Chandler placed his hand on her knee and squeezed. At first, Alana wanted to knock it away, but all she could do was stare at the large male hand. Something warmed in her chest and now…now she wanted to put her hand over his.

“Totally understand where you’re coming from,” he said, squeezing again. “I think my brothers and I would be pretty bad off if it wasn’t for Maddie’s family.”

She glanced at him, biting her lower lip. They did have that in common. Not the greatest thing to share. At another red light, his eyes met hers and it took a great effort to look away.

His hand was still on her knee.

She kind of liked it.

Time for another subject change. “Did you always want to be a bodyguard?”

Chandler gave a little half smile. “I don’t do a lot of personal protection anymore. I run the business and only get hands-on in special cases.” He winked at her, and damn if it wasn’t sexy as hell.

“That didn’t answer my question,” she said, feeling her lips curve into a grin.

“I don’t know.” His hand slid an inch up her leg. “I always kind of did the whole…watching out for others thing—my brothers, Maddie, and her brother. Just something that came naturally to me.”

“Just like playing ball is natural to Chad?”

“I guess. I was the only one who could really pick what I wanted to do. Chad always played ball, since he was old enough to pick one up. Chase was primed to take on our father’s business, but me? Yeah, I could do whatever.”

Interested, she looked at him. “Did you go to college?”

“I did. Are you surprised?”

“No.” She knew he wasn’t just all brawn, even though she liked to say that. “What did you study? Kicking ass?”

He laughed deeply, causing her grin to spread. “Honey, I didn’t need to study that. I could teach those classes.”

“Of course.”

Grinning as he checked out the rearview mirror, he switched lanes. “I actually majored in computer science.”

“Nerd,” she teased.

“I’m a badass nerd,” he corrected, sliding his thumb along the side of her thigh. “What about you? Always wanted to be a publicist to the misbehaved and spoiled rotten?”

Her gaze drifted to his hand. “I majored in communications, minored in sociology. I actually wanted to be a psychologist but realized I wouldn’t have the patience for that.” She laughed softly. “No big surprise there, right?”

“Never,” he murmured.

“But I liked the idea of…of fixing things—people.” She snuck another quick look at him. “Repairing them.”

He was quiet for a moment. “Some people can’t be repaired, though.”

Alana thought of the senator. No shit. “Then I do my best to keep that a secret from the general public.”

“You do a great job,” he said, and the genuine quality to his tone surprised her. “I mean, hell, you wrangled in my brother, and that had to have taken a minor act of God.”

She found herself blushing. “Thank…thank you.”

“I don’t think you hear that enough.”

Nope. Being a publicist meant you didn’t get patted on the back a lot, because when a publicist was successful, no one knew it was the publicist behind everything. It was a pretty thankless job, but she hadn’t taken it for that reason.

She wet her lips. “You’re…you’re not like I thought you would be.”

“What did you think I was?”

“I don’t know.” It was hard to put into words. “It’s just that you’ve surprised me. That’s all.”

Chandler eased the truck out of traffic, pulling into a parking lot. “Well, we’re here.”

The restaurant definitely wasn’t high-end, more like the chain type, but she was okay with that, comfortable with the chill atmosphere. She started to reach for the door handle.

“Wait,” he said, and she twisted toward him.

When she opened her mouth, Chandler leaned in, closing the distance between them. She started to pull back, but his hand snaked around the nape of her neck, holding her in place. The kiss was soft…and it was sweet—sweeter than she’d ever thought he’d kiss, like she was a fragile slice of a treasure he was only starting to explore.

Chandler pulled back just enough that when he spoke, his lips brushed hers. “We’re not having dinner alone.”

It took a moment for that statement to make it through the haze left behind from the kiss. “We’re not?”

His hand slid off the back of her neck, leaving tight shivers in its wake as he sat back, tugging the keys out of the ignition. “We’re having dinner with Chase and Maddie.”

Alana froze, her heart dropping to her knees. “What?”

“It’s okay. Come on.”

When she didn’t move, he climbed out of the truck and walked around to her side. Opening the door, he extended one large hand. A teasing grin appeared as he waited.

“We…we can’t have dinner with them,” she said.

His brows rose. “And why not?”

“Your family doesn’t like me because of Chad.” Her breath rose too quickly in her chest. “Why didn’t you say something at your house? I would’ve told you no.”

“And that’s why I didn’t tell you. I wanted you to come with me.”

She gaped at him. “Why?”

“Why not?” he challenged.

It didn’t make sense to her. Why would he want her to have dinner with his brother and Maddie? He was her bodyguard—a very inappropriate one, but whatever. This seemed like…like a real date.

He wiggled his fingers. “Are you scared, Alana?”

“What?” She snorted. “No.”

“Then get out of the damn truck.”

Her eyes narrowed on him. There wasn’t much she could do right now unless she wanted to sit in a damn truck. Sighing, she knocked his hand out of the way and climbed out on her own.

Chandler laughed.

“Shut up,” she grumbled.

Unperturbed, he draped his arm over her shoulder. “It’s going to be cool. You’ll have fun. And you’ll like Maddie.”

Alana didn’t shrug his arm off, telling herself it was because he did a great job at blocking the chill in the air, but she halted at the door. “Are they okay with this?”

“Yes.” He opened the door, motioning her in.

It didn’t take too long to find Maddie and Chase seated in red booths to the right. Not when Chase all but hollered the moment Chandler reached the hostess station. Nervous and unsure of what she was doing here, she took a deep breath and faced the table.

She discovered two things pretty damn quickly as she followed Chandler to the booth.

The pictures of Madison Daniels that she’d unearthed while working with Chad hadn’t done the petite blonde justice. The young woman was everything Alana wasn’t—tiny, extraordinarily beautiful with all the blond waves and big eyes. From what she could see of the light sweater she wore, she sat and dressed with an innate elegance.

And lastly? By the look on Chase’s face, they’d had no idea Chandler was bringing her along.

Man, she wanted to punch him in the stomach—or the balls—right about now.

The backs of her ears burned as Maddie’s wide eyes bounced from Chandler to her and then to Chase as Chandler slid into the booth. Her body felt stiff as she sat, clenching her hands together in her lap.

“You know my brother.” Chandler started the introductions. “This is Maddie. I don’t think you two have met.”

Calling on every ounce of professionalism in her, Alana extended a hand and smiled. “No. We haven’t. It’s nice to meet you.”

Maddie shook her hand. “It’s…um, really good to meet you, too.”

The heat started to creep down the back of her neck. “You’re feeling better?” When a look of confusion marred Maddie’s features, Alana squeezed her hands so tightly that her nails started to dig into her skin. “I was at Chandler’s house Friday night when ginger ale and crackers were mentioned.”

“Oh. Yes. That’s right. Chase mentioned running into you.” She smiled as she glanced at Chase. “Thank you. Just a quick stomach bug.”

Alana nodded, at a loss as to what to say from this point. It was like she’d never worked with the public or in awkward situations before.

“What are you guys eating?” Chandler asked, eyeing the menu like the four of them ate together all the time.

Alana wasn’t so hungry anymore.

“Steak,” answered Chase, alternating between staring at Alana and gaping at his brother. “Hon?”

Maddie blinked once. “Chicken.”

“What about you?” Chandler smiled at her, and her stupid Godforsaken heart spasmed.

She quickly glanced at the menu and went with a Cobb salad. Chandler scoffed at that, pushing for her to order something more, so she settled on a side order of fries.

The silence at the table was interrupted when the waitress appeared and took their orders, but that was only a slight reprieve.

Chase leaned back against the booth, folding his arms. His expression, the aloof coldness, reminded her of Chandler. “So you’re staying in D.C. now?”

Picking at the edge of a napkin, she nodded. “I’m working at Images downtown.”

“Oh,” Maddie said. “That’s not too far from the Smithsonian.”

Sliding a long look at Chandler, Chase arched one dark eyebrow. “Have you talked to Chad yet?”

“Nope.” Chandler picked up his glass, eyeing his brother over the rim.

Alana shifted uncomfortably, somehow forgetting until that moment that Bridget not only worked with Maddie but was also friends with her. How in the world that had slipped her mind was beyond her.

“I have,” replied Chase.

Maddie’s eyes widened as she fixed her gaze on the empty plate before her, and Alana wanted to crawl under the table.

“Yeah, I know.” A muscle began to tick along Chandler’s jaw.