Page 55 of Trust

She knocked and waited for Conner to respond.

“Come in, Emily.”

She took another deep breath and opened the door. Conner was leaning against his big desk. In his early forties, her boss was a hottie. Lean and muscular, the former FBI agent was definitely dreamy. The fact that he was a dedicated father with two kidsand insanely in love with his wife added to the appeal. He wore jeans and a button-down shirt, the sleeves rolled up.

“Hey, boss.”

His brow furrowed. “Why do you look like that?”

She would not shift her weight. She knew that was a tell with her. “Like what?”

“Like you’re about to be fired.”

“I’m worried about why you would call me in on a Sunday afternoon.”

It took a second, but his eyes widened. “Oh, sorry. The brothers are fine, as far as I know. Or as fine as your family can be.”

She released a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. It was then she realized there was another person in the room. Turning, her eyes widened.

A young woman sat on the comfy couch Conner kept in his office. With golden eyes and long dark hair, Hawaiian wore a pair of shorts and a t-shirt with the Kingston Surfing logo on it. Emily took in her appearance and the bandage on her right knee. There was also a scrape on her right cheek.

“Lani Kingston, how the heck are you?”

“I’ve been better,” she said, her lyrical voice filled with trepidation.

“You two know each other?”

She glanced over at Conner. “Yeah. The one year I went to school here.” Before the Marines decided to move them. Again.

“This might work better than I thought.”

She turned to look at her boss. “What might work?”

“Ms. Kingston has come to us for protection. I would like you to be that protection.”

That explained the bandaged knee. “I feel there is a but coming.”

“Ms. Kingston?”

It wasn’t normal for the boss to cede the explanation of any job, but he apparently knew Lani just needed some kind of control.

“Please, call me Lani.”

Her gaze moved to Emily, and memories came flooding back to her. Emily had always been awkward—still was—but being a military kid made each move extremely difficult. Lani had been sweet to Emily.

“I’ve had some situations in the last three weeks.”

“And what would those incidents be? No, first tell me about this morning.”

“You know?”

“Lani,” she said, softening her voice because the other woman seemed fragile, “your knee is bandaged.”

She sighed. “Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Lani. Just tell me what happened this morning. Wait…didn’t your brother just get married yesterday?”

Lani nodded. Emily remembered reading how big it was going to be. The bride had been an influencer and used it to push her social media reach. True love, for sure.

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