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really long time. “Me?” She
points from her chest to his, not letting him push all the blame on her. “You’re
the one who invited him to run with us. I figured if you liked him, he must be
okay.”
    Jason’s face softens as he puts his hands on her shoulders.
“Well, that’s before I found out he’s in the mob.”
    "What?" She laughs and rolls her eyes, her shame
fading at his accusations. This is too much, even for Jason. “You’re crazy.”
    He holds up his phone and taps the screen. “I looked him up and
read all about it. He’s very powerful and has tons of people working for him.
They say he’s a real hard ass. They even say his dad killed his mom!”
    “You’re nuts.” She pushes the cell away and curls her fingers
into air quotes, trying to bring her loving but high-strung friend back to
reality. “Who are ‘they’? We read stuff about me all the time that isn’t true.
This is probably the same thing.”
    He ignores her and scrolls through a list of articles, his
finger tapping below one of the headlines. “See right here? ‘Nick DeMarco,
wealthy financier with alleged ties to organized crime.’” She shakes her head
and stretches across the driver’s seat and center console to get her bag, but
his fingers tug at waist, pulling her back to face him. “All I’m saying is be
careful. Or you could find yourself wearing concrete shoes at the bottom of the
ocean!”
    “Oh, my God. You’re such a drama queen.”
    “Better than a mafia king.” Extending his arms to the sky, he
runs his hands across an invisible marquee. “I can see it now…the pop princess
and the mafia king…the perfect match.”
    Butterflies swirl in her stomach. With a reputation for
theatrics as well-known as his training abilities, Jason’s melodrama can be
easy to ignore. But this time, his concern seems sincere. He really is worried.
    And maybe she should be. Maybe she’s naïve. More than she
realizes. The gates, the guards, the tough guy with the guilty smile who
notified Nick of yet another problem. A lot of security for a legitimate
businessman, no matter how rich and powerful he may be.
    She pushes his arms down as Nick drives up in his Jeep,
unwilling to entangle him in their argument. Or let him know they’ve been
gossiping about him when he’s been nothing but generous and thoughtful to her.
“ Shhhh !
Here he comes.”
    “I’m serious.” Jason’s voice plunges to a whisper. “You don’t really
know this guy, and I don’t want you to make another dumb mistake like last
night. Check it out for yourself if you don’t believe me.”
    “Okay. I promise." Humiliation fills her chest before she
nods her head in Nick’s direction. “Just please drop it for now. I don’t want
to get into it with him here.”
    “Fine.”
    She bristles at his irritation. They’ve never argued before, not
ever had any squabbles or disagreements. Always on the same wavelength
regardless of the problem or situation.
    Nick climbs out and jogs toward them. The butterflies float to
her chest from the smile spreading across his face as he meets her gaze. “Hi,
guys. Are you ready?”
    Ignoring Jason’s sigh, she matches Nick’s happy expression.
“Let’s go.”

 
    * * * *

 
    Max holds up a thin tan folder as Nick walks into the foyer.
“I’ve got the report on Shae.”
    Glancing at his watch, Nick shakes his head. “I don’t want to be
late. You can tell me on the way.”
    They walk through the kitchen and into the garage before
climbing in the Jeep. He pulls onto the road as Max reads from the file.
    “Twenty-four. No boyfriend or husband. Broke up about a year ago
with an Evan Matthews after dating him for two years. Her mom died from a brain
aneurysm. Dad’s never been around. She rakes in pretty good money, mainly from
endorsements. Supports a big payroll, probably more than necessary. Looks like
she has some moochers.”
    “Sounds about right. She’s too nice to cut the people she
doesn’t