“Do you see what I see?”

From the corner of the bar, I shoved my glasses up the bridge of my nose. They were just for show, strictly part of the disguise. Right then, they were in my way.

I tapped my ear com. “Yeah, I see what you see.”

“Well, are you going to do something about it, or do I need to get up and do it?”

As it turned out Ariel was a ball buster. Though there wasn’t anyone else I’d rather watch my back, except maybe Penny. “Yeah, I got this.”

Jessa McLean was currently trying to break up a fight in a bar, all 5 foot 4 inches of her. Basically, a recipe for disaster.

Her company, Evans PR, worked crisis management. Their current roster included mostly corporate clients and a few A-list actors and musicians. Jessa was on the corporate side though, which was a relief, because faking an entertainment resume was next to impossible.

But at the moment, two of her clients were wasted and about to get in a fight.

“Come on, Romeo, do your thing, or this is going to get ugly.”

I sighed. I wasn’t too thrilled about the role I was about to play. I was supposed to go in as client, the last thing on earth I wanted. Evans Public Relations was my soon-to-be PR firm for a business I hadn’t even owned until Ariel got her hands on me. And the company was supposedly in the matchmaking business.

Ariel and I were playing a brother and sister team, so it was perfect, except Jessa McLean was fucking well fit. The kind of gorgeous you see in magazines. We’d been watching her for nearly two weeks to find our best angle of approach, and I could see why the two wankers were about to get in a fight over her.

Dark hair, wide hazel eyes, slender, but man was she stacked. Part of me couldn’t even believe she was Sebastian’s sister, but Ariel and I had done our due diligence. This was the little sister to my best mate. So, I really couldn’t be thinking about how stacked she was.

Get it together.

I downed the rest of my beer and pushed away from the table in the back corner. Stealthily, I sauntered over.

“Piss off mate. I was here first,” the dark-haired guy said.

“What are you? Mad? Clearly she was enjoying talking to me. She can make her own decisions.” The shorter blond guy shoved the taller, darker bloke in the shoulder. The darker bloke shoved right back, but the blond guy, despite being smaller, apparently knew how to handle himself. He evaded the shove and came back with a punch. All the while, Jessa was standing in the middle. “Oh my God, the two of you will be placed on probation if you cannot get your act…”

I wasn’t sure which one shoved her, but she went flying. I hadn’t moved that fast in a long time, but a spark of adrenaline fired in my veins. I was going to fucking murder those idiots.

I could hear Ariel cursing in my ear piece. The short blond guy, to his credit, did try and reach for Jessa, but the dark-haired guy was too far gone. He was paying zero attention. What I wanted to do was stop and remove their hands so they could never put them on her again. But, I had my directive.

I dove for her, managing to catch her and drag her to my body just before she hit the ground.

Startled, she whipped her head around, hair cascading behind her. “Oh my God.”

“Are you all right?”

Behind us, I could hear the chaos. In my ear piece, Ariel was giving me the blow by blow. Punches flying, remove the target.

Jessa’s eyes were wide, pinned to some spot behind me. I didn’t really have time for this shit. “Are you okay?”

She nodded absently and tried to scurry around me, heading right back for the fight. “Are you mad? Those two numbnuts are throwing blows, and the rest of this place is about to go off like a powder keg, and you’re running back into the fight?”

She glared at me like I was crazy, her hazel eyes flashing fire at me. “Those two assholes have managed not to have any negative publicity for six months. Considering they hate each other, do you understand how much work I put into that?”

First, her accent surprised me. It was American. Second, she wasn’t intimidated by me in the least. I was six foot three, I was well aware that I looked intimidating. But it seemed Jessa McLean didn’t give two shits and thought she could handle it all herself.

I forced myself to strip the aggression out of my voice. Remember the cover, you eejit. Roone Scott wouldn’t go caveman. The pseudonym would take getting used to. But Roone Ainsley was too traceable. A quick internet search and she’d find out I’d played rugby at Eton and that I knew the king. Ariel was good, but it was risky trying to fully erase me from the internet. “I understand, but you can’t go back into that fight.”

I wrapped an arm around her waist and gently pulled her back when she tried to run around me. “Are you insane? I have to stop this, or those idiots are going to undo my six months of hard work.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that.” Added to the list of things I couldn’t tell her: Your brother, the King of the Winston Isles, and also my best mate, would like me to keep you safe.

Jessa struggled in my arms, and I did the only thing I could think of in that moment. I leaned down, picked her up, fireman style, and headed for the door, just as a few other assholes in the bar started to weigh in on the fight.

Jessa, as it turned out, was a fighter, though an ineffectual one because her fists were tiny. However, that didn’t stop her from whacking me on the back several times as I carried her through the crowd, out the door, and into the parking area.

When I gently set her down back on her feet, she laid into me. “What in the world? Are you insane? Are you some kind of psycho? I have a job to do.”

“Does your job involve getting hurt because two assholes are too drunk to talk their shit out like normal people?”

“My job involves babysitting and making sure they don’t act like assholes.”

“Then I’m sorry to say, you are very bad at your job, and I’m seriously reconsidering.”

She whipped on me then. “I will have you know, I am excellent at my job. I am the best publicist at Evans Public Relations. I can turn the bitterest of rivals into best friends for both of their benefits. You just interrupted before I could stop those two idiots.”

I couldn’t help it, my lips twitched. She was spunky. And to be fair, I couldn’t be blamed, because her tits were legitimately bouncing right in front of me. I fought to keep my gaze on her eyes. “I admire your determination, but I honestly don’t think I can hire a publicist who doesn’t know when she’s beaten.”

She blinked up at me. “What the hell do you mean, hire?”

I sighed and reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out my card. “I’m Roone Scott. My sister and I own Only You Dating Service. Rick Evans invited me to the event tonight to come and watch you work. I have to tell you, so far, I’m not impressed.”

Instead of being cowed, or even acting concerned, she just planted a hand on her hip and let her gaze flip all over me. Then her chin went up. “Only You, huh? Funny, I thought you’d be more handsome. Now if you don’t mind, I have a job to do.” Then I had no choice but to watch as the girl I was supposed to be protecting walked into the middle of the fight as I stood there, completely dumbfounded.

After a moment, Ariel joined me in the parking lot. “Smooth. Real smooth. All said and done, I think you made one hell of an impression.”

I slid her a glance and muttered, “Shut up.” Then I pulled my phone out of my pocket and made a call. When Sebastian answered with a terse hello, I said, “Contact made. We’re going dark.” I hung up to find Ariel smirking at me.

“I see that look on your face.” Ariel said.

“There’s no look. That’s my determined face.” I scoffed.

She laughed. “Oh yeah? That also looks a lot like your, ‘I’m thinking about boning her’ look. Let me just remind you, this girl has lived in the shadows most of her life. Her father has changed her name three times and has gone so far as to give her a little plastic surgery. She’s hard to get to and difficult to get to know, so you are not scaring her off. Do you understand?”

You better keep that in check because that is not why you’re here. You’re here to protect her.

Yeah, but who was going to protect her from me?