“You need to keep some distance from him,” Lars warns. “At least until this is over.”

“Why?”

He throws me an unimpressed look. “You know why.”

Because we’re planning to trade him off for my brother, and there’s still a slight chance that he might want to kill me when I’m already missing half of my ear, thanks to him? “Small details.”

“You’re worried about him. That’s not a small detail.”

“That’s only because we need to know who’s after me.”

“There’s only one person who’s likely to be after you. If he comes back with any name other than Yanni’s, I’m going to be shocked.”

“You never know.”

“True. I currently have the urge to kill you right now.”

I set down my phone. “What did I do?”

Lars almost looks like he wants to laugh. “Like, position? Because I wasn’t in the room, so I can’t say, but whatever it was, it sounded like Perry was enjoying it.”

“Shit.”

Now he laughs. “Yeah, shit.”

“You heard that.”

“You were very loud.” Lars drops his laptop onto the cushion beside himself and leans forward. His elbows meet his knees, and he picks up a coaster that he starts absently tapping against the coffee table. “What were you thinking?”

“He’s really hot.”

“Other than that.”

“Is there anything else?”

The tapping pauses. “Well, if you’re going to be alone with some guy who tried to kill you, it would be a relief to know it wasn’t just about getting off.”

I can’t answer that. Was that all last night was? Absolutely. I have no regrets over what happened. Perry is fucking gorgeous, and there’s something about him that I like. Something that’s beyond surface attraction. Like all that unrestrained sweetness and enthusiasm is mine to harness, and I can’t deny that it was a big part of the turn-on.

Lars’s amusement drains away. “I can’t protect you, I can’t do my job, if you’re making stupid choices like that.”

“You really think Perry’s a killer?”

“It’s not about what I think. It’s not about him as a person at all. It’s about the facts. And the facts are that he tried once. He can say he’d never do it again all he likes, but if he did it once, he can do it again.”

I can see his point, but I dunno. I think now that I’ve had my tongue down Perry’s throat, I’ve gotten to know him a whole lot better. “Listen, I can completely understand your concerns but I stupidly trust him. Yes. I can hear myself. Yes, I know it’s misguided. You don’t need to point any of that out. But I can’t stop from trusting him anyway.”