“Someone has to be helping him, and I’ll bet it’s either the guy he was talking to when we last saw him or whoever tried to run me over.”
“Kill you, you mean,” Terry clarified, his voice dark and intense. “They tried to kill you, Kat.”
I rolled my eyes at his serious words, but my heart rate picked up. “I know that.” I couldn’t escape the fact that, other than the nights I spent in his arms, those few seconds dodging two tons of steel played in my mind all night. On repeat. And when I actually slept, they played in my dreams.
“Nightmares?” His tone was soft and sweet, at odds with the tough guy I knew him to be, and yeah, it melted me like butter.
“Some,” I admitted reluctantly because the last thing I wanted was for Terry to see me as anything less than desirable and capable. “It’s nothing to worry about.”
“There’s nothing wrong with having nightmares, Kat. Especially after a traumatic experience.” His blue eyes bore into mine, making sure I was unable to look away until I understood what he said. I wanted to believe his long looks meant something was changing between us, but he didn’t give me anything to go on. No endearments, no talk of a future, of going public. What choice did I have but to keep my guard up with this man, otherwise my heart could get broken in so many pieces, I might never be able to put it back together again.
I scoffed, despite his tender tone. I couldn’t help myself. “My life has been a clusterfuck, filled with trauma, and I refuse to let some insignificant jackass fuck with my sleep.”
He nodded and stood, his long legs slowly carrying him closer to my desk, He sat on the edge and gave me a gentle, sympathetic smile. “So you are having nightmares. Tell me about them.”
“You first,” I shot back to more snark than I meant to, but he couldn’t just expect me to bare my soul when he refused to do the same. If he cared, he’d open up, right?
“I sleep just fine, Kitty Kat.” He tugged on a strand of my hair like he used to when I was a little girl, before he decided he hated my guts. “I want to know why you’re not sleeping.”
I looked up at him, blond hair gleaming in the sun that spilled in from two walls of windows, light blue eyes intense and hungry as they connected with mine.
“What if I told you that I wasn’t sleeping because you’re not with me?” It was as much of the truth as I was willing to admit to him. For now.
“You know why I can’t.” The only thing that softened the blow of his words was the regret I heard in his voice.
“I know why you say we can’t, but I don’t agree.” Of course I knew that Jasper would always be a problem between us, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. “Jasper is my brother, not my father. Not my keeper. Or yours, last time I checked.”
He sighed and stood, putting a little distance between us. “Kat,” he groaned, slightly annoyed. “You know this is bad.”
I held up my hands and shook my head. “Don’t worry about it, Ter. Jasper is a good excuse. I get it.”
It stung but I refused to show him just how much. Our little exchange proved I was right to keep an emotional distance from him. He was feeding me bullshit. I saw it coming a mile down the road. No way, Mr. Manning, will I let my guard down only for you to crush every good feeling I have. I’ll keep things as they are, friends with benefits. That’s all. Nothing would make me change my mind.
“I have some calls to make.” I picked up my cell phone and stared at Terry until he took the hint and gave me some space. For some reason, I flashed on Vanessa and her love for her late husband. But that train of thought would do me no good. I’ll never have what she and Lance had, certainly not with Terry, since he was using my brother as an excuse to keep me at arm’s length.
My first call was to my investigator since Molly had held firm on her decision not to return to Glitz with me or reach out to her sister. She was determined that Mueller was more powerful than he actually was, and I understood that from her perspective. How would I explain that to Madison, though? Until I figured this out, I needed Rusty to keep an eye on Molly. Make sure she was safe until Mueller was no longer a problem.
Before I could make any more phone calls, my office and cell phone lit up like a switchboard.
“As soon as I know, you’ll have answers,” I assured one of Sadie’s associates who’d lost six figures on the fight. “Yes, that’s straight from Sadie.”
“You should speak with Jasper about that,” I told another who wanted to know why he still hadn’t been paid for his winning bet.
“I called you, sweetheart.”
“The name is Kat, not sweetheart, Dale. And Jasper can give you a concrete answer, whereas I cannot.”
Sometimes I hated dealing with those douchebags, but they made up a good chunk of Ashby money because they were big time gamblers who couldn’t pick a winner if their lives depended on it. But in their minds, they were winners.
“Why don’t you tell me what happened, over dinner?”
I rolled my eyes and had to suppress the urge to vomit. “That sounds great, but you know Jasper would break your legs if he ever found out.”
My gaze lingered on Terry. I could see his ears had pricked up at this conversation. I said, “My big brother still treats me like I’m a little girl, you know?”
Dale’s deep laughter was
