Just One Kiss by Susan Mallery Page A

there for her. He didn’t want a child and, sure, I could have forced him to pay and have visitation, but to what end? So he could make her feel she wasn’t important? On my good days, I tell myself he realized he was too much like his dad to commit to his daughter. On my bad days, I think he was a bastard. In the end, I signed everything. I moved back with my mom, went to beauty school and you know the rest of it.”
    He reached across the table and took her hand in his. His fingers were warm and comforting. “You never saw Steve through all this?”
    “No. Never heard from him or anything. Yesterday I turned around and there he was, saying he wanted a relationship with Lillie.”
    “I’ll find out everything I can before I go.”
    She pulled back her hand before she could stop herself. The temperature in the restaurant seemed to drop about fifteen degrees, and any hunger she’d had disappeared. She shouldn’t be surprised, but she was.
    “You’re leaving?”
    “For a couple of weeks. I still—” He leaned toward her. “Patience, no. I’m not leaving town. I’m still under assignment for the company I used to work for. I have one last job with them. I’ll be gone about ten days. No longer.”
    “Oh.” Relief washed through her. She cleared her throat and hoped she’d managed to maintain an expression somewhat close to normal. “Right. What kind of job is it?”
    “Typical bodyguard assignment.”
    She smiled. “What does that mean? I’m not sure I know a single person who has ever needed to use a bodyguard.” She held up a hand. “I take that back. My friend Charlie’s mother has used them in the past, but she was a famous ballerina. You were here with her last year, right?” When he hadn’t bothered to come see her.
    Why couldn’t she make sense of Justice? He was so supportive and friendly and sexy, but he’d stayed away. What did that mean? She really needed his help with Steve and she liked being around him, but was she paying too high a price for that?
    Stay on topic, she reminded herself. “So, the bodyguard thing. You know, most of us manage to get through our day without protection. So, who’s this guy?”
    “I can’t tell you.”
    She waited, but he didn’t seem to be kidding. “Okay. Does that also mean you can’t tell me where you’re going?”
    “Yes.”
    “Wow.” She wasn’t sure what to do with the information, although she knew she didn’t like it. “Do they speak English in this mystery place?”
    “No.”
    “So it’s dangerous.”
    “Not every non-English-speaking place is dangerous.”
    “I know, but if you were going to a place where they spoke English, it probably wouldn’t be dangerous. I can’t see there being a lot of perilous moments on the Great Barrier Reef. Unless you count the sharks.”
    She did her best to keep her tone light, which was more for his benefit than hers.
    “You don’t have to worry about me,” he told her.
    “I’m not. Maybe a little. I don’t want you to disappear like you did before.”
    “I won’t. I promise.”
    Was that promise for this specific trip or did it include all of eternity? She had a feeling that asking that would change her from charming friend to scary, overintense nonfriend.
    Wilma appeared then and placed their lunches in front of them. Patience thanked her and reached for a fry, all the while wondering if she could trust Justice to keep his word. She wanted to say she knew the man, but he was still a mystery to her. She knew who he had been, but that was a long time ago.
    She knew she liked him and adored his kisses and would, perhaps foolishly, jump into bed with him, should he ask. But that wasn’t the same as trusting him. Trust had to be earned. She just hoped she wasn’t at risk of falling for a man who didn’t deserve her heart.
    * * *
     
    J USTICE WAITED ON the sidewalk outside the elementary school. Kids streamed past him, a few climbing into waiting cars, but the majority walking home with