“I’m not a good person,” he told her with a tension that insisted she understand what he was trying to tell her. “I have enemies. Lots and lots of enemies. Some who would not hesitate to destroy me and everyone I have ever met. Had you been any other woman, that first night would have been the beginning and end of us. I would have sent you home and never thought of you again, because that is how I like my relationships. Because that is how I keep them safe.”
“Because you’re cursed,” she whispered, remembering his words over lunch the other day.
His chin lowered so he was peering down at his feet. “People I get close to die horribly and you…” He raised his head to fix her with an intensity that dried the spit in her mouth. “You are the only woman I can’t seem to let go and that makes me the most selfish son of a bitch in the world, but it also means that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe, even if it means having you angry with me.”
But she wasn’t angry, not anymore. She was sad, frustrated, and a whole lot tired.
“They’re not very friendly,” she mumbled. “And they scare people.”
The left corner of his mouth quirked. “That’s their job.”
She sighed. “What about Vi and Mrs. Tompkins? If I’m not safe then they’re not safe.”
He pushed to his feet. “I have men stationed by the house and another watching over your sister.”
Men stationed by the house. Men following her, following Vi. Men with guns and watchful eyes. It was all too much. Her own life had never meant overly much to her, but she had sacrificed everything to keep her sister safe. Instead, she had put them both in a position that required those men and those guns.
“Juliette?”
One hand pressed flat to her pounding chest, she put the other up to ward him off when he took a step towards her.
“I … I need a minute.”
She turned away, but there was nowhere to go except to walk into the doors. So she stood there and stared at the slabs of wood, at the three squares carved down each one and the gold handles. Her chest ached where her heart kept repeatedly slamming into muscle and bone. But no matter how hard she tried, her brain had become a wasteland of nothing. Its blankness fueled the impatience and fear she was fighting so hard to keep at bay and she hated herself. Hated the weakness. The inability to think of a way out of what was possibly eminent death.
“Make them disappear.” She spun on her heels and peered at the man across the room. “Can you do that?”
Confusion tugged his brows together. “You want me to kill them?”
Juliette blinked. “What? No! I meant put them somewhere safe. Give them new identities or something. Hide them somewhere far away. I’ll stay with you. I’ll put up with your men following me, but Vi and Mrs. Tompkins … I can’t put their lives at risk because I can’t let you go either.”
A muscle tightened in the set slash of his jaw. “You won’t ever see her again if I do. She can’t ever come back.”
The knot in her stomach tightened until she nearly blacked out from the pain. But she breathed through it slowly.
“You said you’d do anything for me if I let you.” She started towards him. “This is what I want, Killian. If the time ever comes and something happens to me, promise me you’ll keep my sister safe.”
Anger flickered across opaque eyes, hot and formidable. It flared in his nostrils and turned his beautiful mouth into a thin, white line.
“I promise to keep her safe, but if the day comes when I have to pick between saving you or saving her—”
“You will pick her!”
“No, Juliette. I won’t.”
Dread settled on her heart, causing it to crash down to her ankles in a messy splatter.
“Killian, please. She’s sixteen.” Juliette crossed to stand before him. “She didn’t ask for this. I’m the one who put her in danger.”
He turned away. His shoes clipped softly as he made his way around the desk and lowered himself down into his chair. Springs creaked with his weight. He settled back and steepled his fingers. He watched her over the tips for several agonizingly long minutes.
“I’ll handle it.”
She didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded like an agreement and that was how she would take it, because deep down, she knew Killian would follow through on his word. He may not have been a nice person, as he put it, but he was someone who honored a promise and that was what she needed.
Juliette sucked in a breath. “Thank you.” She expelled the breath and willed herself to relax a fraction. “I’m sorry for calling your men goons. That wasn’t very nice of me.”
His facial muscles softened. “No, it wasn’t. Tyson looked pretty hurt.”
Chuckling, she glanced down at the papers still sitting on his desk. A thick wad of very official looking documents she couldn’t hope to comprehend.
“I keep interrupting your work.”
Killian followed the line of her gaze. “Aye, but you’re far more interesting than a merger agreement.”
“What are you merging?”
He leaned back in his chair and motioned her around to his side of the desk. Juliette went and was tugged by gentle hands into his lap. Up close, the papers looked no less official or complex, but there were two names on the cover letter that she did recognize.
“You own Off The Shelf Books?”
Off The Shelf Books was a three story bookstore large enough to be its own city. Juliette had never had the time to go inside and explore, but she’d heard the place actually came with a map and that alone had landed the place on her must see before I die list.
“No, I own the bistro next door.”
“Pause.”
Another place she’d never visited, but not because she didn’t enjoy coffee or lacked the commitment to stand in line for two hours for a cup. It was the cost of said brew that kept her away; unless the cup came dipped in gold and the brew was some exotic blend of alien blood and unicorn shavings, she didn’t see the need to pay ten bucks a pop.
“So you’re merging the two?” she asked.
Killian nodded. “Off The Shelf wants to bring coffee to its customers. I happen to own one that shares a wall and makes good business.”
Juliette made a humming sound of agreement. “Smart.” She leaned back against the chest cradling her back and rested her head against his broad shoulder. Against her abdomen, his intertwined fingers tightened. “I’ve never been to either,” she confessed. “But I hear good things about both so I think it’s a great idea. Not that I’m telling you how to run your business.” She yawned mid speech, but kept talking around it with one hand pressed to her mouth. “That would go against the contract.”
“Tired?” Killian’s lips brushed her temple, tickling the skin with his stubble.
“I’d forgotten how exhausting shopping can be,” she admitted. “But I got a ton of really cute outfits so that makes me excited.”
“Did you and Vi have fun?”
All thoughts of sleep vanished at the mention of her sister. Eyes she’d closed in relaxation popped open and she stared at the door across the room.
“She couldn’t make it,” she said, trying not to show just how much that fact hurt her. “She was busy.”
It wasn’t necessarily a lie. Juliette had rushed home, excited to share her great news with Mrs. Tompkins and Vi only to have her sister tell her she had more important things to do than shop with someone who had no taste. Apparently she’d made plans with her friends and wouldn’t be home until late. Juliette hadn’t stopped her. She’d gone upstairs to shower and change and head to the mall alone. It wasn’t until she’d walked through the familiar glass doors that she realized just how pathetic she was. Only years earlier, she’d stalked through those shops with her friends as though she owned the entire damn building. Now, she couldn’t even get her kid sister to join her. But at least she’d had John and Tyson, who, in a strange sort of way, had kind of made her feel not so alone.