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decency to look pained at her comments. “Who stood you up? Did you make plans to meet Coleman here? I knew I shouldn’t have left you alone with him.”
    “Oh my god, and yes I did have plans, which I’m allowed to do considering I’m a grown woman. But lucky for you he’s a dickhead, and I’m not ever going to see him again I’m sure. So that’s one more thing you don’t need to protect me from.”
    “I’m going to kill him.”
    “You know what, I’m sick of this crap. You, and Mom and Dad, and everybody thinking I can’t take care of myself. I’m not stupid. I’m smart. I can be successful and happy. Just because I was stupid once, that doesn’t mean I’ll be stupid again.” She swayed on her feet, and he grasped her elbow.
    His mouth was a straight line as he nodded at the bar where Aiden had left her slip to sign. She added Aiden’s tip, hoping her math was right in her inebriated state, scratched out her signature, and grabbed her purse.
    They walked silently to his patrol car, which was idling out front. The night air was frigid and the wind whipped through her hair. She shivered as her mush brain sharpened a tad, at least enough to realize what a shitty night this had turned out to be. She went to open the back door when he grabbed her arm and opened the passenger door for her. “You’re not a criminal, Brooke. Get in the front.”
    “Maybe I don’t want to sit by you. I’ve never been in the back of a cop car. Maybe I’d rather feel like a bad girl. You ever think of that? Huh?”
    She was pretty sure Ryan growled at her. “Get in the goddamn car, Brooke.”
    She eyed him warily and then sat down, buckling her seat belt as she watched him walk around the front of the car. When he was settled, she realized they were separated by a wide console that housed all kinds of gadgets including a laptop. Two black shotguns were anchored between their heads, leaning against the metal grates that sealed off the back seat.
    “Holy shit. People let you handle massive weapons, and I can’t even make jewelry and not hear the end of it.”
    He ignored her comment and motioned toward her feet. “There’s a cooler down there. Get yourself a bottle of water.” His voice lacked the warmth and humor she was used to with Ryan. She took a drink as he typed something into the laptop. The cool water washed away most of her irritation. She really was being a bitch, and while Ryan could be super overprotective, she understood why. He wasn’t the man who deserved her anger tonight.
    “Is this going on my permanent record?” she tried to joke. Luckily he let out a little smile, so she continued. “Coming to my rescue twice in one night, and both times it’s because of the same asshole. I’m sorry, Ry.”
    He turned and leveled his gaze on her. “Brooke, listen, I don’t think you’re stupid or need protecting all the time. But I do know for a fact that the past few years have been hard for you. The thought of you hurt again, physically or otherwise, is too much. Alex Coleman was my best friend. I know him well, and I know you’re too damn good for him. I also don’t think you’re incapable of making your business a success. I think you’re brilliant and creative.… And your store is amazing—that’s what you need to be focusing on. And stop trying to lump me and Dad together, I’m on your side.”
    Brooke swallowed as tears pushed against the back of her eyelids. “Thank you, Ry.”

THREE
    The following morning, in an overpriced hotel room, Alex rolled over and picked up his phone off the nightstand. 7:40. He lay back on the feather pillow and took in the Presidential Suite in the morning light. The walls were covered in some sort of velvety wallpaper, and the sheets were probably the softest he’d ever felt. There was also a living room, a dining room, and a bathroom bigger than his entire bedroom back home.
    Like Brooke had predicted, the hotel in town was filled to capacity and finding a