Page 47 of Bewitched By the Siren
“What?”
“You’re smitten,” she says, her tone matter of fact.
“I am not,” I argue, but there’s no heat behind it.
“You are. And I approve. He’s a good man, Hals.”
“I know he is,” I say, sadness leaching through the words.
“Hali––” Mom starts, but is cut off when Brendan strides back into the living room with a pizza box and a six-pack of sodas.
“All right, who’s hungry?” he asks jovially.
I force a smile and raise my hand, earning a grin from him. He sits on the couch and flips open the box. Grabbing a paper plate from a stack I didn’t see him carrying, he pulls out a slice and hands it to Mom as I move to sit beside him on the couch.
We eat. We laugh. We have a great night.
And I forget for a while that he’ll be leaving soon. I forget about the secrets I’m keeping, and the carnage they’d wreak if he found out. Or, at least, I try to forget.
But the knowledge is always there, in the back of my mind, reminding me that Icannotfall for this man. No matter how charming, kind, and handsome he is.
I just can’t.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Brendan
I madean excuse to leave after we ate, and as I stride into my rental house, I’m already pulling my phone from my pocket. I need to call Julius.
Ever since Hali told me she saw someone taking pictures of her on the beach, I’ve been burdened by a heavy pit of suspicion in my stomach that my boss sent him here. That Julius has become impatient despite my assurances that I’d get him something, and he sent in someone else to get the job done.
Someone who won’t take Hali’s wants and needs into consideration. Who’ll bulldoze right over her to do his job and please the boss.
“Brendan,” he says when he answers, “what’s happened? Why are you calling? I didn’t expect anything from you until tomorrow night.”
“Someone was following Hali and taking pictures of her earlier,” I say. If he can skip the traditional greeting, so can I. “Did you send someone else down here?”
“No, I didn’t,” he says, sounding almost offended. “I told you I’d give you until tomorrow night, and I’m a man of my word. Youknowthat.”
He’s right. Idoknow that.
“Maybe it was a reporter,” he offers before I can respond.
“Maybe,” I say, but I don’t really buy it.
It doesn’t feel right. Why would a reporter be following Hali? She’s not famous––yet––and no one in the business knows I’m here scouting her. Unless…
Unless the paparazzi saw us at Natasha’s house and got curious.Shit.
I can’t tell Julius about that, though. I swore Natasha to secrecy, because if Julius knew Hali cut a recording, he’d insist on a copy. And if Natasha were to explain I had her delete the master file, I’d be headed for the unemployment line in a blink of an eye.
“You’re probably right,” I say. “Sorry to bother you, sir.”
“I want that recording the minute you get it, Brendan.”
“Yes, sir.”
A beeping sound comes from my phone’s speaker, and the line goes dead. I shove the device back into my pocket as I consider my theory. There’s a decent chance I’m right, that a photographer saw us coming and going from Natasha’s and wanted to know who Hali is.
