To Kiss a King (Kings of California #11)(37)
Author: Maureen Child

“I see,” she said, her accent a little sharper, “and I’m to await you at your convenience, is that it?”

He punched the accelerator and swung around another car, which had no business driving in the fast lane. “Alex, don’t start with me. We’ve been over this. You know it’s not safe.”

“No, Garrett,” she argued, “you know it’s not safe. But I’ve a mind of my own and am in no way burdened with your overwhelmingly cautious nature.”

“Damn it, Alex.” He thought about hitting the first off-ramp and heading back. Then he realized his twin was in La Jolla waiting for him, and Garrett was stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

And he did not have a cautious nature.

Made him sound like some old lady afraid to leave her house. Nothing could be further from the truth. He faced down danger every damn day of his life. It was Alex facing danger he couldn’t bear the thought of.

“I’m in charge of your safety.”

“No, you’re not. You said yourself last night that you’re no longer working for my father. That makes you nothing more than a bossy ex-bed partner. And I don’t take orders from my exes.”

“You’re making me crazy, Alex. Terri will be with you if you leave the hotel.”

Someone cut him off and Garrett honked at them. Didn’t do any good, but made him feel a little better.

“I won’t promise anything. And if that makes you crazy, then I’ll admit to enjoying your misery as a side benefit.”

She was enjoying it, too. He heard it in her voice. God knew what she would do today just to prove to him that she could take care of herself. He didn’t even want to think about it.

The stream of traffic was slowing down. Brake lights flashed ahead and cars were stacked up behind him, too. Just another day on Southern California’s freeways. Once he was stopped dead, he muttered, “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Just—be careful, okay?”

There was a long pause and, for a moment, he half wondered if she’d hung up on him and he hadn’t noticed. Then finally, she said only, “Goodbye, Garrett.”

Car horns blared, the radio in the car beside him was set to a volume probably audible in space and the only sound Garrett really noticed was the hum of the dial tone, telling him she was gone.

“She’s making me nuts.”

“In her defense,” Griffin said helpfully, “she didn’t have far to go.”

“Thanks for that.” Garrett gave his twin a dark look. “You’re supposed to be on my side, remember? Blood thicker than water and all that?”

“Yeah, we’re family, blah, blah,” Griffin said, kicking back in the leather booth seat and pausing long enough to take a long pull on his bottle of beer. “But if the princess is getting to you this badly, then I’m all for it.”

Garrett stared down at his own beer and then lifted his gaze to look around the half-empty pub. It was supposed to look Irish, but Garrett had seen the real thing not long ago when he did a job for his cousin Jefferson. Still, it wasn’t bad, just touristy. Lots of dark wood, flags of Ireland all over the place and even a bronze leprechaun crouched on the bar.

He and Griffin had finished with their client early and had stopped in here for some lunch before facing the long drive home again. He was still worried about Alex, but she’d been on her own for hours already, doing God knew what—because the damn woman wouldn’t answer her damn phone. All Terri sent him was a brief text saying everything was fine. So him taking a half hour for lunch wasn’t going to make that much difference at this point.

“And did I mention,” Griffin said with a knowing leer, “you look like hell?”

He had known that talking to Griffin about all of this wouldn’t get him any sympathy. And maybe he didn’t need any. What he needed was somebody to talk to.

He should have picked someone smarter.

“Doesn’t matter if she’s ‘getting’ to me or not—which she isn’t,” he added, after a pause for a sip of beer. “The point is she’s a princess, Griff. Would never work.”

“Man, I really did get all the brains,” Griffin mused with a slow shake of his head. “The way you talk about her, she seems damn near perfect. And you don’t want her because she’s a princess? What is that?”

“It’s not a question of want.”

“Then what is it?”

“Even if I did admit to wanting Alex, the fact that she’s a princess pretty much cools that whole idea.”

“Because…”

Irritated, Garrett glared at his twin. “You think her family would want her with a security expert?”

“Who better?”

“Nice try. But royals prefer royals, and everyone knows that. Her father’s probably got her future husband all picked out for her.” The thought of that made him want to break something.

“Uh-huh. And what else?” Griffin shook his head. “There’s more here, Garrett.”

“Kara.” He’d loved once and lost her. He wasn’t sure he was willing to go through that again.

“Here we go,” Griffin muttered. “You know, I’ve been hearing that excuse for years, and I’m just not buying it anymore.”

“What the hell’s that mean?”

“It means, that you’ve been hiding behind Kara. Yeah, it was terrible what happened to her. But you know damn well it wasn’t your fault.”

Garrett shifted in his seat, took a swig of beer and set the bottle down again.

“You loved her, and she died.”

“Thanks for the news flash. But I don’t need you to tell me that. I lived it.”

Griffin ignored him. Leaning on the tabletop, he said, “Somewhere along the way, though, you died, too. Or at least you stopped living, which amounts to the same thing.”

Garrett glared at his twin again, but it didn’t do any good. Nothing could shut Griffin up if he had something to say and clearly he did. Seemed he’d been building up to this little speech for years.

“Now along comes the princess, shakes you up, makes you notice, hey, not a bad world out here, and boom.” He clapped both hands together for emphasis. “You shut down. Start pulling Kara out of the past and using her as a shield or some damn thing. The problem isn’t Kara, Garrett. Never was. The problem is you.”

The waitress arrived with their lunch and while Griffin flirted and got an extra order of fries for his trouble, Garrett did some fast thinking. His twin might actually have a point. He had been enjoying his time with Alex. Had been relaxing the guard around his heart and the minute she got close, he’d pulled back. So was he using Kara as a shield? If that was true, then Alex had been right the night before when she’d accused him of making sure his world was small enough that tragedy would have a harder time striking.