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The next night Bast grabbed Elijah out of his claustrophobic office and dragged him to the club for dinner. Eli never complained but he'd spent an unusual amount of time staring out the car window and grumbling. And now he sat in the booth with his back to the bar and the man behind hit.

A punch of guilt hit Bast. The trip gave him the opportunity to see Kyra for the first time since early that morning. See and admire. Eli, in full bodyguard mode, had little choice but to come along.

Bast glanced over at Kyra and caught a smile. Then he looked across the table and saw nothing but Elijah's dark hair. “I know you'd rather not be here.”

“I have to eat.” Eli never looked up from the file in front of him. He studied it as if his life depended on it.

“Eli, I get—”

“Aren't you going to say hello to your girlfriend?” Eli flipped a page. Then another. “Maybe drag her into the back for the few minutes.”

After a quick look around the dining room, Bast leaned in and lowered his voice. He hoped it would blend in with the mumble of voices and clanking of silverware and dishes. “Could you maybe keep it down?”

Closing the file, Eli looked up. “It's still a secret?” His smile made it clear he knew it was.

Bast fought off the urge to fire him just because. “Yes.”

Taking his time, drawing out the moment for maximum drama, Eli took a long drink from the glass in front of him. “She slept at the house all weekend and at the start of this week. Then there's last night when I got to sit in my car outside her apartment and wait for you.”

“I didn't ask you to do that.”

“Doesn't matter. It's the job.”

This is what happened when you moved a former undercover operative into the downstairs apartment. He conducted surveillance. Bast understood the tendency but he didn't appreciate being the target. “When did you get so fucking nosy?”

Eli's frown suggested he wasn't impressed with the outburst. “I'm watching over you, which right now means I'm looking out for her, too.”

Well, shit. He had a point. It was an angle Bast ignored. If someone wanted to get at him and saw her, she'd be in the firing line. And he'd be the one who put her there. That meant he had to do a full assessment of the danger to him. If it meant danger to her, he had to pull back. The one thing he absolutely did not want to do.

He'd handle that tomorrow. Right now he had another line to draw. “I appreciate that, but me being with her is not a topic for discussion.”

Eli frowned. “Why?”

“Excuse me?”

“You're obviously into Kyra.”

At the mention of her name, Bast had to fight off the desire to look for her in the room. “This isn't your business.”

“I'm just saying, you may as well spill. Becca knows.” Eli located her in the room and nodded in her direction. Then he pointed at Jarrett. “I'd say your best friend knows.”

“He doesn't.” Bast had no idea how Eli figured out the Becca information, but he got Jarrett wrong. The second Jarrett found out he would hunt Bast down and that hadn't happened. Bast knew it was coming and tried to figure out the best way to get there and get it over with.

“If I can decipher your tell, he can.” Eli just kept drinking, as if they weren't having the most infuriating, too personal conversation ever. “Then there's the other thing.”

A voice in Bast's head screamed for him to ask. “What?”

“The staring.”

That wasn't true. He demanded secrecy and knew how to play his role. “I don't—”

“You don't drool, but you're right on the edge.”

That hit a bit too close to the truth. “I can fire you.”

Elijah shrugged. “Go ahead.”

“You're not an easy man to threaten.”

“Or kill.” Eli emptied the glass and put it back on the table with a soft thud. “You may want to keep that in mind.”

Kyra appeared at the side of the table. She wore her usual work uniform and a sunny smile. “Good evening, Mr. Jameson.”

Eli scoffed. “You make her call you by your last name?”

That just made him sound like a dick, and Bast didn't like that one bit. “It's club policy.”

“Makes me wonder what happens when you're alone together.”

Kyra's eyes widened as she stared at Eli. “Wait, you know?”

“About you two?” Eli shot her a get-a-clue look. “I would point out I live downstairs from Bast right now.”

“He knows not to talk.” Bast said it more as a warning for Eli than a fact for Kyra.

And Eli immediately blew it. “Who the hell would I tell?”

“I can't even deal with this right now.” Kyra glanced around then bent in a little closer. “Could I have a word with you?”

Bast couldn't think of a worse place for a so-called private chat. “How?”

“Want me to leave?” Eli was already shifting to the end of the booth to get up.

“You could go talk with Wade,” she said in a singsongy voice. “Yeah, you're not the only one who knows personal things about people.”

Bast bit back a smile over the way the amusement left Eli's face. “She has you there.”

He swore under his breath. “Your brother is an—”

“We use the word ‘difficult,'” Kyra said.

“Right. Excuse me.” Eli didn't wait another minute. He slid out of the booth and headed away from the bar. In a few steps, he met up with Becca. It said something about how little he wanted to talk to Wade that he chose to go to her instead.

Kyra watched him leave. “I see what you mean. He's clearly still into Wade.”

“Understatement.” If anything, Bast found Elijah even more torn up about Wade lately. He went from looking sad but hopeful to shutting down completely. “What's up?”

“That was my question.”

Clearly he missed a step. Bast had no idea where. “I don't get it.”

“About tonight.” She rolled her eyes. “You should see your face.”

He guessed she saw confusion because that was the emotion bouncing around inside him. That and a healthy dose of lust. “I'm trying to figure out where you're going with this.”

“Am I invited over tonight or not?” She barely opened her mouth as she asked the question.

For a second all he could do was look at her and wonder how this part of their communication kept misfiring. He thought they'd worked that out last night when he went to her place and almost ordered her into his bed. “Of course.”

“You say that like it's a foregone conclusion.”

Wasn't it?
“I figured you'd come over after work, or I can come get you.”

“Why don't we meet at the corner and I'll crawl in the trunk so no one can see us?” Her anger shot out and smacked him.

Her mood could change on a word and this time he had no idea why. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.”

A woman did not make that comment without trying to make a point. He had to be slow this evening because he couldn't ferret out what lesson he should be learning. “I'm thinking something.”

“You just assumed I'd come over.”

Well, yeah
. “Do you not want to?”

“You're being obtuse.”

Before Bast could think of an answer, Elijah stood beside Kyra. Somehow the rest of the room stayed in motion. Except for Wade who all but ignored the server in front of him in favor of watching Elijah and the unexpected party at Bast's table.

“Can I come back now?” Elijah looked down at Kyra. “Whoa. Are you okay?”

She kept her focus on Bast. “Your boss is annoying me.”

“Let's not involve Eli in this.”

Elijah nodded. “That would be good.”

“You ask me, Bast. At the very least, you invite me.” Her voice rose as the sentence continued. By the time she got to the last word, a man at the next table glanced in their direction.

“I knew I should have gone outside,” Elijah mumbled as he shifted his weight from foot to foot.

Bast didn't care about the show they gave the room or Eli or anything else. Kyra seemed to be laying some new sin at his door, and he refused to accept it. “Didn't I do that when I said I was coming here for dinner?”

She shot him a you-will-pay-for-this-later glare. “You're unbelievable.”

Then she was off. With a pivot, she walked off and more than one person moved out of her way as she stalked by the bar and kept going.

Bast had no idea what just happened. He knew he'd have to apologize but he'd be damned if he knew for what.

Eli took the seat across from Bast again. “I thought you were supposed to be good with women.”

“I thought you liked men.”

Eli stared in the direction of her heated trail. “I kind of like her, in a she-could-kick-your-ass way.”

“Yeah, so do I.”

“You might want to start showing it.” Elijah held up a hand as if in surrender. “Just saying.”

Aiming to end the conversation, Bast took an unfair shot. “How would you like it if I gave you love life advice about Wade?”

Instead of taking the bait, Eli nodded his head from side to side as if he was contemplating the question. “The way I see it neither one of us is an expert on the Royer siblings.”

“You may have a point.”

“But, if I can give you some advice.”

“Can I stop you?” Being the boss didn't seem to do it.

“You might want to be careful because I think she's tougher than Wade.”

Forget training and weapons, Bast knew that comment was correct. “No doubt.”

•   •   •

Kyra fumed as she took a drink order and walked up to the bar to give it to Wade. She refused to look at Bast. She felt the heat of his stare, sensed him talking about her with Elijah. Since all she wanted to do was look over and flash them the finger, which had to be a club violation of some sort, she pretended they didn't exist.

She didn't want to deal with Wade either. Pretty much all males pissed her off at the moment.

She read off the order then turned to go, but he grabbed her hand and held her steady. “What's going on?”

Clueless men everywhere she looked. “I'm working.”

“I'm talking about your conversation with Bast.” Wade wiped off the bar then grabbed glasses to fill her order.

She couldn't exactly open up. That was part of the problem. Bast did so many things right, but when he got something wrong, it was in epic style. Insisted on secrecy. Took for granted she'd be there each night. Kept her at a distance.

She hated all of it.

Deep down she knew she was the one changing the rules. They had a deal, but not one she liked and one she always vowed to shift. From the beginning she wanted more than sex and hoped he would grow to crave something bigger, too. Part of her believed he did but then he acted like an ass and she didn't know where she stood.

Finding out the distance of the divide between what she wanted and what was scared her to death. Her, a woman raised by a two-bit criminal with an oversized ego and a desire to use her for sex to gather more resources.

She survived all that, but falling in love was killing her.

And that's what it was. If she were honest, she'd admit she'd loved him for a long time. She could push him and seduce him, but the risk of him finding out her true feelings and not returning them—or worse, not even wanting to try to return them—pounded her into the ground.

But she couldn't say any of that to the brother who sacrificed so much for her. Not yet. So, she said the obvious. “He was ordering.”

Wade eyed her up as he poured. “The discussion looked pretty heated.”

“When I started working here, you promised not to hover.” It actually took her in combination with Jarrett and Becca to gain the promise from Wade to refrain from punching every member in the face.

He'd been adamant she work somewhere else. Anywhere else. Winning him over took time and he likely only relented because his nasty breakup with Eli had him in a weakened state.

“I stayed over here, didn't I?” Wade set a glass down a bit too hard. “I didn't barge in and cause a scene.”

She glanced over and saw Bast talking with Elijah. “Gee, I wonder why.”

Wade stopped shifting around behind the bar. Stopped making drinks. His big body slammed to a halt. “Meaning?”

“Elijah.” They danced all around this. He told her the guy he was dating was wrong for him, then refused to discuss it again or name him. She'd pieced it all together from other people and observation.

Without moving his head, Wade gave Elijah a quick look. “What do you know about him?”

“Are you looking for an answer other than Elijah is your boyfriend and you forgot to tell me?”

“He's not my boyfriend.”

Looked like her brother was in the mood for a game of verbal gymnastics. “Was.”

“Still wrong.” He lined up the drinks from her order. “Who told you? Becca? This sounds like Becca.”

One more clueless male in a night full of them. “I have eyes, Wade. You two stare at each other like lovesick kids but what you look like you want to do to him is very grown-up.”

Wade exhaled, visibly bringing his temper under control. “We were talking about whatever's going on between you and Bast.”

“You want to talk about Bast. I wanted to talk about Elijah.” She actually didn't want to talk about either of them. Getting lost in the monotony of work sounded better tonight. “Bottom line, you should worry about your own love life.”

Wade moved as if in slow motion. His head shifted to the side and his eyes narrowed. “You're saying talking about Bast is the same thing as talking about your love life?”

Son of a bitch
. Her first misstep in the secret relationship and she didn't waste it on something small. No, she went right for the sonic boom. “I was just trying to make a point.”