Page 108 of King of Temptation

Still holding her hand out, Zoe waggled her fingers, not backing down even an inch. “Friend, I don’t know how to tell you this, but her photo is all over the place already and we’ve been advertising this event for months. If I’ve done my job well—and I always do my job very fucking well—everyone within a hundred-mile radius who has a smartphone knows she’s here today.”

Fuck. He should have asked Killian for more security. “Then you don’t need more advertising.”

Eyes narrowing, Zoe studied him, and while he’d faced his own death at the hands of men who enjoyed causing their victims as much pain as possible, the woman in front of him put them all to shame. “Brody. Is my friend in danger?”

“Yes.” There wasn’t, as far as he was concerned, any point in lying to her, especially if telling the truth could protect Goldie even a little bit.

Zoe nodded slowly. “All right. We don’t have time to get into a pissing match about it, but if you say she’s in danger, I believe you. May I please have my phone back if I promise not to post any photos until after the event?”

Knowing his babygirl’s face would be plastered everywhere still didn’t sit right, but he could admit Zoe had a point about her face already being all over the internet. At least if they waited until after the event, she wouldn’t be waving a giant neon sign giving out her location to the people who wanted to do her harm. “All right.”

“Thank you,” Zoe answered him primly as he placed the phone into her outstretched palm.

He stood to the side, watching as Goldie posed for photo after photo. She was always a source of light in his life, but seeing her in her element, she was… radiant was the only word that came to mind. So bright and shiny it was nearly painful to look at her.

“All right, that should do it for now.” Glancing over her shoulder, Zoe grinned and Brody looked back to find a line of people already waiting outside the doors. “Ready, Goldie?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

Zoe gave some kind of signal and the owners opened the door.

And chaos descended upon him.

Chapter 38

Goldie

Book signings were always nerve-racking. But they were even more so when she had a giant redheaded mafia man standing behind her, his eagle eyes taking in everything as the seemingly never-ending line of people streamed through the door.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe I finally get to meet you!” A woman with an explosion of brown curls bounced excitedly in front of Goldie’s table. “You were my mom’s favorite author and we used to read your books together and talk about them all the time. She would have been so excited to meet you.”

A familiar pang of grief settled in Goldie’s chest as she flipped open the book in front of her to scrawl her name on the inside. “That’s so sweet, thank you! Would you like a picture?”

The woman let out a happy squeal. “Could we please?”

“Of course!”

Popping up from her seat for the fiftieth time that morning, Goldie moved to the edge of her table to pose with the woman before settling back into her seat to greet the next reader.

Just as she was flipping open the next book, a bottle of water appeared at her elbow. “Drink.”

Yes, Daddy. Twisting the cap off the bottle, she took a tiny sip, then froze as Brody growled low in her ear. Praying her face wasn’t as red as it felt, she brought the bottle back to her lips and took a deep pull.

“Good girl,” Brody murmured, low enough for only her to hear. “I’m going to go tell the owners you need ten minutes.”

“Oh, that’s okay, I don’t⁠—”

But he was already walking away, which was probably good for her ass in the long run. Ignoring the conflicting feelings of relief and annoyance tangling inside her, she turned her attention back to the person in front of her.

And then it was her turn to squeal. “Aria!”

Popping back out of her seat, she rushed around the table to throw her arms around her new bestie’s neck while Aria laughed. “You didn’t really think we’d miss this, did you?”

“Well, considering I completely forgot about it until two days ago, I didn’t know if anyone was coming.” Pulling out of Aria’s embrace, Goldie turned and hesitated a moment before throwing herself at Reagan. “But I’m really glad you guys are here.”

“We wouldn’t have missed it,” Reagan assured her. “Though getting Aria out of the house these days basically requires an act of Congress.”

Aria rolled her eyes, but Goldie didn’t miss the fact that her hand immediately moved to cup her growing belly. “Killian is being ridiculous and he knows he’s being ridiculous, but somehow that doesn’t stop him from being ridiculous.”