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"Olivia, Jeanne’s friend," she murmurs.
"Any friend of Jeanne’s gets the protection of my clan." I take her hand between both of my much larger ones.
Olivia fixes me with a steady gaze. "What are your intentions toward Jeanne?"
Jeanne stares. Penny gasps. Olivia doesn’t take her gaze off of my face. She’s looking out for her friend, which is good. Jeanne needs loyal people around her.
"My intentions are to marry her and take care of her."
Penny’s gaze widens. Olivia glances between me and Jeanne. "Is that right? Are you going to marry this guy?"
"No," she replies.
"Yes," I counter.
"So, you’re not marrying him?" Penny blinks rapidly.
She shuffles her feet. "I—"
"Oh, she is. She’s just waiting for me to get her a ring before she shares the happy news with everyone. In fact, that’s why I’m here to pick her up. Dinner first, then we go and pick out the ring, don’t we, Angel?"
She sears me with a look that could cut right through me if I were the kind of guy who could be easily scared. Which I’m not. The more she pushes me away, the more something within me pushes to make this arrangement as real as possible. At least, for the time we have together.
"Jeanne, are you sure you’re going to be okay?" Olivia asks. She moves forward and takes Jeanne’s hand between both of hers. "Do you want us to stay with you through dinner?"
"Yes, if you want company, we’ll be happy to stay. But it seems to me, it might be better off if the two of you had time together to figure things out," Penny adds as she walks over to flank Jeanne on her other side. I was right. The two of them are ready to protect her and stay with her and run interference if she asks them to.
Angel glances between her friends’ faces, then at me. I hold her gaze, not allowing any emotion to show on my features. This is her call. If she wants to come with me alone, or if she’d rather have her friends chaperone us, she has to decide.
She finally looks away and shakes her head. "I’ll be fine."
"You sure?" Olivia grips her shoulder. "If you’d rather we stay, we wouldn’t mind at all."
"Yep, just say the word." Penny leans in. "Of course, if I were you, I’d rather have that hunk of a man all to myself." She drops her tone even lower and I miss the rest of the words, but whatever she says causes Angel to snort. She glances at me again, a slight blush painting her cheeks. Can she get any more adorable?
I fold my arms across my chest as she bids the two of them goodbye.
Finally, Olivia and Penny turn to me.
"Take care of her," Olivia warns.
"If you hurt her, you’ll have us to contend with," Penny says with a pleasant smile on her face.
I bow in their direction. "I swear on everything I hold dear, I’ll take care of her, protect her, and ensure nothing ever makes her unhappy. If anyone dares to wipe that smile off her face—"Like her bastard director did today."I’ll make sure I wipe them off the face of this earth."
She scowls at me.
"Unless I promise her otherwise," I add smoothly.
The two friends glance at each other. Olivia nods at me, Penny waves, then they depart. They walk away and the two of us are left looking at each other. I give her her space for a few seconds, then prowl toward her. She stiffens, her big amber eyes widen.
When I reach her, I hold out my hand. "Shall we?"
26
Jeanne
"You didn’t have to make those false promises to my friends."
