Dungeon Games(53)

“I can’t.” Because if she did tell him, it would be the end. He might not run, but he would look at her differently. He was looking for a soft, sweet woman, not someone who had spent her youth in and out of foster homes. Not one who had escaped the pain by shoving a needle in her arm.

“Damn it. You’re in love with him.” Liam sighed. “I don’t know that’s such a good idea. Don’t get me wrong. I like Derek. He’s okay, but he’s very straight and narrow. He didn’t grow up the way the rest of us did. His mum and dad are still married. They still go to church and drag him there on holidays. His brother might have slept with Maia, but they still go to family functions together. Derek still goes to Sunday dinners with the fucker. They’re very all-American. I don’t want him to break your heart, but you have to be honest with him. It’ll be better than him finding out some other way. I don’t think you have a thing to be ashamed of, but he might. Best to get it over with and know where you stand.”

But she was pretty sure where she would stand. “You’re making more out of this than you should, Li. I’m not in love with him. We’re just playing around. It’s nothing serious so let it go, please.”

Liam stood up and crossed the space between them, pulling her up and into a hug. “I’m glad to hear it.”

She hugged him back. He knew about her past and he didn’t hate her for it. Apparently everyone knew. She’d been hiding in her little closet but the door had been open and everyone was staring inside, likely wondering why she wouldn’t come out.

But the idea of Derek finding out? They were happy. Relatively so. Why couldn’t she just have her couple of weeks with him? She held on to Liam for a minute, taking comfort knowing he was still her friend.

“Are you done here, Karina?”

She nearly jumped out of Liam’s arms. Derek was staring at her with arctic eyes, every muscle in his body tense. She wasn’t exactly sure what to say. Defending herself seemed silly. Liam was her friend. She wasn’t doing anything wrong. She didn’t owe him explanations. “Yes.”

“Good, we need to get going. O’Donnell, do you have the files I requested?” Cold as ice. There was no mistaking it. He was pissed.

Liam nodded. “I sent them to you ten minutes ago. Eve is looking through them this afternoon. Hopefully we’ll have a couple of prospects Sean and I can look into.”

“See that you do. I want to get this done.” He turned and Karina was left watching his back as he walked away.

“If you need anything, you know where to come,” Liam said. “My and Avery’s door is always open.”

And that was a good thing, because it felt a little like Derek had slammed his closed.





Chapter Nine



Derek slammed the car door shut and looked up at Karina’s building. It was a piece of crap and he’d already had a talk with the super about getting the lights in the parking lot changed.

He was going to have to leave her soon and he wouldn’t have any right to even check in. She would be here all alone with no one to watch out for her. No one to hold her or make sure she was okay. He wouldn’t be able to do it because she wouldn’t let him. And he couldn’t stay involved in another relationship where he didn’t matter.

“Are you seriously going to spend the rest of the night not talking to me?”

He was too pissed to talk and his anger wasn’t all with Karina. He was pissed as shit at himself because he knew better. He knew better than to let himself really think he could have her for anything beyond a brief moment in time. What the hell had he been thinking? The minute he walked away from her she was in someone else’s arms. O’Donnell’s. God, he hated the fucker.

And he was pretty sure O’Donnell knew her secrets. “Let’s just get upstairs. We don’t have long before we need to be at the club.”

“Why don’t we take the night off?”

He turned to her. “We have a job to do.”

“We can take a single night off.”

So they could what? So he could fuck her and fall more for her and then watch while she played around with O’Donnell? “The club won’t be open Sunday through Tuesday. We can take plenty of time off then.” She was leaning against the car door, staring at him with big eyes. So fucking pretty it hurt to look at her. “Unless you have something you want to talk about tonight? Is that it? Do you have something to tell me?”

Maybe if she was just honest with him, they could deal with it. She was so open when he was making love to her, but the minute he wanted to talk she clammed up. She turned it right back around and he found himself talking.