Chapter Six

She hadn't been able to think of a reason to not get in the car with the gorgeous man she'd slept with the night before. The man who could never know she was Dee.

It was like she was a heroine in one of her Aunt Serena's books except they always got a happily ever after, and she was not getting one of those.

Tragic. She was a tragic heroine.

Damn, but this was awkward.

She couldn't stand the silence. He hadn't even turned on the radio, simply started driving toward the office once she'd buckled her seat belt. "So, how is your sister doing? It's been years since I saw her. I probably wouldn't even recognize her now."

He chuckled, a deep sound that reminded her of the night before. "Well, since she was only eight the last time you were around, I would definitely say no. When we moved back to Australia, she got into dance. Which is funny since we lived in London for so long and yet she didn't start dancing until she was in a tiny town out in the bush. Miss Addie's Dance Studio. She was one of five girls. She was with Miss Addie for years."

This was much easier. She remembered Elodie as a sweet kid she used to hang out with when they visited. "Mom told me she's probably going to be with a dance troupe. Is it ballet?"

"Mostly, though she does a lot of modern dance. Pretty much any kind. It's been her obsession since she was a kid. I always wonder what it would feel like to know what you're supposed to do," Nate said.

She knew the feeling. "I grew up around a guy who knew he wanted to be a surgeon from the age of seven when he went with Mom to visit your mom's clinic. He came back and all he could talk about was how amazing Aunt Steph is. And she is. I'm pretty sure my da kept waiting for him to get bored with it, but Aidan never did. He had a path in life from a super-young age, and he's followed it. Tris leaving is the only thing that's ever gone sideways for my brother."

"Then why does Liam talk like Aidan doesn't have a brain in his head and you're some kind of saint?" Nate asked.

Daisy let her head fall back against the seat. "I don't know. It's not like I lie to him. I sometimes think it's because he feels bad about how I turned out." She knew her da loved her, but she wondered if he wanted to know her. The Daisy she truly was. "I've been told I can be a handful. I don't try to be. It's hard to compete with a golden boy. I mean in a regular family the whole I'm going to share my wife with another dude thing would have helped me out. But no, I had to be born into a kink-friendly family. I know they worry about me. A lot."

"Well, if half the stories I've heard are true, I can't blame them for worrying." He turned at the light. "So you're going to hang around the office?"

She sat beside him, though there was plenty of space in the big cab. His truck was definitely Nate sized. "I'm going to be working there for a while."

But not forever because she was going to figure out her life. Hearing Nate tell her he understood why her parents worried made her feel perfectly secure in her decision to not tell him she was Dee. He would be horrified.

"And you're going to be staying at Aidan's?" He asked the question like he was worried about the response.

At least she could ease his mind about one thing. They wouldn't be stuck together. No forced proximity for them. "Nope. I'm going home tonight. I bought my house a couple of months ago, and I'm working on renovating it."

"All right, I have to ask. How did you afford a house? You're barely twenty-five, and from what I can tell you haven't had a steady job since you left college."

What had he heard about her? She might have to rethink the belief her brother actually liked her. "I've always had a job. It's just I hopped around a lot."

"Did your parents give you the down payment?"

It was another one of those stories she probably shouldn't share with him. But it wasn't like they were dating. "No, they didn't. I came into some money a while back when I happened to stumble on a sex trafficking operation. I saved a couple of young ladies, and their families insisted on giving me a reward. I used it for a down payment on my house, but I still have a mortgage."

Nate's head turned, his jaw dropping. "You did what?"

"It wasn't a big deal. I was dating this guy who turned out to be in the business, so to speak, but I always carry around some strips to test drinks. When he drugged me, I only pretended to be out, and he didn't realize I was carrying one of the twins' phones because they needed to show up as partying downtown to fool some foreign spy agency, so I called and the police raided." She thought about it for a moment. "You know, it's kind of a theme for me."

"I'm sorry. So what you're telling me is the guy you were dating was going to traffick you?"

"I think they called it an auction," she explained. "I didn't get very far into it. Sometimes I wonder what my opening bid would have been."

He shuddered, and his hands tightened on the wheel. "You need a keeper, girl."

She got that a lot. "Anyway, everyone freaked, but I made a couple of friends and I got to give Aunt Serena a good idea for a book, so it all worked out. But I do need a paycheck. I couldn't go home last night because my bodyguard was on vacation. He came back early so he could start the job."

Nate huffed. "So you're making some bloke with a family stay with you twenty-four seven because you refuse to stay with your family?"

She was starting to get the feeling Nate didn't like her very much. "No. My father is making some bloke stay with me. I would be fine on my own. I have a security system. I have had some self-defense training. My father is being overly protective."

"Or you aren't taking the threat seriously enough," Nate replied.

"We don't even know there is a threat. I might not have to testify. We know very little about…" She sighed. "I don't want to argue. I can be quiet until we get to the office. I'll be working on another floor, so you won't have to see me."

He was quiet for a moment. "Why wouldn't I want to see you?"

"I don't know since I thought we were kind of friends. Your parents are pretty much family."

"We're not family, Daisy," he said quickly. "I wouldn't call us old friends either. We don't know each other. Aidan and I kept up. He's come to Australia a couple of times. The one time I visited here, you were out of town."

It had been years before. "It was my senior class trip. Look, I know when I rub a guy wrong. It's cool. You don't like me."

"Never said I didn't like you," he replied .

Not in so many words, but she'd heard him loud and clear. "You literally called me selfish."

"I was merely pointing out that if you stayed at Aidan's, Brian wouldn't have had to cut his holiday short. I could look after you." He said the words casually, like it wouldn't be the end of her world.

It wouldn't be. Not the end of her world. But the end of her peace of mind because she was pretty sure she would make an absolute fool of herself if she was around this man for any amount of time. "Where would I sleep when Cooper eventually comes home?"

"Apparently you could stay in Tristan's room since he hasn't been back in months. You could move right in. It would make your dad feel better. It's not like I'm doing anything."

"Cool, then you can move into my place." She stopped, taking a long breath because she hadn't meant to say that. He was flustering her. "I didn't mean that. I certainly don't think you want to hang around me twenty-four seven. I'll talk to my da. He's being unreasonable."

"So you're going to be stubborn," Nate grumbled.

Maybe he wasn't so gorgeous. "It's nothing you should worry about. Like I said I'll be out of your hair the minute we get to the office. I'm sure my da will be thrilled to give me a ride home."

And numerous lectures on how she was going to give him a heart attack.

"Maybe I should be the one to have a long talk with your da," he muttered under his breath.

He was kind of an ass. At least she could trust her father to take her side. "You do that."

A hush descended over the cab as he continued toward the office.

He'd been so sweet the night before, but she should know better. She wasn't a na?ve child. Men could be perfectly nice when they wanted to get into a woman's thong and then jerks when they'd had what they wanted. Or they could seem nice because they meant to auction you off to some dude in Malaysia.

"I heard you were at the club last night. Did you have fun?" Nate asked.

Fun? She wouldn't call it fun. She would call it life changing. A revelation. She could still feel this man's hands on her. She'd sat up in Cooper's bed waiting for the sound of Nate coming home. It had taken everything she had not to be sitting in the living room, ready to confess what she'd done and how she wanted to do it again. "I stayed in the locker room."

"Really? I thought you were a member. Aidan mentioned it, though he did say you never seemed interested in playing. He said it was more of a social club for you." Nate's eyes stayed on the road.

It gave her a chance to study the hard line of his jaw. He was such a gorgeous man. "I wouldn't say I'm not interested. I enjoy the lifestyle." Why was she talking about this? It wasn't any of his business. She wasn't about to whine and cry about the fact that the only Dom she wanted to play with was the one she couldn't have. Well, not the only one since none of them seemed interested. "So you went to the party? Did you have fun?"

"It was all right," he said.

Wow. That hurt. She turned away from him. Had she been this stupid again? Thank the universe she hadn't confessed to anyone. Not even Carys knew what she'd done. She hadn't had a chance to talk to her this morning because Nate had been sitting there.

She wasn't going to cry. "Well, maybe you'll have more fun next time."

How long before she could get out of the truck? Would he insist on walking her all the way up or could she ditch him in the lobby? Maybe in a few weeks she would be able to not want to cry when she saw him, but today she was a mess.

She had to get it together or her da would know something was wrong and she would end up in a session with Aunt Eve.

"I met someone. I thought we made a connection, but it was all one way," he said quietly.

Daisy felt her heart soften. "I can't believe that. I'm sure you misunderstood her. She's probably going through some things."

"Well, she left me sleeping after blowing my bloody mind," he admitted. "She didn't leave a number, so I have to figure it meant way more to me than to her."

Of all the scenarios she'd gone through, she hadn't thought about this one. Where he got hurt. She hadn't meant to hurt him. No wonder he was acting like a wounded bear this morning. His heart was bruised. "I'm sure she had something else she had to do."

He stopped at a red light. "After midnight?"

She could see the MT building up ahead. Only a couple more minutes and they would be safely in the building, and she could run away as fast as her kitten heels would carry her. All she had to do was keep her mouth shut. "Maybe she had an early call at work."

Keeping her mouth shut wasn't one of her talents .

"She could have left a note or given me a real name. I took my mask off, told her real things about myself. Nah, she used me. Not how I wanted to start this whole new life thing off," he said as he eased up when the light changed, but they were stuck behind a sedan trying to turn left without an arrow. "But you know, live and learn."

Okay, this was worse than being hurt herself. Her heart actually ached.

"I came here hoping to start over again." He turned her way and gave her a halfhearted smile. "I've been kind of lost since I left the military, like I don't know where my place in the world is. Last night I guess I felt alive again. But it wasn't real."

Her gut twisted. "It was real."

"It was real for me. Not for her."

She turned Nate's way. Why the hell was she doing this? She was literally one block from freedom, but the stupid traffic was killing her. They were at a dead standstill for some reason.

She didn't have to say anything. Not a damn thing. She didn't owe him. It wasn't like telling him would help him. He would realize he'd screwed his best friend's sister, who he thought was useless and selfish.

So she didn't have to confess to save his delicate masculine sensibilities. Nope.

"It was me."

He turned her way, his eyes narrowing, and then reached out and hauled her down, shoving her torso over as the bullets began to fly.

* * * *

"It was me."

Nate felt a deep sense of satisfaction run through him when the little brat finally admitted the truth.

It didn't last long because when he turned her way, he realized a big SUV in the far right lane beside them had stopped in the middle of the road, and the passenger side window rolled down.

They weren't asking for directions. They had him in a trap, closed in on all sides. He saw the barrel of a gun poke through the open window and did the only thing he could. He reached over and shoved her down, covering her body with his while he tried to keep control of the truck. The sound of glass shattering filled the air as the assassin put three bullets into his brand-new truck, and the world seemed to go chaotic as the people around him panicked.

"Stay down," he ordered as he pulled his SIG. They needed to get to the MT building, and they needed to do it fucking now. The chaos would help, but he needed cover fire. He kept a hand on Daisy's back so she didn't decide to help him as he eased up and fired at the black SUV.

Nate took off, punching the gas and swerving into the oncoming lane. He narrowly avoided hitting a sedan.

The back window of the cab shattered as they fired again, and he heard the sound of tires screeching.

Had they turned so they could keep coming after them?

Nate took a deep breath and punched the gas again.

Daisy started to come up. "What was…"

He shoved her head back down. "Stay down or I swear to god, you'll get the bloody spanking of a lifetime."

"I was only trying to check on you," she grumbled.

"I'm fine." He wasn't. He was pretty sure he'd gotten grazed. He could feel a burning sensation across his right bicep.

It likely wasn't the only time he would be wounded in the service of his submissive.

Adrenaline pumped through his system as he swerved back into the right lane before making a hard turn onto the side street that would lead him to the MT building. Behind him he heard the sound of metal striking metal as two cars hit while trying to flee the scene of the attack.

"Call your dad," he ordered.

He couldn't be sure they wouldn't follow him into the parking garage. They had protocols. He couldn't simply race inside. There was a whole security system in place.

"Tell him we're coming in hot, and we need the entrance gate up," Nate explained as he narrowly avoided an accident. He had to go up on the sidewalk to get past the minivan stopped in front of a grocery store.

He glanced up and winced as the SUV started to gain on him.

"Hey, Da. How are you this morning? Did you get breakfast?"

She was going to make him insane. "Daisy!"

"Nate says I have to tell you we're coming in hot. I don't know what that means, but there is someone shooting at us," she said in a shockingly calm voice. "Yeah, he pushed me down. Yes. He's still driving, but whoever it is keeps coming. I'm not sure what he did to upset them." She gasped. "Da, language. We do not know this has… He went into Irish. I can barely understand him, but I did hear him yelling for Uncle Ian. Oh, should I call the police?"

"Don't bother. I think they'll find us." His arm was starting to ache. " Hold on, love. And let's hope they get the gate open. When we get inside, you stay down, and you run when I tell you to. You run and don't look back. You get to the security desk."

"I'm not going to leave you."

A sweet thought, but he had to protect her. "You'll do exactly what I tell you to, Dais. I'm not fucking around. Here we go. Hang on."

He swung the truck around, barely missing an oncoming car as he rushed into the parking garage. The guard was there in the booth, obviously trying to get the gate up. He felt the top of it scrape the roof of his truck and heard a volley of gunfire.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Ian and Alex moving toward the gate. The big guys moved like the predators they were, and they were backed up by a whole bunch of guys with guns.

Nate slammed the truck to a stop as a freaked-out Li O'Donnell came charging up.

"Daisy!" Liam opened the passenger side door. "My poor, sweet, Daisy. What happened to you? Are you all right? We should call an ambulance."

Daisy was perfectly fine. Nate was the one bleeding, but did Liam seem to care about his health? Nope. He was too busy looking his precious angel over.

"I kind of hit my head when Nate pushed me down, but I'm fine," Daisy was saying.

"Nathan Carter, you have to be more careful with her," Liam complained.

"They're clear," Ian shouted. "Get MaeBe to pull our security cameras. I want a plate number."

"And get the conference room ready for the police visit we're about to get." Alex had holstered his weapon.

"Come on, my sweet daughter. I'll have a talk with Nathan about how to properly watch after you," Liam was saying.

It was time to start adjusting the whole O'Donnell family to the new dynamic.

He slid out of the truck, slammed the door, and walked straight up to his little brat.

Her eyes widened. "Nate? You're hurt."

He shook his head. "It's nothing. You coming willingly?"

She waved him off. "Oh, I'm fine now. Da's here."

Liam nodded. "I'm here now, and we'll get you a proper guard. You're safe now, my darlin' girl."

The hard way it was then. He leaned over and hauled her up and over his good shoulder, securing her tightly against him.

"Nate," she said with a gasp. "What are you doing?"

"Nathan Carter, you put my daughter down this instant," Liam shouted.

But he was walking away. "When she's in a secure room and she can't get her pretty arse sniped, I'll put her down. She made her choice. She's going to learn to live with it."

"Her choice?" Liam sounded pissed.

"I had a choice?" Daisy asked.

"Oh, you did," he promised.

"Daisy, stay very still. I think I can shoot the little bastard," Liam vowed.

He felt Daisy's arms go out as though trying to protect as much of his back as she could. "Da, don't you dare."

At least she wasn't going to let her father murder him.

Yet.

When she found out his plans for her things might change.

Nate strode to the lifts and walked in as the doors opened. He turned and looked out over the chaos. His truck had several bullet holes, and all his windows had blown. He probably needed a couple of stitches. He was going to spend the next hours of his life with the DPD.

He'd come here for peace, and his mother's best friend's husband was staring at him like he was a monster. Alex and Ian stood on either side of Liam as though they could stop the Irishman from taking out the man stealing his precious saint of a daughter. Alex had a hand on Li's shoulder, while Ian was watching the whole scene play out with a grin.

There was no peace to be found here, but damn it felt good to bloody feel.

"You could put me down, Nate. I think the danger's over," Daisy pointed out.

Before the doors could close, he slapped her arse. "The danger's never over with you, love. I said you needed a keeper. Looks like it's going to be me."

His decision was made. The doors started to close as Liam pointed his way and said something that had Alex trying to calm him down again.

It was going to be a rough day. He was oddly looking forward to it.