Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“We’ll see,” Dare muttered, and she knew he’d be questioning the architect soon. “We can’t afford to assume anyone’s innocent without checking them out,” he said, his voice sounding calmer.
“Fine.”
“What about…?” His voice trailed off.
“What?” she asked. “Just say it. Don’t beat around the bush, don’t play games. If you have someone else in mind, spit it out.”
“Your brother. Is there any reason your brother would want to hurt you?” he asked.
Liza narrowed her gaze. “No chance in hell.” She folded her arms across her chest and glared, letting Dare know he was dangerously close to crossing a line.
“Look, I’m not saying your sober brother would want to hurt you, but what about your drunk one? Is it possible that during one of his binges, he got angry over something? Hell, he might not even remember doing it the next day.”
Liza shook her head. She wasn’t sure of many things these days, but she was certain her brother wouldn’t hurt her unless it was an accident. Not deliberate sabotage. “Not possible,” she said once more.
“Everyone has their limits, Liza. Everyone. And you can’t afford to eliminate anyone as a suspect when your life is on the line.”
“Is that the cop in you speaking? Or the man who hates my brother with a passion?” she asked, her voice sparking with anger.
“I’ll give you that one because I earned it.”
She sucked in a surprised breath. She didn’t know why she’d be so shocked that Dare would admit when he was wrong, but his doing so took the wind out of her righteous anger.
“Look, I can tell you for sure Brian would never knowingly hurt me.”
“That’s my whole point! I’m not saying he’d do it sober.”
“He wouldn’t do it drunk either!”
“How do you know? What makes you so damn sure?”
“Because he’s the one who was there when—” No. No. No. She wasn’t going there. Not now and not with Dare, a man who Liza couldn’t be sure would really be there for her the next day, let alone the next hour.
“When what?” Dare asked, his voice gentling.
“It’s not relevant.” She pulled her purse off her shoulder and dug for the keys to the rental car. “I need to go.” She turned but didn’t get far.
Dare grabbed her shoulders and spun her back around to face him. “You’ve been through more in the past few days than many people go through in a lifetime. You’re exhausted, and I respect that. I’ve been an ass, and I know that too.”
She blinked, stunned by him once more.
“I want you to go home and rest. Please. No work. Just go unwind,” he said, back to the caring man she’d spent so much time with this past weekend. The man who made her think she could trust and maybe even fall hard. “Sam and I will arrange for drive-by protection when you’re at home or at work,” he promised.
“Thank you for that.”
He inclined his head. “That’s me doing my job. What I say next isn’t. I’m coming over after work around six. I’m bringing dinner, and we’re going to talk.”
“There’s nothing to say.”
He merely raised an eyebrow. “You can’t shoulder all this yourself, and you need to know I’m going to be there.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” The lump in her throat nearly undid her, but she wouldn’t break down in front of him. “Brian could show up or do something, and we’ll be back to square one. I have too much going on in my life to deal with you too.”
“But you will. Because I can’t stay away.” A sexy smile tipped his lips. “And you really don’t want me to.”
She had the sudden urge to step on his feet hard. “Arrogant jerk,” she muttered.
“Go home, Liza. Rest. We have a lot to talk about when I get there.”
Knowing she was fighting a losing battle, she turned and walked out. But she wasn’t giving in. As hard as he planned to push her, she planned to push right back. He had no idea how hard she could fight to protect herself, even from people she cared about. She’d shut out her parents when she realized they couldn’t give her what she needed.
And she’d shut him out too. Because this man posed a big risk to her—body, heart, and soul.
Chapter Eleven
For some reason, Liza couldn’t believe someone wanted her hurt. Or worse. Cars failed all the time. Surely when Sam investigated, he’d find out that Mason didn’t know what he was talking about and something had happened at the dealership when she’d had her car fixed. Nothing else made sense. Similar to the rest of her life, which had somehow turned into a jumble she didn’t understand surrounding Dare Barron.
By the time Liza’s doorbell rang at six thirty, she told herself she was prepared for him. Walls up, guarded, prepared. Then she opened the door and came face-to-face with a man bearing wildflowers in one hand, a box of pizza balanced on the other, and a bottle of wine under his arm, and all her defenses went out the window.