I blinked at him as our family style meal was served (Ren let me pick, Chicken Montana with asparagus, sun dried tomatoes and Gorgonzola sauce, I’d let the healthy living mojo have the night off).

“What do you mean, assign –” I asked.

Ren interrupted me. “Bodyguards. Santo and Lucky will look after you two.”

Oh shit. This was not good.

“No, really, that isn’t necessary. I’m covered.”

Ren’s eyes caught mine. “By Stark?”

Hmm.

He seemed very interested, his eyes no longer angry but still sharp and very alert.

“Um… yeah,” I answered.

Ren went in for a direct hit. “You seein’ him?”

Well there we were, the moment of truth.

Was I seeing Luke Stark?

Was I seeing Luke Stark?

Crap.

“Kind of,” I hedged.

The tips of Ren’s lips went up slightly and I knew he found this amusing. “Stark doesn’t strike me as a guy who would ‘kind of’ be seein’ a woman like you.”

“What’s that mean?”

Why did I ask? Why, why, why?

“A man like that has a woman like you, there’s nothing ‘kind of’ about it.”

“Do you know Luke?”

“I know him. Not well, but I know him.”

“If you don’t know him well then how would you know? He might be perfectly happy with having a relationship that’s not exclusive. In fact, he might do it all the time.”

Just ask Sandra Whoever-She Was, she’d tell you, I thought but did not say.

“I bet he does, just not with a woman like you,” Ren said.

“What’s that mean?”

I did it again! Why?

He leaned toward me. “Ava, you should know Stark and me don’t get along. We don’t because we find ourselves on opposite sides of the fence a lot of the time. We also don’t get along because we’re a lot alike. Therefore I know a man like that doesn’t ‘kind of’ see a woman like you because I wouldn’t ‘kind of’ see a woman like you. A man like that gets hold of a woman like you, all ass, legs, hair and attitude, protecting a soft spot you can just about see but she won’t let you touch. Fuck,” his voice lowered in a sexy way, he leaned in further, his eyes got that hungry look again and I found I was having trouble breathing. “A man like that gets hold of a woman like you it automatically becomes exclusive.”

Holy cramoly.

I decided I didn’t want to know any more and started spooning up the Chicken Montana.

I also decided that, even though I couldn’t stay in my pretend happy place for very long, there were certain times I was going to go visit.

This was one of those times.

“Ava,” Ren called.

I looked at him.

He still had that hungry look but it had intensified. Chicken Montana slid off the spoon and plopped on the white paper as my belly did a plunge.

“Do you understand what I just said to you?” he asked softly.

“I’m in my pretend happy place,” I told him.

He leaned back and smiled and I had to admit it was hot.

It was also predatory.

I was so screwed.

* * * * *

For some reason when Ren and I left the restaurant and I told him he had to take me to Luke’s, Ren found this amusing.

Then discovering that Ren found this amusing, I found I needed cookies. Therefore I asked Ren to detour to King Soopers so we could buy cookies.

Ren found this even more amusing.

While we were at King Soopers, I bought a whole bunch of other stuff, probably because I was stalling about going back to Luke’s. Ren seemed not to care even a little bit that we were grocery shopping at ten o’clock at night with our end destination being Luke’s.

This made me uncomfortable. Seeing as I was a dork, I again didn’t read the warning signs. When Ren parked outside of Luke’s and I got out and went for the bags, Ren came around to help me.

Not good.

“I’ve got it,” I said, struggling with five bags, two of which contained cookies.

“I’ll carry them.”

Oh no. No, no, no, no!

Ren was not walking into Luke’s loft with me.

He took the bags away from me firmly and started to walk into Luke’s building.

Crap!

Ren was walking into Luke’s loft with me.

Alert! Alert! Danger! Danger!

“Ren, really,” I said, catching up and beginning to sound desperate.

He turned to me and I stopped dead at the look in his eye. “I’m makin’ sure you’re safe in the building, Ava.”

And that, apparently, was that.

I couldn’t exactly get in a rip roarin’ on the sidewalk with him, not with Luke (maybe) upstairs. I had to be cool, calm and composed. I’d sworn off men. It was my decision and I was sticking to it.

So what? One hot guy who wanted to get in my pants was orchestrating a faceoff with another one. It didn’t touch me. I was immune. I was removed.

I’m a little scared, Good Ava was trembling, holding close to my neck.

I can’t WAIT to see what happens! Bad Ava was trembling with excitement.

I called the elevator and then used my key to the button to Luke’s floor. The whole time, even if I was immune and removed, I hoped that Luke was out doing scary shit (but not too scary) and not at home.

The elevator doors slid open and all hopes were dashed.

The loft was softly lit, Tom Petty was singing “American Girl” on the stereo and Luke was standing behind the semi-circle bar, phone to his ear.

His head snapped up when we entered. His eyes did a body scan of me, his mouth tightened then his eyes moved to Ren and his jaw clenched.

Shit.

I turned immediately to Ren. “I’ll take them now,” I said, grabbing the bags. “Thanks for helping me,” I went on, as if it was all my idea.

He let me take the bags (luckily cookies didn’t weigh that much in cookie form, their weight multiplied significantly once they’d processed themselves onto your ass).

Ren smiled down at me. “Nice night, Ava,” he said softly.

Don’t touch me, don’t touch me, don’t touch me, I thought.

“Thanks for dinner,” I replied.

His hand came up, I held my breath and he tucked my hair behind my ear. All the while he did this he was looking into my eyes, his carrying that look that made me feel like I was going to pass out.

Then he walked into the elevator, turned, his eyes moved to Luke then back to me, he smiled and the doors slid closed.