Page 32 of The Reluctant Siren
“It’s not about that. You did a great job,” she said,putting a hand on his. “You really did, but it’s obvious it bothers you, and Idon’t think what you’re getting out of this experiment of ours is worth thediscomfort.”
“I’m getting plenty out of this relationship.” He wasstarting to feel like they were seriously miscommunicating. “I’m exactly whereI want to be, and I don’t want you to stop asking me to help.” He felt a nastypit open in his gut. She’d seen an old friend tonight. A guy she knew from thelifestyle. How close had they been? He only knew about her relationship withJensen, but of course she’d had boyfriends before him. “Is it because of theguy from the club? You never told me his name.”
“Because he doesn’t matter beyond this case,” she assuredhim.
It wasn’t working. “Well, it feels like you saw him again acouple of hours ago and you’re breaking up with me.”
“We haven’t exactly been together long enough to break up.And I assure you it has nothing to do with any other man. You’re the only manI’ve been interested in for years. Not since Jensen Wiley, and I wouldn’t goback to him for all the money in the world.” She sighed. “I’ve been willing tohave sex with you for days now. You don’t want me.”
He groaned. He should have known this wouldn’t last long. “Ido want you. I want you so much I can barely see straight.” He chuckled as herealized what she was thinking. “I am hetero, princess. I’m not hiding anythingabout my sexuality, and I’m not using you as cover. I promise I would feelincredibly comfortable being gay at The Hideout.”
“Then I don’t understand,” she admitted.
Well, he couldn’t tell her the whole truth.Hey, baby.You know the last guy who fucked you over? He’s my best friend and I’ve beenstalking you for him so you maybe stayed pure and virginal until he murders amobster and comes back for you. But I fell for you and will probably be thenext person Jensen Wiley wants revenge on.Nope. He needed a much simplerexplanation. And it wasn’t totally a lie. “I want the first time we make loveto be special.”
Her eyes narrowed, and he could feel her suspicion.“Special?”
“All right.” He couldn’t do this here. She needed to befocused. He knew this was the simple part of her mission, but she still neededher head in the game. “You’re right. We’ll talk about this in the morning.Should I find a better place to park?”
“We’re fine here. I told her to meet us out front. Sheshould be out in a couple of minutes.” She stared at him for a moment. “You’renot telling me something.”
Well, no one said she wasn’t smart. “We’ll talk about ittomorrow morning. I’ll tell you everything, but you should know it doesn’tchange the way I feel about you. I have some things in my past we need todiscuss, and I haven’t felt right sleeping with you when you don’t knoweverything.”
Her jaw went tight, and all that sweet acceptance was gone.“You’ve been lying to me.”
And this was why he wished he never had to have thisconversation. He wished he’d met her in an organic way, without Jensen betweenthem. Just hearing her say Jensen’s name made him anxious.
“Not lying, exactly, but I haven’t told you the wholetruth,” he hedged. He wished he had more time. “You don’t know everything aboutmy time in the military.”
She didn’t know why he’d gone into the military. Not fully.It had certainly been about money, but mostly about the deep and abidingbrotherhood he formed with Jensen Wiley.
She glanced down at her phone, the suspicion fleeing. “I canhandle it if you did bad shit in the military. Half my friends are literalspies. And I’m not supposed to talk about that. If I can be friends with KalaTaggart, I assure you I can handle my boyfriend working some black ops in themilitary. It does explain why this bothers you. I’m sorry about that. I stilldon’t get what could have happened in your military service that means we needtherapy before we fuck.”
There were times when he adored her put-it-all-out-therepersonality. This was not one of those times. “Because I’m serious about us.I’m serious about you.”
She softened, looking back up at him. “I’m serious aboutyou, too. But we need to figure out the whole sex thing because it’s been along time for me, and I’m ready to get this train moving. She’s coming down. Itold her exactly where we are.”
He took a long breath and looked out the front window. Thestreet was quiet at this time of night. There was a light right next to thebuilding Miranda lived in. It was a two-story apartment building set back fromthe street. They were parked at the front of the building, the parking lotbehind them. They were in an older part of the city with big trees and housesand not a lot of traffic.
Harlow looked out over the street. “I still think we shouldkeep business and our relationship separate. You didn’t enjoy this evening.”
“Did I have fun checking out an unsafe club and talking todouchebags who are probably criminals? No. Will I do it again because mygirlfriend is a private investigator? Of course I will.” If she didn’t murderhim after he told her why he was here.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea in this case,” she saidquietly, her eyes on the street in front of them. She was obviously waiting forthe moment when Miranda appeared. She hadn’t been this tense with the mom, butthen the mom hadn’t seemed to be in danger. “I think there’s a lot going onthere, and I probably need a partner.”
“I thought I was your partner. And Ruby. You have twopartners.”
“You were cover for me tonight. It’s different,” shecorrected. “Ruby is absolutely my partner, but I need her on the outside. Also,despite the fact that we make a gorgeous couple, no one believes our ‘we’retogether’ act. We’ve tried it a couple of times, and we always get called out.Even at freaking Costco. I tried to put her on my card. They wanted a marriagelicense.”
He chuckled at the thought of Harlow and Ruby trying toensure they got cheap bulk coffee and paper for their office. “I still don’tunderstand why you suddenly don’t want me going back to that club. I overheardyou talking to the big guy. You told him you were going back in. Won’t they beconfused about why you’re not with your Dom?”
“I’m going to tell them we had a falling out, but I stillwant to explore the lifestyle,” she explained. “It will be so much easier forpeople to talk to me.”
“And to hurt you, to take advantage of you. It’s why youwanted me to go with you in the first place.” He didn’t like the thought of hergoing into that club all by herself. He’d seen the way the men looked at her.It wasn’t a safe place. It wasn’t The Hideout. He also didn’t like the thoughtthat she’d been planning this the last few hours.
“Yes,” she said with a bright smile. Like he got it and shewas pleased.
She was going to give him a heart attack. “Harlow? Come on.”
