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“I do like a smart man,” she answered with a flutter of lashes. “Yes, and if I hadn’t known her for over half my life, I probably would have caned her.”
Luke chuckled and turned to Jagger. “She’s got fire.”
“That’s politely putting it,” the man next to Hailey replied. The other partners of the firm laughed.
“Mikhail, Luke, please know that my friend is not a liar by nature. She is a good friend,” Hailey began. “The closest thing I had to a sister for many years. Las Vegas is a transient city with approximately forty million visitors a year. In perspective, that is roughly the population of California or the country of Canada. I can see how she wasn’t honest about her name, but it was more for her protection rather than malicious intent.”
“She’s as smart as she is beautiful,” Mikhail told Jagger. “I understand her connection with your sister.”
He then rested his gaze on Hailey. “Are you an attorney as well?”
The pretty brunette giggled and shook her head she wasn’t.
“Hailey is a former photojournalist,” Nicco clarified. “And a stickler for the truth, she and Rourke work remarkably well together to get the information we need.”
“You’re a reporter?” Luke questioned in seriousness.
“Was,” Hailey corrected. “However celebrity columns and gossip were not my forte, so you both can relax. The unjust and exposing issues like war, poverty, human trafficking, and bringing things people don’t know or deny their existence to the forefront was my specialty.”
Mikhail exchanged an impressed expression with Luke. He could only imagine the horrors Jagger’s pretty fiancée had seen. Both he and Luke turned back to the others. “Does your sister know I will be here?”
“Actually, she doesn’t,” Xavier stated. “She knows that we are looking for you and that you will be staying at the same hotel as you were eight weeks ago.”
Luke darted a glance to Hailey. “Your research is thorough.”
“I need to know one thing,” Jagger asked in seriousness. “Why are you looking for my sister? You could have any woman you want.”
Mikhail debated his words. “I could indeed have any woman. However, the one I want is here. Had she too been visiting, I would have scoured the earth looking for her. I would have asked for your help. Despite the fact we were not entirely honest about our names, something deep inside tells me she is the one to spend my life with.”
“We understand,” Rourke assured with a smile. “I knew the moment I laid eyes on my future wife, Cammie. She was the one.”
Nicco nodded. “We understand. As shifters, I believe we know, that the beast within recognizes his mate. Hailey, would you be so kind?”
“Of course, if you’ll all excuse me,” she stated and gracefully left the office, closing the door behind. My fiancée Cammie and I started dating in high school. Her family went into witness protection, but for almost fifteen years, I believed she was dead.”
Mikhail exchanged a look with Luke, and both rested their attention on the man with Amethyst eyes.
“When I found out she was alive, so many emotions ran through me.” Rourke inhaled a deep breath. “She was as scared and unsure as I was, but like me, she always believed I was the one. Like I told the young lady about to walk through the door, love is scary, but it’s also amazing.”
The door of the office opened.
Mikhail turned. Standing next to Hailey was the girl he’d traveled halfway across the world to find. “It’s you,” he breathed. She was more beautiful than he remembered.
Her blue eyes lit up, and she nodded. “It’s me.”
Mikhail stepped closer to her. “Good, then would you be so kind as to give me the right name this time?”
The lovely woman standing with her pretty friend inched a little forward in his direction. “Hi Mikhail, I’m Kimber Blackheart.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Kimber
Kimber held her breath. Her heart thudded fast and hard in her chest as she waited for the man she couldn’t get off the brain to respond.
“Kimber,” he rolled her name off his tongue, and with his accent was the sexiest sound she had ever heard. “It suits you,” he told her and closed the distance between them, then reached for her hand. “Why did you leave?”
She glanced at Hailey, who now stood by Jagger, then met Mikhail’s amber gaze again. “I got scared. You were too good to be true.”
