “I’m not worried, Kane. Just preoccupied. I’m leaving at five so I need to finish up this inventory sheet and prepare the time cards for the new part-timers Alex hired before I go. That’s all.”

His frown didn’t abate. “Okay. But you know you can tell me anything, right? I’m in your corner, Daph. You wanna talk about Limp Dick Trigg dumping you, I’ll listen. I’ll pat you on the back and tell you he made a huge mistake because he did.”

She thought she should be mad at him calling Warren names, but it felt good that he wanted to defend her and be a friend.

Always a friend. Only a friend.

Probably for the best, really. She didn’t need to get involved with a man like Kane.

A charmer. A man with deep secrets of his own if her instincts were right.

All the One Shot guys had secrets, and all of them could’ve worked for her brother and father they were so similar to the men who had done so over the years.

Except for the integrity thing. That was something the O’Malley family enforcers didn’t have.

They were plenty scary, and they were loyal to her family, but they didn’t have the kind of morals she was pretty certain governed Kane and his friends.

Her father’s people would kill anyone without question so long as they got paid for it.

“I hear you, Kane. Thanks. But I’m not talking about Warren with you. He’s a good man and he wants different things from life than I do. That’s all it is.”

Kane jerked his chin up in an affirmation. “Gotcha, babe. Here if you need me, though.”

“Did you come out here for a reason or was this visit spontaneous?”

He blinked. “Uh, yeah. I was, uh, coming to grab that new Sig from the case. Got a dude who wants to come in later and try it out.”

Daphne was too rattled to figure out why he was making up a lie. And what would be the point anyway? He’d have another bullshit excuse lined up if she called him on this one.

He headed behind one of the glass cases that lined the wall and took out a key to open the sliding doors, reaching in for the weapon and pulling it out. Then he sauntered back the way he’d come, giving her a salute before he disappeared down the hall.

Daphne leaned back in her chair, her heart pounding like she’d run a marathon, her bones melting into her skin with no one there to talk to her and keep the panic at bay.

Trouble was the word that echoed through her mind.

But whether it was about Kane—or Nathan Fader—she had no idea.