Page 11 of Act of Passion

Boomer pursed his lips. “Yeah. Kidding. So is that a yes to meeting us for dinner and then clubbing? We can meet you in the lobby here if youwant.”

Brooke shook her head no, only to find Edee stepping forward. “Oh, we’ll be there. Whattime?”

“Give us an hour. We’ll need thirty minutes of that to convince Malik not to kill us for taking him from yourfriend.”

“Me?” Brooke asked, her eyes wide. “But he doesn’t evenknowme.”

“Doesn’t change that he wants you safe, and he wants to inflict a lot of pain on the guy who hurt and threatened you,” said Boomer, heading for the elevator. “You should know, we’ll all step in and kill the asshat if he dares to hurt either ofyou.”

Malik snarled and struggled to get free from his friends’grasp.

Brooke didn’t like seeing him behave that way. It did something to her that she couldn’t explain. Before she thought better of it, she hurried over and reached for him, touching his scruffy jawline. “Stop. Please. I don’t wantthis.”

His nostrils flared. “He hurtyou.”

Duke and Striker lookedconcerned.

Brooke kept her hand on Malik’s cheek. “And you hurt him right back. Thank you. But if you can’t control your temper, then how are you any different from the otherguy?”

That did it. Malik stopped struggling against his friends and went still. “I’dneverhurtyou.”

“I know,” she said, feeling deep in her gut that he was telling the truth. He’d never harm her. “I just, well, I don’t like seeing you like this. I can’t explain it. Can youstop?”

“Malik, she’s meeting us for dinner in an hour. You’ll see her again,” saidBoomer.

“You will be at dinner,” Malik said in a way that was a declaration, not aquestion.

Brooke lifted abrow.

“Corbin once told me the lasses do nae like to be ordered about in today’s day and age,” said Striker with a huff. “The sex clubs I go to are full of lasses wanting me to take control. I do nae know if the Brit has a clue about women but the look on yer woman’s face says Corbin might have been on to something. She’s nae British too, is she? If she is,run!”

Malik cleared his throat. “Please meet me in anhour.”

She nodded and drew her hand off his cheek slowly, liking touching him more than she should. “Try not to maim anyone on the way to yourroom.”

His lips quirked. “Nopromises.”

He backed into the open elevator and his friends all seemed relieved. Malik caught the door before it could close. “Wait. What is yourname?”

“Brooke,” she replied, smiling wide. He’d done all he had for her all while never knowing hername.

He let the door close, his dark gaze never leaving her as itdid.

Edee eased up alongside her. “Honey, I have no idea what happened, but that man has it bad for you. Tell me you’re going to entertain making him yourfirst.”

Brooke glanced at her best friend in all the world and took a deep breath. “Oh yeah, I’m entertaining it all right. More than entertainingit.”

Edee laughed long and loud. “That’s my girl. I knew I had to rub off on you at somepoint.”

Chapter Four

Edee peekedher head into the bathroom as Brooke finished applying mascara. “Oh, you lookhot.”

Brooke frowned. “Is it toomuch?”

Edee snorted. “Honey, if you’d have let me dress you, I’d have put you in a mini skirt that barely covered your ass. You’re in a dress that hangs to your ankles. It’s not too much. It’s you. It’s justright.”

She stepped back from the mirror. “Edee, that was weird tonight, right? I mean, the way Malik reacted on mybehalf?”

---