After the stress of the past couple of days, Mace had been in desperate need of a meeting. He wouldn’t admit it, but I could see how badly he was struggling, and after two days I finally put my foot down.

He argued, not wanting to leave me alone with Daniel still out there, but I wouldn’t take no for an answer. We finally reached a compromise that made him feel better—one of Ian’s guys would stay with me whenever Mace wasn’t around.

And it was for that reason that one of the stoic, monosyllabic security dudes was sitting in the kitchen like a statue that very moment while Ian’s buddy Lincoln installed our new security system.

I’d been sitting on the couch, curled up with my forearms resting along the back and my chin propped on my hands as the huge dude with sandy blond hair and electric green eyes used every power tool in existence to install cameras and motion sensors and glass-break sensors and everything else you could think of all over the house, inside and out.

Now he was fiddling near the front door, putting up a complicated-looking panel that I seriously doubted I’d ever get the hang of. The whirr of the impact driver finally went quiet, and I asked, “Is all this really necessary?”

Lincoln looked over his shoulder at me with a smirk that could only be described as sinful. Then again, there wasn’t much about him that wasn’t. It was like there was an unwritten rule somewhere that any man who worked in security had to be abnormally good-looking.

And he was no exception. At least four inches over six feet, the dude was built like a freaking brick house. He was all man. And the kicker was he obviously knew it, using his size, good looks, and alpha magnetism to his benefit. It was like it was ingrained in him to exude masculinity with his every move and breath.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think he was as fine as Mace, but if Mason Keller wasn’t in the picture, this was definitely a man I’d trip over my own feet to get to.

“From your point of view, I’m guessin’ not,” he answered, “But seein’ as I’m a guy, and I can relate to your man better than you can you, I’d say hell yeah, it’s necessary.”

I snorted with a roll of my eyes. “What is it with you guys being all alpha and pissing around your territories?”

A deep, rumbly chuckle worked its way up his throat. “It’s not about markin’ our territory, darlin’. Any man worth a shit’ll do everything in his power to keep his woman safe.” His gaze skated along my face and to what parts he could see from over the couch. “You were my woman, I’d break my back to protect you.”

Mace was it for me, but that didn’t mean a man with Lincoln’s particular charms didn’t have an effect on me. A tremor worked its way through my body as I found the strength to mutter, “Inappropriate.”

“Just stating the truth. You don’t have a man willin’ to do that, then you picked wrong, and you need to get rid of his ass and find one who will. From what I can see, you’re dude’s willin’ to do just that.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked with curiosity. “You only met him for like two seconds.”

“Sweetheart, a man who doesn’t care wouldn’t shell out what I cost. Not even men with the kinda money your guy has.”

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. “Seriously?”

One corner of his mouth quirked up. “Absolutely, darlin’.”

“Wow. Ian said you were the best at this stuff, but….” I couldn’t wrap my brain around what I’d just heard. “Seriously?”

“Come on,” he said with a chuckle. “Let me show you how this system works.”

I stood up and rounded the couch. “Something tells me you’re gonna need to leave a very detailed instruction manual.”

That sinful smirk returned, and my knees wobbled. “You’ll get it, don’t worry. It’s not as hard as it looks.”

Yeah, he was so full of it.

* * *

“You don’t have to stick around.”

Jeff, the guy Ian had put on me, seemed determined to enter the rec center with me. That wasn’t going to work, not only because these meetings were private, but because there were still women in my support group who were leery around all men. Add Jeff’s brawn and bulk into the equation and they’d be scared. I wasn’t cool with that.

“Rule is I’m supposed to keep you in sight the whole time.”

I stopped us just outside the doors of the rec center. It was bad enough that he’d tailed me the whole way there, but now he wanted to go in? Nope, not happening.

“These meetings are very personal. You can’t hover just inside the door freaking the women out. They’re entitled to their privacy, and I’m not gonna let you take that away from them, so you have two choices. You can either wait in your car out in the parking lot, or you can go do your own thing, and I’ll call you when I’m ready for my shadow.”

He paused for a moment, and I thought he was going to give me more trouble, but then he sighed. “Fine. I’ll be back in an hour.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” I warned. “It’s a meeting with nothing but women. We tend to run late more times than not.”

Jeff looked like he was dangerously close to having an aneurysm. “Fine,” he grunted. “But you call me the minute the meeting’s over.”

“I will.”

“I’m serious, woman. The minute it’s over.”

I quickly traced an X over my heart and held my index and middle fingers up in the air. “Cross my heart and hope to die. A needle in the eye and all that jazz. I’ll call the minute the meeting ends.”

He stayed out on the sidewalk as I headed inside. Once the glass door closed behind me, I turned and gave him a wave over my shoulder. Then I spun around and went into my meeting, putting all ugly thoughts of Daniel and intricate security systems and twenty-four-seven guard duty out of my head.

At least for now.

* * *

“I’m nervous,” Kate admitted sheepishly. “It’s been forever since I’ve gone on a date. I’m totally out of practice.”

I folded my chair and stacked it against the wall before looking back at her with a kind smile.

“This is a good thing. You deserve to be happy, honey.”

She was going out on her very first date since getting out of an abusive relationship that had spanned over a decade. After being physically and mentally beaten down for so many years, it was a wonder she had the courage to try again. Fortunately, she was unbelievably strong.

“I know. It’s just hard,” she said as we started out the door of the room where the group was held and down the hall toward the glass doors leading out to the parking lot. “What if…?” She swallowed thickly. “What if I’m not good enough?”

“Hey now. Stop that,” I ordered, grabbing hold of her shoulders and turning her to me. “You are good enough. Never ever doubt that. You have nothing to prove to this guy. He asked you out because he liked what he saw. And honey, everything there is to see about you is all good.”

She gave me a shy smile. “You’re just saying that ’cause you’re my friend.”

“No,” I stated firmly. “I’m your friend because everything about you is good. Just remember one thing when this guy picks you up tonight. He’s the lucky one because you said yes, babe. You’re the prize here, Kate.”

Leaning in, she pulled me into a tight hug. “You’re the best, you know that?”

I returned her embrace and pulled back. “You are who you’re friends with.”

“All right. Well I guess I better get going. I have a date to get ready for.”

“Shit,” I hissed, looking from the darkness outside to the time on my cell phone. “I forgot to call Jeff.” He was going to kill me. And as soon as he was done, he’d find a way to bring me back to life so Mace could kill me a second time.

“Who’s Jeff? I thought you were seeing a guy named Mace?”

“I am. Jeff is… a friend of his. I was supposed to call him when the meeting ended.”

“No biggie,” she said with a shrug. “Can’t you just call him now?”

“Yeah. I’ll call him when I get to the car.”

Kate gave me one last hug before starting down the hall in the opposite direction, walking backward as she spoke. “Enjoy the rest of your evening, Ly. See you next week?”

“Definitely. And you better be ready to fill me in on how tonight goes.”

I turned and headed out of the building toward my car as I fished my keys out of my purse. Bleeping the locks, I pulled the driver door open and climbed in, closing myself inside before going back to my phone.

Scrolling down to Jeff’s name, I hit Call and lifted it to my ear, only for every muscle in my body to seize when something cold and metallic pressed against the side of my head.

“Don’t even think about it.”

Ice slithered up my spine at the sound of Daniel’s voice coming from my back seat. I moved to turn and face him, but the metal at my temple pushed in deeper.

“Don’t move,” he hissed. “I’ve got a gun to your head right now, and I won’t hesitate to pull the goddamn trigger if you do anything stupid.”

I should have been scared. I should have been out of my mind and nearly peeing my pants in fear.

But for some odd reason I doubted I’d ever be able to explain, I wasn’t scared.

Oh no. What I was feeling wasn’t terror at all.

It was pure, unadulterated rage.

So help me god, if this asshole thought he was going to ruin one more thing for me, Mace wouldn’t get his chance to beat the holy hell out of him.

Because I was going to kill him myself.