The second he disappeared, Mack released me. “Cool it,” he warned low.
His badge had never been so distinct between us.
I was having a hard time acknowledging it.
He stood there for a few seconds, guarding me like I was the one who was looking for trouble, before he cut me a glance and sauntered away, shooting me another look of warning over his shoulder as he went.
Faith pressed against my side, relief sagging her shoulders as she leaned her sweet body into mine.
Fuck.
I wanted to hold on forever.
Never let go.
“Are you okay? What did that asshole say to you?” I whispered at her ear, though my voice was elevated so she could hear me over the music.
She shook herself off. “I’m fine . . . it’s fine. He just . . . asked me to dance. It was nothing. I freaked out for no reason at all. You didn’t need to go punchin’ him.”
I turned her toward me. “Yeah, I did. Things aren’t going to end well for anyone who gets near you.”
“I think you might be taking it a step too far.”
“I’m not taking it far enough.”
That asshole was still out there. Unknown. Lurking.
I fisted my hand that still stung from the crack. Hell, that asshole could have just as easily been him as anyone else.
“I don’t want you gettin’ into trouble because of me. Gettin’ hurt because of me.”
“You don’t get it yet, Faith, that I’ll do anything to protect you.”
She looked at me like she still didn’t get it.
I leaned in closer to her. “Get used to it.”
A shiver rushed through her, and her eyes darkened, her voice going deep. “Well, I guess I do have to thank you for savin’ me. You seem to be doing a lot of that lately.”
Fuck.
She was killing me.
Looking this way. So fucking sexy. So fucking good.
We got stuck there. Both of us entranced by the other.
In sudden discomfort, she took a fumbled step back to put some space between us. “I need to use the restroom.”
“I’m coming with you.”
She shook her head. “That’s not necessary.”
I erased the space between us, murmuring at her ear. “Yes, Faith, it is.”
I followed her to the restroom door, and I hesitated. She looked back at me, something close to a smile on her face. “I’m fine. I’ll be right inside.”
Unease rustled through my senses. “Scream if you need me.”
Soft laughter filtered from between her lips, but her eyes . . . they were serious. So soft. Her voice softer. “Beast.”
Everything clutched as I watched her push the door the rest of the way open and walk inside, giving me a full view of the back of her dress, those heels driving me right out of my mind.
I stood at the door, my chest heaving, ragged pants leaving my lungs as I contemplated barging in there anyway.
Drag her out. Pull her into one of those dark alcoves. Kiss her senseless.
Senseless.
Just like she was making me.
I stumbled back when the door flew open.
Courtney was there, smirking up at me. “Jace Jacobs. Dance with me.”
The vicious look on her face had my dick shriveling up.
Still, I quirked a brow, kept my tone as light as possible. “Right here?”
“Right here.”
“You want to dance with me that bad?” It was a rigid tease.
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, give it up, playboy. You’re hardly my type.”
“Is that so?” I stepped forward, my hold light when I wrapped an arm around her waist.
“Um . . . yeah, so very so.”
She barely rested her hands on my upper forearms as I pulled her two steps from the door and into the very back of the hall.
“You’re really breaking me up here. Way to ruin a guy’s ego.”
“Oh, I’m sure you have plenty of that to last.”
“Wow, you really are my biggest fan, aren’t you?”
She eyed me, the playfulness diminishing, a flare of protectiveness coloring her expression. “You do realize that, if you hurt her, I will kill you.”
I laughed.
I’d always liked this girl.
“I don’t doubt that for a second.”
“Good . . . because I’m not joking. Faith’s been through enough.”
My voice softened. “You think I don’t know that?”
“Do you?” It was both a challenge and true question. Like she was standing there, wondering if I actually got it.
“I do.”
The problem was, I was going to hurt Faith. In the end, I was going to hurt her all over again.
Not because I wanted to.
But because what was done was done, and I couldn’t take it back, no matter how much I wished I could.
A puff of relief left her, like she’d heard my sincerity. “Good. It’d be a shame to have to maim you. You’re way too pretty for that.”
She wouldn’t have to worry about that. I’d be destroyed at the end of this, anyway.
My voice turned serious. “I’m here to help her. Protect her. That’s it.”
Disbelief had her eyebrows rising to her hairline. “That’s it? Because that sure isn’t how you’ve been looking at her.”
“And how have I been looking at her?”
A huff of sarcasm left her tongue. “Oh, come on, Jace. You think I didn’t witness that pissin’ contest out on the dance floor? Throwing a punch over someone just lookin’ at her? You might as well have whipped it out and taken her right there on the floor. Or maybe the bar would have done just fine for what you had in mind.”
Lust curled, and my teeth clenched. Didn’t she get I was trying to keep control and losing it? I sure didn’t need those kinds of visions planted in my mind.
She grinned and then patted my chest. “Mm-hmm . . . that, right there? That’s exactly how you’ve been looking at her. You act on it? Then you’d better plan to stay. Because Faith is the exact same girl you left that day. Kind and pure and gentle, and she doesn’t need any of your games. You say you’re here to protect her? Then protect her heart, Jace, because that’s what is really at risk.”
I flinched. That’s where she had it all wrong. “The threat is serious.”
Her brow pinched. “You think I don’t know that? But at the end of the day, Faith’s heart is what’s on the line. What’s always been. Neither you nor Joseph fully appreciated that.”
“I never wanted to hurt her.”
Courtney stepped back, expression knowing. “Then prove it.”
She turned around like she hadn’t said anything, leaving me there staring at her as she melted back into the crowd.
Heat raced my arm when a hand squeezed my forearm. I whipped my attention that way. “Faith.”
“Tell me she wasn’t botherin’ you. I swear . . . she puts her nose in all the places it doesn’t belong.”
I grinned at her, shaking off the unease. “I think I can handle it.”
“Well, I’m glad you can, because I sure can’t.” She was grinning, too.
“She is your best friend.”
A giggle slipped from her mouth. Fuck. I loved the sound of that. It seemed impossible that she could, that there would be any joy left. It only proved the type of person Faith really was.
“She’s a handful. But she’d do anything for me.”
“I’m glad you have her.”
“So am I. Not sure I would have made it without her.”
My voice softened. “Faith—”
She held up her hand, stepped closer, hitched my goddamned breath when she slid her hand up my chest and set it over the thunder of my heart.
“Shh . . . tonight’s the best night I’ve had in as long as I remember. Let’s not ruin it.”
Like a fool, I took a step toward her, nearly erasing all the space between us.
I dipped down, whispering at the shell of her ear, “Told you that you were going to have all kinds of fun.”
Fun, she mouthed back with a subtle swish of her hips.
Good God.
Ruined.