Page 14 of Sexy Dare (The Sexy 1)

He wasn’t going to argue now. There would be plenty of time for that later, when she balked against what he was beginning to plan out for her in his mind.

He might not have wanted someone else to find their way into his emotional cocoon, but this woman had done it. There was no way he was leaving her to fend for herself now that he knew what she was up against. And if that meant fighting her in order to keep her safe, he’d do it in a heartbeat.

* * *

Faith watched as Sam Fremont, a tall man with hair pulled back in a ponytail, and the workman he’d brought with him scrubbed the spray paint from her window. He’d called in a glass company, who’d sent a guy to measure her door. He’d then left to cut the glass and would return with the right size to fix her entrance. It was as if Jason Dare had spoken and all her problems were going away.

If only things were that easy.

She already understood he was more complicated than his surface grin led her to believe. A sister who’d conquered childhood leukemia, a college friend who’d died under mysterious circumstances, a nightclub and a life she knew nothing about. She wanted to know everything and that was dangerous.

Still, she owed him, and though she didn’t think he truly felt that tit for tat was necessary, she did. If it was a date he wanted, then she’d go out with him. At this point, it could no longer hurt. Colton had already found her. He was probably watching her shop as all this activity occurred. Did it really matter if she went out with Jason after this? It was obvious the man was a part of her life, as her friend, at the very least.

He’d settled into a chair in the center of the shop, surveying the work going on around him. He’d already left once, returning with sandwiches and sodas for everyone. As the hours passed and he vacillated between returning messages on his phone and talking to the workmen he obviously knew, she grew more confused.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” she asked him.

He raised an eyebrow as if to say, Really? “Nowhere more important. I want to make sure the work here is done correctly and this place looks exactly the way you want it.”

She appreciated his thoughtfulness, but he had to have better things to do than worry about her. “Okay, but I can handle that. I don’t want to take up more of your day than I already have. I can stick around until the guys are finished, lock up, and head home.”

He folded his strong arms over his chest, his olive-green Henley pulling tight over his muscles. “And do you think I’m going to leave you here alone after what you told me about your brother?”

She’d been pushing thoughts of Colton aside all day. “I have pepper spray on my keychain.” The words sounded ridiculous, even to her.

She was no match for her brother, and if he was strung out? He’d have a wiry strength she couldn’t handle. She knew that firsthand, memories of her hands trying to pull his wrists off her neck very clear in her mind.

“Okay, fine. I appreciate you making sure I get home safely.” She’d be a fool to fight Jason’s protective nature.

“You still don’t get it. But you will.” He shook his head, amusement warring with a more serious expression. “You’re coming home with me, sweetness. I’m not leaving you here or in that shitty walk-up with a crappy lock your brother could break with one good kick.”

“Hey! That’s my apartment you’re insulting!” And all she could afford.

“It’s only an insult if I’m wrong.” He studied her, as if daring her to argue.

“I can’t just move in with you!”

He sighed. “Fine. You need someone to vouch for me? We can call my partners. Or my sister. Or… Hey, Sam! Am I trustworthy?” Jason yelled out to the man who was just climbing down a ladder, her clean window staring back at her.

Sam strode up to them and looked from Jason to Faith and back again. “Best man I know. Take a look at this.” Reaching into his pocket, Sam pulled out his phone, then began scrolling through his pictures.

“This is my girl.” He turned the phone so Faith could see a picture of a grinning little pixie with a bright smile and a pom-pom hat on her bald head, no hair hanging down beneath the folded brim.

“She’s beautiful,” Faith said, sliding her finger over her face.

“And if it wasn’t for this guy introducing us to his sister, I don’t think my wife and I would have made it through the roughest parts of her illness.” He shoved his phone back into his pocket.

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