Dropping The Ball - A New Year’s Billionaire Romance - Weston Parker Page 0,72
did Mama and Papa Demming have to say about this act you two are putting on?” The emphasis Bart put on the word act clued me into the fact that he definitely knew it was more than that.
I shrugged. “They’re fine with it. We explained the situation to them, and they understand.”
“We know each other anyway,” Rylee added, frowning at me when I tensed beside her. Understanding dawned in her eyes and her mouth formed a small “o” before she sighed.
Bart and Tani were both looking at us with confused expressions on their faces. Bart narrowed his eyes at me. “They know each other? That mean you two knew each other before this assignment?”
Well, I guess tonight is as good a time as any to tell them after all. I was tired of keeping shit from the people closest to me anyway. Once Bart knew everything, he’d either keep trusting me with her or he wouldn’t. I was hoping it would be the former, but I wasn’t planning on leaving her side either way. If he tried to remove me as her guard, I’d ask her if I could stay with her anyway. I’d probably have to find another job, but I really didn’t think it would go that far.
I held his gaze, nodding once before taking her hand under the table. Nothing was taking me from her, not even my boss and best friend. “We grew up together. I was friends with her brother at school.”
Tani snapped her fingers, grinning excitedly at Rylee. “So that’s why he was familiar to you! When did you figure it out?”
“A couple of weeks ago,” she said before looking at Bart. “Look, it’s not an issue. I know you guys have all kinds of rules that I’m not necessarily familiar with, but I’m the client, and there’s no one I trust more to keep me safe.”
Truth rang in her words, crawling into my heart and chipping away another piece of it that raced to join the others she already possessed. She kept her chin up and her eyes on his. “I don’t want him getting in trouble over this.”
Bart sighed softly, scrubbing his hands over his face before showing us his palms. “I don’t know why you didn’t just come out with it, but I’m assuming it was because you wanted on this job and didn’t want to risk me putting someone else on it?”
“I knew you’d think our shared history would compromise me. It hasn’t. I take her safety extremely seriously.”
We exchanged a long look before he surprised me. “There are forms to fill out. It’s not necessarily against the rules to guard someone you know. There’s just some extra paperwork.”
“While we’re on the subject,” I lifted our joined hands and placed them on the table in full view of our friends, “there’s this, too.”
Rylee’s eyes went wide, but then she squeezed my hand and pulled back her shoulders. “Well, I guess it’s all on the table now. Literally, which is kind of cool.”
Bart swore loudly, hanging his head for a moment before snapping it back up. “You think I didn’t already know that?”
“Figured you did. Thought I should confirm it anyway. I don’t want to hide things anymore. This situation has been more than complicated enough already.”
My friend caught my gaze, questioning while searching at the same time. “Now that I know for sure, I’ll have to do something about it. I’m glad you told me, though. I was wondering how long it was going to take.”
“It’s been too long already.” I shook my head. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
He shrugged, but there was also a ghost of a smile on his lips. “You’re you. You shut down tighter than Fort Knox until you’re ready to talk about something.”
Tani squealed and threw her arms around Bart in a side-hug. His nostrils flared in surprise, but he wrapped one of his arms around her too, patting her shoulder awkwardly before letting her go.
“I knew you were one of the good ones,” she said quietly enough that I didn’t think we were supposed to have heard her, but we did. “Thanks for not being a dick about it.”
“I might still have to be,” he said before sighing and clasping his hands together at the back of his neck like he was physically restraining himself from touching her any further. He brought his eyes to mine. “We’ll have to talk about this tomorrow. You know that, right?”