Desire and Protect Read online

  So he’d taken the concepts of responsibility, reliability, and doing what was expected to the extreme. For a long time, he thought that also meant marrying one of the Sweater Sets and having two point five children, or whatever the national average was for the time. He also drove a sedan. A sedate sedan, Cade always called it. And he was right. It was sedate. It was safe.

  And it turned out the car and all of Shane’s other life choices was leaving him restless.

  “I was thinking we could get together again now that you aren’t seeing Mindy. We had fun, didn’t we?” June was pouting now in a way he was sure she thought was seductive. Had he ever thought it was seductive?

  Probably.

  He took hold of her hand, if only to stop her from the damned annoying dance of the fingernail on his bicep, which is where she seemed to be working her way to.

  “I’m sorry, June. I’ve just been really busy.” And he’d lost interest. Shane’s eyes strayed to the window of the diner. Phoebe was outside talking to Shane’s sister-in-law, Laura.

  June followed his gaze and it would have been hard to miss the disappointment that flashed in her eyes. “And you’ve moved on,” she said, quietly.

  “I’m sorry, June.” He wasn’t sure why he was apologizing. It just seemed the thing to do.

  She gave him a resigned smile. “I’ve got to run.”

  Shane nodded and followed her out a minute later, smiling at the two women on the sidewalk as he did. Phoebe and Laura both returned his smile and Laura came in for a hug.

  “Tell me, Shane,” Laura said as she pulled back and nodded down the street at a woman coming out of one of the empty buildings. “Is she leasing this time?”

  Shane looked toward the woman and then shook his head at Laura. “You know I’m not going to share anything about that. Go ask her yourself.”

  Laura huffed. “I will. I’ll get Ashley to drive out to the farm with me.”

  Shane grinned. “Don’t let her dad hear you call it a farm.” He turned to Phoebe. “That’s Presley Royale. Her dad owns Royale Stables. It’s killing Laura not to know why Presley is looking at commercial property in town.”

  Laura laughed. “I can’t help it. I’m dying to know, and even Ashley doesn’t seem to have the dirt this time, but I know you must. You know everything.”

  Shane shook his head. “If I know, it’s because of a confidential transaction I’m not able to discuss.”

  Laura grinned and bumped her shoulder against Shane’s arm.

  “Where’s little bit, by the way?” He asked, referring to his niece, Jamie.

  “With big bit. They’re waiting on a litter of puppies.”

  “Puppies?” There was a pretty adorable thread of hope in Phoebe’s voice.

  Laura smiled. “Yes. One of the rescues Cade works with asked us to foster a pregnant mom. She’s in labor right now.”

  “I don’t think I’d do well with the labor part. Too much blood and all that, but I’m happy to come help with the puppies after you guys clean them all up and everything.”

  Shane and Laura both laughed at Phoebe and her cheeks flushed. “What? Who wants to handle the bloody part?”

  “I have to agree with her on this one. Hey,” Shane said, “you should come to dinner on Sunday at my mom’s. You can see the puppies then.”

  “Oh, you should,” Laura put in. “You’ll love May, and I know she’s been wanting to meet you.”

  “Good. That’s settled,” Shane said, somehow not wanting to give Phoebe the chance to say no. “I need to go buy a new car. Do you want to come with me?”

  Phoebe blinked back at him, but Laura was the one to answer. “You’re buying a new car? What’s wrong with the car you have now?”

  Laura looked down the street toward the law office, as though she might see his car sitting in the small lot behind the building. They all knew she couldn’t see the building, let alone the car from there.

  “I’m tired of it. I thought I might get something different.”

  “You realize I drive a canary yellow VW beetle with daisies painted on the outside?” Phoebe’s look said he was an idiot. “Why on earth would you want me to help you choose a car?”

  “Do you really?” There was a hint of envy in Laura’s question.

  “She does. It has eyelashes, too. And that’s why I want your help. I need something a little more fun than a sedan.”

  “The Sedate Sedan,” Laura put in.

  Phoebe quirked a brow. “The Sedate Sedan?”

  “It’s what Cade calls it.” Laura’s dimples came out when she smiled and Shane couldn’t help but laugh at his sister-in-law. If Cade had been there making fun of his sedate sedan, he’d have been tempted to hit him, but Laura could get away with anything as far as Shane was concerned. He never would have guessed he’d love having a sister as much as he did.

  “I’m not saying I’m willing to go the canary yellow route, but I could probably use someone with me who can push me a little in that direction.”

  Phoebe shrugged. “Okay. I’m your girl.”

  Shane’s chest tightened a little at that, but he wasn’t sure what to do with it, so he ignored it.

  “Great. Do you want to come, Laura?”

  “Wait, we’re going now? It’s the middle of the workday.” Phoebe looked at Laura as though she might have an answer for her, then back to Shane again. “You want to go now?”

  “I do. I’ll write a note for your boss if he’s an ass about it.”

  “Funny. Very funny.” Phoebe looked back to Laura. “Want to come?”

  Laura raised her hands. “Sorry. Much as I’d love to see this, I’m meeting Justin for a working lunch. We’ve got a fundraiser to plan.” Justin was Laura’s brother-in-law from her first marriage. It was a marriage that had been horribly abusive. When Justin discovered what had been happening to Laura after her husband died, he’d asked her to co-found an organization to help battered women leave their spouses.

  As Phoebe and Shane walked back to the law firm, she bumped him with her shoulder and looked up at him with that grin that told him she was up to no good. “I’m thinking maybe lime green or maybe Inka orange.”

  “Inka orange?”

  “It’s a color.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.”

  “Trust me.”

  “I don’t.”

  “You asked for my help.”

  “I’m beginning to think I might be suffering from periodic bouts of insanity.”

  She shoved at him again, but he smiled. She made him do that a lot and it felt good. Damned good.

  “Mystichrome,” she said, a whisper of awe playing on the words as she raised her hands in that let me paint you a picture way a con man might.

  “I don’t want to know.”

  9

  Leap.

  Fiona O’Malley’s Journal

  “I’m not sure you’re embracing the change,” Phoebe said an hour later when Shane continued to be lured toward the gray Audi. “That’s just a nicer sedan.”

  “But it’s a really nice sedan. And it’s in great shape. Once you drive a new car off the lot, you lose something like half its value. It makes sense to choose from the used cars.”

  “Oh my God. It’s like you can’t even help yourself.” She stared at him, wondering how he’d come this far in life without someone to push him toward the fun every now and then. He’d brought her straight to the used car section of the dealership, and she didn’t necessarily have a problem with that. It did make sense. But everything inside her was telling her he needed to let loose here and do something that didn’t make sense.

  He shrugged and looked at the Audi again.

  “Honestly.” Phoebe shook her head. “I think you should give me a budget and go wait outside while I choose.”

  Now it was his turn to gape. “You want me to leave and let you choose a car for me?”

  She didn’t even acknowledge the insanity of the suggestion. She had a hand on his shoulder p
ushing him out the door of the dealership. “Yeah. I think that’s the way to go.”

  Within seconds, she had Shane standing outside the glass door, with her on the inside. She held up her phone. “Text me your budget. And any hard no’s,” she added in an afterthought. Not that she’d listen to them. This man needed someone to help loosen him up.

  Phoebe turned and found the salesman gawking at her as well. She put her hands on her hips. “It’s for his own good.”

  “Whatever you say, lady.”

  She looked down at her phone as the first of several texts came through.

  You can spend up to 60k.

  Her brows went up, part at the price and part at the fact he was letting her do this. She hadn’t really expected him to go through with it. Of course, he could back out at any point. They were a long way from signing a contract.

  And no two-seaters. Have to be able to have passengers.

  She rolled her eyes. There he went thinking again.

  He sent a few other texts, but she chose to ignore them as she turned to the salesman. There were only a handful of cars in the building. The rest of the used cars were in a lot out back. “Let’s get out there and find the man a car.”

  She’d almost said my man, but caught herself in time, acknowledging he wasn’t anything of the sort

  Shane had already given the salesman the keys to his old car to look it over for a trade-in. Phoebe scanned the used car lot before turning to the newer vehicles. The dealer sold Jaguars, Volvos, and Land Rovers on the new side of the lot. She actually liked Volvos, but that wouldn’t push Shane far enough out of his comfort zone.

  No, he needed either a Land Rover or a Jaguar.

  She pointed to a Jaguar F-Pace in a color just shy of black. It was sort of a smoky gray. “That one.”

  The dealer seemed to be getting in the mood for spending someone else’s money. He tilted his head and eyed the car, then looked back at her with a nod. “I can see him in that.”

  Phoebe nodded. So could she.

  One hour later, she did.

  “I still can’t believe you let me pick out your car.” She ran her hands over the leather interior. There was nothing about the car she didn’t love.

  Shane eyed her from the driver’s seat as he drove them back toward Evers. “I still can’t believe you picked one I like so much. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have looked at it if you hadn’t picked it. Of course, since I’ve driven it off the lot now, I just lost half its value, but I can probably get over that.”

  Phoebe snorted. “Just be thankful it’s not lime green.”

  “Oh, I am.” Shane steered the car into a restaurant and Phoebe realized where they were. It was an upscale bistro that sat on riverside property thirty minutes outside of Evers.

  “Fancy.” Phoebe said as they got out of the car.

  “I deserve to be spoiled,” Shane said. “I’ve been working really hard and I just got a new car. What better excuse?”

  “Glad to hear it’s all about you.”

  He laughed as he took her hand in his and pulled her toward the restaurant. “Something tells me if I told you I was spoiling you, you’d run, so I’m covering.”

  “Sneaky.”

  “Whatever it takes.”

  10

  You’ll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind.

  Irish proverb recorded in Fiona O’Malley’s journal

  Cade was right. Shane was turning into a teenaged girl. He knew it was bad when he started fantasizing that he and Phoebe could make a relationship work. His fantasy came complete with them running the law firm together as partners rather than employer and employee.

  It was just a fantasy, though. He was smart enough to know he was skirting the limits of what he should be doing with his employee. The problem was, he was just so damned tired of doing everything right. Of being the one to keep things the way they were supposed to be all the time. The one to point out where the line was and make sure they all stayed on the right damned side of it.

  Because he was having a better time with Phoebe at lunch than he’d had on any date in a long time. Scratch that. Any date ever.

  Didn’t that just suck since this wasn’t a date? Couldn’t be a date.

  Knowing that didn’t stop the want, though.

  “Thank you for lunch,” Phoebe said as they walked back out to his car. She was quieter than usual and he guessed she could feel the tension that had to be rolling off him in waves. It hadn’t been there through the whole meal. It was only in the last few minutes after her hand had brushed his and he’d started to admit to himself that he was feeling a hell of a lot more here than he should be.

  “You’re welcome.” What he didn’t say hung between them.

  He walked her to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for her, all the while telling himself yet again that it wasn’t a date.

  He was doing a piss poor job of listening.

  And then Shane did the dumbest thing he’d done in a long time.

  He caught Phoebe’s wrist in his hand as she moved to lower herself into the seat, holding her pinned in place between him and the car.

  She froze, looking up at him and he saw her breath catch. Her mouth was full and sweet and looked so damned lush he didn’t want to stop himself from tasting her. Probably couldn’t have even if he’d tried.

  Her hand came up as he lowered his head and he stilled, waiting to see if she would stop him. If she planned to push him away. She didn’t.

  She pulled his head down to meet hers.

  She tasted better than he’d thought she could. Better than any woman ever had and the kiss hit him like a ton of bricks. This wasn’t light and easy and casual the way he thought it might be. It surged through him, stoking the need instead of slaking it.

  He pulled her in closer, wrapping his arms around her as she melted into him. A low moan left his chest as he deepened the kiss and gave himself over to this woman he had no business being with.

  She answered with a soft sigh that cranked his arousal up a notch higher, putting him into a dangerous zone.

  Somewhere in the distance, a car door slammed and voices floated to them as other customers crossed the lot. The reminder of the world outside the kiss was enough to rip him from the fog.

  Shane stepped back, hands dropping to his sides in tight fists. What the hell had he been thinking?

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t—” He didn’t finish the sentence. Only stepped back, then turned and moved to the other side of the car, getting in and reaching to start the car as he called himself every name in the book.

  He was turning out to be unbelievably stupid today.

  11

  Honey is sweet but don’t lick it off a briar.

  Irish proverb recorded in Fiona O’Malley’s Journal

  “Phoebe.” Phoebe’s best friend waved a hand in front of her face. “You still with me?”

  Phoebe snapped out of the memory she’d been replaying again and again in her head. “I’m sorry! What did I miss?”

  Chelsea set down her wine glass and paused the television. They were watching A Knight’s Tale for the fifth time because Phoebe had asked for it again and Chelsea had given in, like only a best friend would. Chelsea had driven all the way from Austin for the weekend, and Phoebe couldn’t shake out of the stupor Shane had put her in long enough to enjoy the visit.

  She wasn’t usually such a horrible friend. In fact, there’d been a time she would have been able to put on a false front and go out dancing. Not that Evers had any spots for dancing.

  “Okay, spill. What is it?” Chelsea gave her the kind of look that said she wasn’t getting out of talking.

  The problem was, Phoebe felt foolish. No matter how close she and Chelsea were, she couldn’t help feeling foolish for lusting after her boss. The kiss the day before had made it clear he’d been lusting after her as well. Then again, he’d also stopped the kiss abruptly and told her how stupid it was to have done it.
/>   “Hey,” Chelsea ducked her head, trying to see into Phoebe’s face, her voice now soft with concern. “What could be so bad, you don’t want to tell me about it?”

  “I’m falling for my boss. Hard. Really, very, extremely hard.”

  “Oh honey.” Chelsea didn’t need to explain the comment. The two friends had years’ worth of history between them. Chelsea knew better than Phoebe did that she had a pattern of choosing the wrong guy.

  “I know. Stupid doesn’t begin to describe it. I just don’t know what to do. I’ve tried talking myself out of it. I’ve tried telling myself it’s natural that I’d have a little crush on him. I mean, the man’s gorgeous. But that doesn’t mean it’s any more than a crush.”

  “And it doesn’t mean it’s not a bad idea,” Chelsea said quietly. “An abysmally bad idea.” She wasn’t one to pull punches.

  Phoebe nodded her head and swallowed. “He kissed me.”

  “No!”

  “Yes. And then he apologized and said it was a mistake.”

  There was nothing but quiet in response. A good solid several minutes passed before Chelsea spoke. “Was it good?” She asked the question in a whisper.

  Phoebe gave something of a half laugh, half whimper. “Yes. No. Good couldn’t begin to describe it.”

  “Like, whole-body-goodness kind of good?”

  “Yeah. And a little rock-your-world kind of goodness, too. And then he said it was a mistake.”

  “I’m sorry, sweetie.”

  “I know.”

  “Can I tell you something, though, without you getting mad at me?” Chelsea didn’t look convinced Phoebe had it in her to make the promise, and Phoebe wasn’t sure if she should be offended by that or not.

  “Okay,” she said slowly.

  “I think you’re doing this on purpose. Again.”

  “Doing what? I haven’t dated my boss in the past. Well, I mean, I have, but only because I was dating someone and they offered me a job. But I’ve never started dating someone I wasn’t already dating when I took the job.”