“Order whatever you like,” I tell her as she studies the menu. The part of my brain telling me to use this leverage on her takes a backseat.

She seems shocked, as if she didn’t expect me to say that. “Thanks,” she says, “What’s good here?”

“I get the steak,” I tell her. As she looks over the choices, she seems totally at ease, not like a girl who’s sitting with a guy who might kidnap and harm her. This looks and feels like a date, not like I forced her to come with me, dressed in clothing that I know leaves her feeling a bit uncomfortable.

“I’ll try the steak,” she says, setting the menu flat on the table before her. There’s a bit of shame in her eyes as she talks. “I’m sorry I was listening to you. I was bored to tears, and your role play or whatever was interesting.”

Role play. She thinks it’s a sex thing. No wonder she’s been practically purring with desire.

She blushes a little and looks down before meeting my stare again. “And I’m sorry I stopped you from having sex.”

How much is she going to say while this desperate to keep the quiet from falling between us?

“You know, if you’d asked me to go out with you, I’d have said yes.”

Would she have? I remember the fear in her eyes when I’d cornered her in her apartment. Back then, she hadn’t rationalized what I was doing next door. She hadn’t decided it was a sex game. She’d still thought it was terrifying.

But she keeps talking. “So, Cami seemed like a neat girl. Why did she run out early on you?”

She barely hesitates, but I’m not going to answer anyway. I’m still torn between telling her it’s not a sex thing and letting her go on believing I’m the kind of guy who gets off on kidnapping and rape fantasies.

I don’t.

But then again, why the fuck to I care what this girl thinks?

But like a dog with a bone, she’s not done. “So, do you role play like that often?”

She finally stops talking and her eyes travel past me. I know the waitress is here, but I’m totally focused on Jane for a moment. When I look up at the woman, I see the look in her eyes.

“Steak, rare, with mushrooms. Fries on the side instead of a baked potatoes. Blue cheese salad.” She nods and I wait for her to turn to Jane, who’s not stupid. She knows what’s going on. And she’s not about to take it sitting down.

“Clearly she doesn’t want a tip, she wants the tip,” Jane says, and I see the anger in the waitresses eyes.

I glance over at Jane. She’s fucking amazing. “What did you want, love?” I ask her. And I see that look of beautiful shock cross her features. Her heart seems to skip a beat before beginning to race at the base of her throat.

“Um…” she says, her tongue unable to form words for a moment as she gathers herself. “The same as you’re having,” she says and I look up at the waitress. The woman nods and leaves.

“She’s going to spit in my food.” Jane sounds rueful and I shake my head.

“No, she won’t.”

“How do you know?” Jane asks, and I stare at her. As if realizing she’s asking a stupid question, she looks down, her pretty eyes flustered.

“So, how often did you role play a bad break up with that douche?” I ask her and her eyes snap up to mine, shock flashing like lighting in them.

“That’s not funny,” she says, but I see the smile breaking across her face like the sun coming out from the clouds. And just like that, she’s giggling. Maybe it’s the stress of the day, maybe she’s actually amused, but her reaction is infectious. And I smile.

It’s a relief she doesn’t know the truth.

Or is it?

If she knew the truth, she’d be the first person who’d actually had a real peek into the fucked up realm of my life. I mean, sure, my brothers have their women, but each of them only know bits and pieces of the whole story, I’m sure. I doubt that Kieran told Emma that his ex-wife was stalking him as recently as this year. I doubt that Kyle told Victoria the whole story about Kieran killing dad.

I mean, it’s a cluster fuck and it gets exhausting holding everything together by myself. But then again, I also don’t want to drag anyone else into the mess of my life. Especially not this shiny, bright human being who’s clearly got more problems that she’d like anyone to know about.

“My dad loves him,” she says softly, her eyes staring at something past me. I sense sadness in her voice as she speaks. Everything in her says her father is letting her down, and I agree. Her bastard ex is a total waste of oxygen.

She’s silent as the waitress comes and drops off waters for us. When we’re mostly alone again, she talks quietly. “I don’t know why. I feel like Zac was only dating me to get at my family money.”

“He was,” I tell her and she looks up at me in shock. I elaborate, “He told me I wouldn’t get your money.”

She lowers her head in shame. “I’d give it all away if it meant I could trust that anyone would love me for who I am.”

The words echo around in my soul. I’d give almost anything to find someone who would accept me for who I am. “It wasn’t role play,” I tell her, and she looks up at me in shock.

“I kidnapped Cami. I did it to find out if she was a threat to my family.” The words flow out and I expect her to stare at me like I’m the monster I am.

“Is that why you were asking her if she was going to kidnap Olivia?” She asks, and I realize she heard a lot more than she was letting on.

I nod.

“Well,” she says after taking a sip of her water. “I think you went about it all wrong, but I can’t fault you for protecting a child who can’t defend herself.”

“The law would,” I say, but she shakes her head, her pretty lips pursing a little.

“The law would also tell you that it’s twenty four hours before you can report someone missing. A lot can happen in twenty four hours.” She sounds as if she has zero faith in the whole system, and I find that surprising. Typically people who grow up with money feel like the law is perfect because they can always buy their way into the cop’s pockets.

“It took her four hours last time to snatch Olivia and wreck the car. Olivia almost died,” I say, feeling the same sensations I’d felt when Kieran called me to tell me Olivia was going to die.

“I would have killed her,” Jane says, her eyes lit with a fire that I recognize.