A Case of Extreme Mistaken Identity - Victorine E. Lieske Page 0,26

fell. But instead of disappointment, a hopeful smile widened on her face.

“Did you see? I got a job.” She seemed so happy that Austin prayed her father would be encouraging.

Her smile faded. “No, I didn’t get fired.”

Austin held in a groan. Why would her father ask that? How hard would it have been to simply congratulate her? His muscles tensed and he felt himself going into protection mode. He stood and crossed the short distance to her. He restrained himself from pulling her into his arms, even though he wanted to.

Dani frowned and nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been doing that.” The conversation went on, or rather the lecture, if Austin had to guess. From the way Dani kept saying, “Yes, Father,” and how her shoulders slumped lower and lower, he could tell she was getting spoken to. Austin’s mood darkened. He didn’t know a lot about Samuel Jordan, but his opinion of him was lowering quite a bit.

Finally, she said, “But I did what you said. Can’t I come home?”

She blinked rapidly, and it looked like she was going to start crying again. “But that will take a while.”

What was he telling her to do? Earn her own money to come home? Did he realize how much a plane ticket from the Cayman Islands to LA was going to cost? How much could she save if she were paying for her room and board? Did her father even care how hard she’d been working to please him?

“Okay, Daddy.” She stabbed at her phone and tossed it on her chair. She looked like she was going to break down at any second.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Austin said, unsure if now was an appropriate time to pull her close.

A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. “He wants me to keep working here until I earn enough to come home. Which will probably be never because I have to use that money to buy food and stuff.” Her fingers shook. “I already owe you—”

He put a finger on her lips, silencing her. Her lips were warm and soft, and he instantly regretted that decision as desire shot through him. He lowered his hand. “You don’t owe me anything. You don’t have to pay me back. Consider it my kind deed for the day.”

“But I can’t let you keep paying—”

“Dani.” He hooked his finger under her chin and slowly raised it until he could look into her eyes. “I want to help you. Please. Let me be good for something right now. I’m feeling pretty useless.”

He hadn’t meant for those words to come out, but for some reason, they spilled out of him without warning. And now Dani was staring at him, her eyebrows pulling together. “Useless? What do you mean?”

He couldn’t really tell her how he felt useless because of his injury. She thought he was a maintenance guy. He covered it up with a cough. “It’s nothing. The point is, I’m happy to help you. And soon you’ll get your first paycheck, and you can start saving up to get that plane ticket home. You can do this. I know you can.”

An urge to show her that she was capable surged in him. He wanted this for her. Dani had to succeed, so she could see how she was more than what the people on social media thought. She could learn to do anything she put her mind to. And Austin was determined to show her that.

Chapter 13

Dani changed into her new pajamas, and even though they were only fifteen dollars, they felt soft against her skin. Maybe because she was simply exhausted and couldn’t muster up the strength to care anymore about cheap fabric. Or maybe her brain was trying to cope with the situation, and fooling her into believing everything would be okay. Either way, she could tell her give-a-crap meter was at its breaking point.

She came out of the bathroom and plopped down on the couch beside Austin, where he was scrolling through his phone. Then she remembered that she’d never watched that embarrassing video of hers and balked. She couldn’t look at it now. Not with Austin sitting next to her. But a moment later, he got up and said he was going to brush his teeth, and he disappeared into the bathroom.

Perfect timing. Dani put in her ear buds and searched YouTube for her name. The offending video came up first. She pushed play. Man, it was bad. Worse than she’d realized before. She looked so messed up.