“Fine.” I threw the car in gear and sped out of the parking lot.

We didn’t speak as I drove. I was acutely conscious of him. As it did in my apartment, Blane’s presence overwhelmed my car, too, its confines made even smaller by the size of his body. His sunglasses hid his eyes from me now as he rested an elbow on the rolled-down window, the wind artfully ruffling his perfect hair.

“Shouldn’t you be doing some campaign stuff rather than following me around?” I asked.

He glanced my way. “I’ve taken a temporary leave from the campaign.”

I swallowed and focused on the road. Blane was putting his campaign on hold to play bodyguard for me?

“I bet your uncle isn’t too happy about that,” I said stiffly.

“It’s not his decision.”

I wondered if the senator agreed with that sentiment.

When I parked, Blane followed me inside, watching as I got a cart and walking beside me down the produce aisle. We could’ve been like any of the other couples doing their weekend shopping, if the tension between us wasn’t as palpable as a living thing.

My nerves were on edge, Blane’s silent vigil next to me making it hard to concentrate. He’d hooked his sunglasses on his shirt while I’d pushed mine on top of my head. Blane looked incredibly out of place, standing in front of the broccoli. Grocery shopping was something we’d never done together.

I shook my head. Best to hurry up and get this over with. Peaches were in season and on sale. I grabbed a few. Cucumbers were plentiful and a couple of those went in the cart. Lettuce. Tomatoes.

I lived a lot off sandwiches and ramen noodles, so I grabbed some prepackaged lunch meat. The soup aisle was next, where I got some more noodles, then to the bakery for a loaf of generic white bread. I caught Blane looking sideways at the bread and noodles.

“So is there an assassin hiding in frozen foods?” I asked snidely, my pride stung when I suspected he was looking down his upper-class nose at my food.

His gray eyes met mine. “None that I can see.” His serious reply took the heat from my snit and I heaved an inward sigh.

“Let’s go,” I said, turning for the checkout.

“Wait, that’s it?”

I glanced around. Blane was staring at my cart.

“That’s pretty much what you do here, Blane,” I said with exaggerated patience. “You put food in the cart, then you put it on the belt and pay for it so you can take it home.”

His eyes flashed at my tone. “I meant, is that all you’re getting.”

I looked in my cart and did some quick math. If I was lucky, the groceries would be just under fifty dollars. I had food for sandwiches, salads, and noodles for dinner.

“Yeah, that’s it,” I snapped. “Some people have to live on a budget.”

“I need some stuff, too,” he said, inching me out of the way to take over the cart. “Might as well not make two trips.”

“You need stuff?” I asked in bewilderment, having no choice but to trot after him as he started down an aisle. My purse was sitting in the cart. “What happened to Mona?”

Mona was his housekeeper and took care of the cooking. She and her husband, Gerard, lived in a house that adjoined Blane’s property.

“She asked me to pick up some things,” he said, grabbing some jarred pasta sauce off the shelf.

Whatever. “Fine, just keep it separate from my stuff.” I reached in the cart and pushed all my things into a small pile in the back.

I followed Blane as he went back through the store. He wasn’t consulting any list that I could see and I had a suspicion as to what he was doing. Meat went in the cart, steaks, chicken, and pork chops. Cereal, granola bars, pop, chips, pasta, frozen meals, potatoes, fresh vegetables. I really hoped Mona hadn’t gone shopping recently because she was about to get a load of other stuff.

Blane was taking great care in picking out “Mona’s” asparagus, so I rolled my eyes and wandered away. He knew I liked asparagus, but it was expensive, so I hardly ever bought it. I wondered with a sigh how this was going to play out when we got to the cashier. If I’d had my purse, I would’ve just left Blane standing there inspecting the strawberries.

Glancing next to me, I saw a man looking over the melons. Our eyes caught.

“I, uh, never know how to tell what’s ripe,” he said.

He seemed to be in his late twenties or early thirties, attractive with blond hair that looked like it had been kissed by the sun. Blue eyes, straight teeth, and a smile that was both shy and sexy—and that had me smiling back.

“Yeah, something about if it sounds hollow when you tap it, I guess,” I replied with a shrug.

“They all sound hollow to me.”

I laughed at his self-deprecating grimace and his smile was wider this time.

“I’m Luke,” he said. “What’s your name?”

“Kathleen.”

“Nice to meet you, Kathleen.” He held out his hand and I took it.

“Likewise.”

“I don’t usually do this—” he began.

“Kat, you ready to go?”

I turned to see Blane now standing behind me, his face like granite as he stared at Luke.

Nice.

“Sure,” I said easily as Luke glanced from me to Blane and back. “Luke, this is my… brother. You were saying?”

I didn’t look to see how Blane was taking that.

“Ah, yeah.” Luke focused on me again when Blane didn’t speak. “I was wondering if you might like to go out sometime.”

I could have done a little dance in delight. A cute, sexy guy was asking me out right in front of Blane and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. Maybe fate had a twisted sense of humor after all.

“I’d like that,” I said. I grabbed a pen from my purse and scrawled my number on Luke’s palm. “Here’s my number. Call me.”

He beamed at me and his gaze dropped to my chest before jerking back up to my face. “Thanks! I will.”

Blane was a stiff wall of silence behind me as I walked toward the checkout. I probably wouldn’t have given Luke my number if Blane hadn’t been there. I don’t usually get picked up in the grocery store, but it had been too good of an opportunity to resist.

“Your brother?” Blane asked, his voice hard with anger.

I stopped and turned. Blane’s eyes were flashing gray fire. “Telling him you’re my ex probably wouldn’t have gone over real well,” I said.

Blane grabbed my arm and pulled me close. “He was staring at your breasts,” he hissed. “Which are barely covered in that getup.”

“Can you blame him?” I retorted. “If I remember right, you always enjoyed them.” I yanked my arm out of his grasp. “And can we stop pretending that you’re buying all this food for Mona? I know what you’re doing and it’s not going to happen.”

“You can’t live off ramen noodles and lettuce.”

I was furious now, and it wasn’t just about the groceries. My temper seemed to be on a hair trigger. “You can’t shove your way back into my life, Blane, not after everything that’s happened. And you certainly can’t control me the way you used to.” I snatched my purse from the cart. “I’m out of here.”

“I have your keys,” he said to my back.

His high-handedness had me seeing red. “Then I’ll fucking walk,” I ground out.

Tears stung my eyes as I hurried through the automatic doors. The sun was now high in the sky and stepping into the heat and humidity felt like hitting a brick wall. I slid my sunglasses back on and started trekking across the parking lot.

I couldn’t handle this, didn’t know how to act or what to say with Blane. My anger was too close to the surface, forgiveness too far away, for me to even pretend a level of normalcy with him. Our relationship had too much history, too much baggage, for us to carry on with any kind of pretend friendship.

I had to get him out of my life, and there was only one way to do that.

Getting my phone out of my purse, I dialed a number from memory, praying he’d pick up.

To my disappointment, the call went to voice mail.

“Kade, it’s me. Kathleen. Listen, I know we haven’t talked in a while,” which was an understatement, “but I was hoping, if you’re not too busy, that you might come back. Just for a while. I…” My voice faltered. “I could really use some help, and I don’t know who else to ask…” The absurdity of what I was asking suddenly struck me. Was I really going to ask Kade to actively work against his brother? “You know what,” I said, suddenly changing my mind, “forget I called, okay? It’s nothing. I’m fine.…”

Someone yelling my name distracted me and I turned to see Blane running flat out my way.

“Look out!” he yelled.

I turned in confusion and saw a car barreling toward me. I froze in horror, my mind moving in slow motion. Adrenaline turned my insides cold and made my muscles move. I dove to the side but not fast enough. The corner of the car hit me and I screamed as my body glanced off the metal before hitting the burning asphalt. My phone clattered from my hand and I was aware of a burning pain in my side. I heard gunshots, then nothing.

* * *

Sirens were screaming when I pried open my eyes. I was lying on my back on the hot asphalt, the sun a blazing glare. My first thought was that I must have dropped my sunglasses. My second was that I’d broken my non-injury streak the moment Blane had set foot back in my life.

That seemed important.

Blane spoke and I realized he was kneeling at my side.

“Don’t move, Kat.”

Yeah, wasn’t planning on it. My side hurt like hell, especially when I took a breath. I could tell I’d gotten scraped up from the concrete on my arm and elbow, though that pain paled in comparison.