LITMIR.BIZ

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to his face and skimmed her fingers along his jaw. Her fingers trembled. “I don’t want anything to happen to you...”

      His heart lurched. Could she actually care about him?

      “Your family worried so much when you were gone,” she said. “If something happened to you now...”

      “It won’t.” Because he wasn’t going to risk his heart on her again. She was more concerned about his family than she was him.

      She nodded. “Okay, then, if you’re certain you’ll be safe, I’ll marry you.”

      He wouldn’t be safe—not even with his resolve to not risk his heart on her. She was so damn beautiful that he doubted he would be able to control his attraction to her. Even now he was so tempted to lean forward, to close the distance between them and press his lips to hers.

      But then she was the one arching up and forward and closing the distance between them. “Thank you,” she murmured.

      Maybe she meant to kiss his cheek.

      She probably meant to kiss his cheek.

      But Cooper turned his head, and her mouth met his. It should have been just a quick peck then. But she gasped and the kiss deepened. Cooper couldn’t help himself—he dipped his tongue between her parted lips and tasted her.

      She was even sweeter than he remembered.

      Her fingers clasped his face and she kissed him back, her tongue flicking across his. Touching. Teasing...

      They weren’t teenagers anymore. A kiss wasn’t just a kiss. They knew where it could lead, and they were sitting on a bed. Cooper fought for control and pulled back, just as Tanya did the same.

      Her face flushed and eyes widened, she panted for breath. She moved her lips, but no words formed. Obviously she didn’t have any idea what to say either.

      Cooper glanced down to where the gun barrel pointed at them like that spin-the-bottle. But that wasn’t why she’d kissed him. She had obviously only meant to kiss his cheek—probably out of gratitude.

      But Cooper was less concerned about why she’d kissed him than he was about why he’d kissed her. He knew she loved another man—a man who had always been a good friend to him, even when Cooper had physically and emotionally let distance grow between them. Kissing the man’s fiancée was an act of betrayal.

      Unless...

      No, he had no proof. Not yet. He had no reason for his suspicions. Except maybe he wanted to think the worst so that he wouldn’t feel so damn guilty.

      Shaking his head, he murmured, “That didn’t happen.”

      Her eyes still wide, she nodded in agreement.

      “I wasn’t even here,” he said.

      “What?”

      “If my mother asks, you didn’t see me last night or this morning...”

      Her lips curved into a slight smile. “Her wedding traditions?”

      “Superstitions,” he corrected her. “We are not to see each other until...”

      Light streaked through the blinds at the hotel room window. It was his wedding day.

      “Until we meet again at the church,” she finished for him.

      “Try to get some sleep,” he suggested.

      “What about you?”

      He shrugged. After that kiss? He doubted he would be able to close his eyes without imagining where that kiss could have led, without anticipating a honeymoon that would never happen, thanks to her wanting an annulment. “I don’t need much sleep anymore.”

      “Even after today?” she asked, her thick lashes blinking as she struggled against exhaustion to keep her eyes open.

      He’d had longer, more dangerous days. He gently pushed her back until she lay down on the bed. Then he pulled the blanket over her, as exhaustion overwhelmed her and she fell asleep. He needed to stand up, needed to step away from the bed before he was tempted to crawl into it with her and hold her. But he couldn’t stop staring at her beautiful face. It had been so long since he’d seen her. And tonight he’d nearly lost her—twice.

      But then he sighed as he remembered that she wasn’t his to lose. A shadow fell across the floor, and he reached for his weapon.

      “I thought you didn’t want to come to their wedding because you didn’t care anymore,” Logan remarked from the doorway. “But that’s not the case at all. You didn’t want to come because you care too much.”

      He pulled his hand away from his holster and replied to his brother, “She and Stephen were my best friends in high school. They helped me through losing Dad.”

      “She’s more than a friend to you.”

      He shook his head in denial, but still he couldn’t stop staring at her. “No.”

      “Maybe I’m wrong,” Logan said, but his tone indicated he thought otherwise. “But she was right. You should get some sleep.”

      “I need to make sure she stays safe.”

      “I’ll do that,” Logan said.

      When Cooper turned toward him, his older brother lifted his hands as if to ward off an attack. “I won’t leave her again even if you’re begging me for help.”

      “I won’t...” If he wound up begging, it wouldn’t be for Logan.

      “Take my help tonight,” Logan said, “because you’re going to be primary protection for her at the wedding and after...”

      On that honeymoon. But they wouldn’t get to that if they didn’t survive the wedding. Someone was so determined to stop that, judging from the recent shooting attempts, he or she didn’t seem to care who died—the bride or the groom.

      * * *

      HOURS HAD PASSED, but Tanya’s lips still tingled from that kiss. What had she been thinking to kiss Cooper Payne?

      He wasn’t the teenage boy with whom she had once been friends. He was a man now, and his kiss had proven that. But then, even as a boy, he’d kissed like a man.

      She released a shaky breath.

      “It’s going to be okay,” Mrs. Payne promised as she opened the bride’s dressing room door and ushered Tanya inside. Sunshine bathed the room, setting its soft pink walls and white wainscoting aglow.

      And Tanya nearly believed her. She had always had so much admiration for Mrs. Payne. Tanya’s mother had wallowed in self-pity after her husband chose money over a life with her and her daughters. But Cooper’s mother had lost the love of her life through a horrible tragedy and yet she had put aside her own anguish and heartbreak to be the rock her children had needed her to be.

      Tanya had leaned on her all those years ago herself. And she leaned on her now, giving her a big hug. “Thank you for everything you’ve done.”

      Mrs. Payne patted her back. “You’re like one of my own, sweetheart. I would do anything for you.”

      That was the kind of mother Tanya hoped to be someday. But when would that day be? She had to live through this wedding and subsequent annulment to have hope of ever having another wedding—a real one.

      “I’m so sorry that I’m putting your family in danger,” Tanya continued. The Paynes had already been through too much tragedy. She hoped she wouldn’t bring another one upon them.

      “You are not responsible for any of this, Tanya.” Mrs. Payne chuckled. “And, honey, my boys have been putting themselves in danger since the day they were each born. Climbing trees too high. Riding bikes too fast. Then joining the police force and the Marines.” She shook her head and sighed.

      When Cooper had joined the service

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