“I’ll go with you.”

He was already putting on his clothes as she told him, “Thanks, but I can handle this myself.”

“Kerry.” He was magnificent standing in front of her in only his pants, his chest bare. “The volume on your phone was up loud enough that I could hear the name of the bar you’re headed for to pick up your friend.”

“My sister.”

“I get that your sister needs you, but I don’t want you going to that part of town at all, let alone by yourself at this time of night.”

“I’ve been there plenty of times to get her,” she began, but even as she said it, she couldn’t help remembering how scary most of those times had been. Or how last week her sister had been so wasted that Kerry could barely get her over to the car.

A car she didn’t even have tonight, since she’d taken a taxi to the hotel.

She looked up into dark eyes that were comfortingly steady. “How fast can you drive?”

“As fast as you need me to go.”

* * *

Kerry was glad that Adam didn’t expect her to make conversation as they drove. He didn’t waste any time trying to find a parking spot, either, just turned on his hazards and left his car right out front. Any other guy with an expensive car would have been freaking out about leaving it here. Heck, every time she left her car in this neighborhood to go into a bar and get her sister, she’d been relieved that it was still there by the time they got back outside. But Adam simply put his hand on Kerry’s back as if to steady her while they walked through the crowd smoking cigarettes on the sidewalk.

“Colleen is taller and thinner than I am, with dark red hair to her shoulders.”

Her sister was a beautiful woman. At least she had been until she’d started drinking and partying so hard. Colleen was too old, and too smart, for places like this. Kerry knew Colleen was hurt by what had happened between her and her ex-boyfriend, but how could her sister think that this was any way to fix it?

“I don’t see her outside.”

Kerry was more than a little frantic. Please. She prayed Colleen hadn’t gotten into a car with some guy who would take advantage of her.

And as Kerry and Adam pushed through the crowd and into the bar, she was so thankful that he was there and that he’d insisted on coming with her. The sea of rough-looking men and women instinctively parted for him without him having to say or do anything threatening at all. Just from his sheer presence.

Thank God, it didn’t take them long to find her sister dancing and drinking, although the guy she was with looked more than a little scary. Over the pounding music screaming from the speakers on the ceiling, Kerry yelled, “Colleen, I’m ready to take you home now.”

Colleen’s eyes were blurry and red as she turned to look at Kerry. There was barely recognition there, let alone any thanks that Kerry had rushed over to get her. “Go away,” Colleen said as the song changed to one that allowed them all to hear. “I’m finally happy now with—”

“Zane.”

Colleen gave him a big, messy smile and ran her hands down his arms. “Mmm, Zane. Make my little jailor go away.”

Adam immediately stepped in and told the guy, “Colleen is going to have to take a rain check tonight.”

Colleen’s gaze shifted to Adam, at last. She tried to whistle, but she couldn’t control her lips quite well enough, so only air came out. “Where did you come from, gorgeous?” Zane was instantly forgotten as Colleen reached for Adam.

Kerry had never felt so mortified in all her life. She’d assumed her previously perfect night with Adam couldn’t get any worse.

She’d been wrong.

“Colleen, please,” Kerry begged, “let’s go home.”

Her sister turned on her then. “Not all of us want a cold bed. Just because you’re too uptight to know how to have a good time doesn’t mean that the rest of us don’t.” She turned back to Adam. “Right, baby? That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

Kerry knew her sister was too drunk to know what she was saying. But that didn’t make it any easier to blink back the tears that were threatening to spill.

Fortunately, Adam still had his wits perfectly about him. “It’s a nice night, Colleen. How about we go outside and get some fresh air?”

He didn’t speak to her sister as if she were a loser. There was no pity in his voice. No revulsion, either. And Kerry had never appreciated anyone more.

Colleen shot her a triumphant look over her shoulder as Adam put his arm around her and began to lead her out of the bar. And thank God he was holding her up, because she could barely walk, and certainly not in a straight line. Kerry got on her other side, and together she and Adam all but dragged her sister toward the exit. They hadn’t yet made it to the front door when Colleen let out a groan and went limp. Adam didn’t miss a beat, catching her and lifting her into his arms to carry her outside.

“I’m sorry,” Kerry said.

“Don’t be.”

And the crazy thing was that he really seemed to mean it. He didn’t seem the least bit shocked by what had just happened. He simply laid her sister down in the backseat and was so kind as he took off his jacket and tucked it around her that Kerry found herself almost in tears.

“Where to?” he asked.

“I have to take her back to my place to make sure she’s okay during the night.”