Page 54 of Moonlit Colorado

“I haven’t decided. I have responsibilities here.”

“Cancel them. If it’s volunteer stuff, Piper and I will cover for you. If it’s work, then take your laptop. You can do most things your clients need on the computer, can’t you?”

“Yeah.” Some of my clients weren’t even in Silver Ridge. Plus I was pretty well caught up on work. I didn’t do things like this, though. Just taking off for a long weekend, obligations be damned.

“You have to go,” Emma said.

“The thing is…” Ugh, how did I put this in a way that wouldn’t get back to my brother? “If I do, I have no idea what will happen between me and Dane. If you know what I mean. That freaks me out.”

Her smile faltered. “You think he’ll do something you don’t want?”

“No,” I whispered, glancing in Maisie’s direction. She wasn’t listening. “Not at all. It’s how much I wanthimthat freaks me out. He’s always telling me how beautiful I am. He wants to spoil me in New York. Who says things like that?”

Dane was interested in me, sure. He had made that plenty clear. He lived a jet setter lifestyle, though. I thought of those socialites on his arm. The practiced way he used his charm. There was no way he wanted more than a fling with me.

No, for that man, fling was the wrong word.Liaison. Much sexier.

Slowly, Emma grinned. “Never mind about liking you. He’s crazy obsessed with you.”

Maisie chose that moment to get interested in our conversation. “Who’s crazy?”

Emma crossed the living room and bent down to tickle her. “Me! I’m crazy about you and your dad.”

“I already knew that,” Maisie said between giggles.

I smiled as I watched them, but inside, I wondered what the heck I should do. Because there was no way I could go on a trip with Dane without jumping him. I considered myself a strong woman, but I had my limits.

Dane had tested every one of them.

He’d been enticing when he was just a stranger at a masquerade ball. But the thought of going to bed with Dane Knightly, the generous, sophisticated, gorgeous billionaire who seemed to findmeirresistible… It was enough to make my blood pressure rise to unhealthy levels.

I might not survive the actual sex. Death by orgasm.

But if all he wanted from me was sex, that was a good thing, wasn’t it? I wouldn’t truly be risking my heart.

If I already knew the end was coming, then it wouldn’t break me when he inevitably walked away.

FIFTEEN

Dane

While the girlswent into the living room, Ashford stuck by me in the kitchen. I opened the fridge and took out a few bottles of sparkling water.

“This is a nice place,” Ashford said.

My buddy hated small talk as much as I did, and he wasn’t nearly as good at it. “You can say whatever it is you want to say. Hit me with it.”

He crossed his arms and pushed out his chest. “It’s something Callum told me. He thought it was weird that you just happened to be with Grace last night, and then she was so quick to leave with you. He thinks there’s something going on with you two.”

“Did he ask Grace? Did you?”

“She doesn’t like when we get overprotective. That’s why I’m asking you. Especially since she spent the night here. And not in some hotel room on another floor, but here in your suite.”

“Yes, she did. You’re not the only one who’s protective.”

Ashford’s jaw tightened. “Grace told me that you two met at your grand-opening party. Which you didn’t bother to tell me.”

I tried to keep the surprise off my expression, though I wasn’t sure I was successful. But I was glad she’d shared that tidbit with her brother. I didn’t want to lie to my friend. “I didn’t think it was crucial to tell you.” It was true enough. But if he already knew she’d been at the grand opening, then would she mind me sharing the potential tie between that night and the break-in?

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