Page 9 of Risk Assessment
Whatever she’d expected him to say, it wasn’t that.Well, shit. “Six months ago.” She breathed. “You were engaged to Jenn Harris, and she dumped you six ago? You didn’t think it was necessary to share that little tidbit with me?” Her blood pressure skyrocketed.WTF!Why did everything in her life have to turn to crap these days? Was Mercury in retrograde? Did she piss off some vengeful god?
Dylan spoke in a calm voice. “I didn’t tell you because it’s none of your business. I don’t know you and you don’t know me. I agreed to do this as a favor to my cousin.
“If you recall, we spoke exactly three times. Once over the phone to set up the meeting at your place. The second time was at your place when you explained your stalker situation in moredetail and the last time was a couple of days ago when you called to arrange a time for me to pick you up. You sent me a copy of the itinerary and went over it in excruciating detail during that call. The itinerary is labelled as the Jones Event and nothing inside indicates it was a wedding. The titles are all kind of vague like “dinner” and “photoshoot” and “big day event.”
Raleigh opened her mouth to speak, but he stared her down. She clamped her lips together, waiting for the rest of the story.
Dylan’s face was still set in harsh lines when he continued, “You also emailed me what I needed to bring in terms of clothing. You referred to it as an event at all times and you never, not once used the name Harris. That’s certainly something I would remember. So, no, I didn’t know it was Jenn’s wedding.” Dylan frowned. “Believe me, if I knew who was getting married, I wouldn’t have come. I’m sorry if this is going to make things difficult for you but it’s not exactly a day at the park for me either.”
Raleigh’s shoulders drooped, and she dropped onto the sofa. He was right—she was being a bitch. “It’s my own fault. With the whole stalker thing, I guess I wasn’t paying attention to the details. Nothing is properly labelled because a couple of months ago, some reporter got a hold of an itinerary for an event we were managing and published it online. The paparazzi showed up in droves. Ruined the whole thing. We were told to use fake names after that.”
She rubbed her face with her hands. “I am sorry. I should have shared more details with you. For being a specialist in communicating, I really blew that one. And you are right. Your romantic relationships really are none of my business, except this one is affecting my career.”
She met his gaze. Being at your ex-fiancée’s wedding.What a fucking nightmare!
She winced. He must be feeling horrible right now, and she had just torn a strip off him. She studied him. His hair was slightly mussed, and a stray curl had fallen over his forehead. The light blue collared shirt he had on matched his eye shade perfectly, not to mention it hugged his well-built chest. Jenn Harris was an ass. Who would dump this gorgeous hunk of manhood?
Focus.Drooling over the bodyguard was not going to solve her problem with the Harrises. She needed her life back. This stalker thing had to end. She couldn’t focus. It was making her mean and angry all the time, not at all the nice person she always prided herself on being. Well maybenicewasn’t the right word…but sympathetic at least.
These days she was just pathetic, nosyminvolved.
She hopped up off the sofa and walked over to the kitchen. Being dumped by Jenn Harris must have really stung. “Totally would suck” she mumbled to herself as she made coffee.
Jenn Harris was anItgirl. Gorgeous, smart, great career ahead of her at her uncle’s law firm… She was known for being a bit of bitch, admittedly, but nobody was perfect.
“I dumped her.”
“Argh!” Raleigh hadn’t heard him come up behind her, probably because she was banging around too much. She whirled around and saw hurt in his eyes. Gone was the stoic cop expression. Whatever happened had to have been tough.
“Oh,” she said. Collapsing onto one of the stools by the island, she closed her eyes and cursed silently. This was a nightmare, no question. Not like she didn’t have enough of those already. She opened her eyes. “Your ex-fiancée is marrying someone else, and now you’re here to see it.”
Dylan nodded.
She cursed again. And she thoughtshehad it bad. “I’m so sorry, Dylan. This has got to be hell for you.” She took a deepbreath. “Do you want to leave? I understand if you do.” She wouldn’t understand, not really. Oh, she got it logically, but if he left, then she would have to go. She just couldn’t do this on her own.
Dylan leaned his shoulder against the fridge. “I thought about it, but I gave you my word I would help you out and I promised my cousin. I can’t disappoint the two of you.” He scratched his jaw. “If you think you can work it out with Jenn…”
Relief flooded through her. “I’ll figure out something.” And she would, no matter what it took.
“Wait.” Her belly knotted. “You’re not going to do anything foolish are you? At the wedding I mean.”
“What? No! Of course not.” He crashed down onto the stool next to her. “I don’t want her back.”
The words were right, but she wasn’t sure about the sentiment behind them. He didn’t sound totally convincing.
She cleared her throat. “May I ask why you broke up?”
Dylan put his forehead in his hands.
“You don’t have to tell me. It’s none of my business.”
“No. It’s okay.” He raised his head. “I… I needed a fresh start. Something happened and I just needed to take some time to reassess. Jenn was sort of, I don’t know…collateral damage, I’d guess you’d say. Anyway, she seems to have bounced back without a problem.”
Raleigh reached across the island and touched his shoulder. “I know this is awkward with Jenn and everything, but everyone thinks you’re my boyfriend. Think you can still fake it?”
He smiled slowly and his eyes twinkled as he gave her the once over. “I think I can manage that.”
Her cheeks warmed suddenly. She was going to have to watch out for this man. He was too hot by half. If she wasn’t careful, he’d have her tied up in knots by the end of the weekend. An image of Dylan tied to the bedposts with a silk scarf poppedinto her head and she shot off the stool like it was two minutes to New Year’s and she was out of champagne.
