“Thank you for moving up the timeline, then.”

“You’re okay here?”

What would he do if I said no? I was tempted to find out, but we’d pushed our tentative truce enough for one day.

“Yeah.”

“Good.” He cleared his throat. “Look, if anything happens to scare you, call me.” He raised his eyes, gifting me with another flash of that emotion. “Everyone deserves to be safe in their home. You call, I’ll come.”

My heart gave a pathetic squeeze. I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I just nodded.

Then he was gone.

Chapter Twenty-One

LIAM

We lost someone at an accident scene today. He was just a kid. I promised him everything would be all right, then had to watch as the light faded from his eyes. Sometimes life is just really fucking unfair. I wish I could talk to you about it. - Unsent text message from Liam to Kennedy

On my first shift after Christmas weekend, I arrived at work to find Asher already in the staff room and a holiday-themed romantic comedy starring Kennedy on the television.

“What’s this?” I asked, pouring myself a mug of poorly made instant coffee and pulling a face as I sipped.

Asher slung an arm along the back of the sofa. “I heard Kennedy ran into trouble over the weekend, and you raced in to save her like a white knight.”

The coffee in my mouth became even more bitter. “She has a stalker. Nobody should have to deal with that.”

He held his hands out, palms up. “I’m not arguing with you, but her problems don’t have anything to do with you.” He gestured toward the screen. “So I thought perhaps you could use a reminder of why getting soft on her again isn’t a good idea.”

“I’m not soft on her.” But the thwack of anger that struck me as I watched her flirt with another man onscreen didn’t support my statement. “And I don’t need to be reminded why it’s a bad idea. I was the one who got dumped the first time around.”

Having said that, I couldn’t deny feeling something toward Kennedy, even if it was only protectiveness. Having her thrust in my face like this didn’t help. Not when I’d already given myself every pep talk I could think of in an attempt to leave her alone. The fact that I cared simply wasn’t rational, and Asher’s actions just made me pissy.

“Morning, guys! Hope your Christmases went well,” Zane said as he bounded into the room, looking far perkier than usual, then stopped short, his gaze flicking from me to Asher to the screen. “Uh-oh. Bad timing?”

I drank more of the terrible coffee. “No, it’s fine. Your Christmas went well, I take it?”

“Sure did.” He grinned. “I introduced the man I’m dating to my parents, and they loved him.”