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He seemed surprised by my question. “Emily was a beautiful young woman with stars in her eyes. She adored having four men fawn over her, but our love story was tragic right from the start.”
“Four,” I repeated. “I didn’t know. Garrison mentioned her but didn’t say the four of you were involved in a relationship.”
“It was more like a blip in time, a few months of pretending we could have everything we wanted. I’m sorry if I upset you further.”
“You didn’t. He had every right to have a girlfriend. I just thought he told me everything, but how could he in the limited time we’d spent together? Was she amazing?”
I couldn’t look at him for some reason. It was crazy I felt a hint of jealousy.
“Emily was a very special girl, but she wasn’t you. You are… perfect.”
There was a faraway sound in his voice. “I’m anything but perfect.”
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
He moved by my side, giving me a heated look.
“I don’t hate any of you,” I said, the wind likely carrying my whispered voice out to sea.
“You should. I don’t blame you.”
“That won’t bring Garrison back.”
“No, you’re right. Walk with me?”
The question sounded hopeful. “Of course.”
While he didn’t take my hand or wrap his arm around me, he remained as close as our slow gait would allow. As we walked along the water, the quiet between us wasn’t tense. It was peaceful.
“You need to know that we wanted to go to Garrison’s funeral. We were forbidden to.”
I half laughed. “My father?”
“He made certain that we were told explicitly that we weren’t allowed. He caught me coming out of the airport. I’d left my job in Italy to attend the funeral.”
“I’m surprised you listened to him.”
It was his turn to laugh. “He had a very good way of getting what he wanted, Cassie. That’s all I’m going to say.” He intertwined our fingers, squeezing them as if for comfort.
“That bastard. He picked then to act like he gave a damn? I can’t…” I couldn’t even finish the sentence, but I refused to cry. I felt the warmth of his hand and sighed.
“We’re going to take you back tomorrow,” he finally said. “I know that’s what you want.”
“It is. I need time to try and make what happened right in my mind, if that’s possible.” Saying the words were some of the hardest one I’d ever stated.
He nodded. “I understand. You have your life. We have ours. I will tell you that you’ve changed our lives, Cassie. I know that can’t matter to you, but you have.” He stopped only a few feet away from the water. When he sat down, I took a deep breath before easing beside him. “Whatever real threat we’re facing, you can’t be a part of. We made decisions all three of us knew would affect our lives. You will not be placed in the middle.”
“I’m a big girl. I can handle myself just fine.”
He lowered his head, the moonlight allowing me to see the grin on his face. “You’re defiant, naughty, and resilient, but you aren’t capable of coming up against the kind of enemies we have lurking in the shadows.”
“Just try me.”
The sound of his laugh dragged a wave of desire up from the depths of my being. I leaned my head against his shoulder, taking shallow breaths.
“You’re something special, Cassie Lark.”
After a few seconds, I tipped my head. When he lowered his, I no longer cared about the vow or the danger we could be facing. The closeness I felt with him was entirely different than with the others. He was the protector. He was the soft blanket.
