He held his hands up. “You made your point. How much does Madi know?”
“You didn’t ask her?”
“I did. She didn’t want to talk about it.”
“She knows what I know.”
“Good. Jay didn’t want to tell her. He said you told him she could handle it.”
“I stand by my assessment.” Talking about Madi like a client made my skin crawl, but I had to maintain professional detachment for her brother’s sake.
He nodded. “Good, I happen to agree with you. Madi grew up dealing with us, then dealing with sailors while serving in the Navy. She can handle this.”
“I can handle what?” Madi’s tone made it clear she didn’t like us talking about her.
I turned to answer and promptly forgot how to breathe. Madi had changed into a strapless dress that I immediately thanked God for. Her pale shoulders glowed and I longed to kiss them. The top half hugged her gorgeous curves and accented her impressive chest. The skirt part billowed out from her perfect hips and stopped just short of her knees.
I’d just started imagining lifting that skirt when Jack smacked my shoulder, dragging me out of my fantasy.
“You can handle fake dating Robinson, so we can flush out the psycho stalking you and put an end to it.” Jack didn’t mince his words when he answered her question.
“Oh. Okay.” She accepted his answer as her eyes roamed up and down my body.
And damn if her gaze didn’t feel like a lover’s touch.
“You look amazing.” Now that I wasn’t fantasizing about removing her clothes, I noticed that her purple dress wasn’t asolid color but had microdots in a slightly different shade of purple.My woman loves her purple.
My woman? Where the fuck had that come from?
I opened a compartment in the back of my mind, shoved the thought in, and slammed the lid.
Then I locked it for good measure.
And because Madi was temptation brought to life and I couldn’t risk catching feelings for her, I buried that fucking compartment in cement.
I had to keep my emotional distance.
Only Madi looked at me the same way I looked at her.
Did she think of me as hers?
The cement liquefied and drained away.
Would I hate if she did?
The lock shattered.
Would her brothers kill me if I asked her out for real?
“Thank you.” As Madi approached, Jack intercepted her.
“Madi, I wish I could be there tonight, but I trust our team.”
“Including Matt?” Her comment had more snark than her dress had dots.
“Including Matt, or we wouldn’t have green-lit Jay’s plan.”
“We?”
