Ann Peterson - Secret Protector

Her smile grew to a full-fledged grin. “I think I could fit it in.”

“OH, JOLIE, YOU’RE NOT going to wear that, are you?” Natalie tried to sound serious, but the look on Jolie’s face made her bubbly good mood even better. She let loose with a smile, despite best intentions.

Jolie shot her a dry look. “It looks fabulous, doesn’t it?”

Natalie skimmed her eyes over the one-shoulder peacock silk number. Jolie’s red hair, creamy skin and green eyes looked unbelievable with the silk’s rich color, and the dress itself looked like something straight off the red carpet. Natalie couldn’t lie. Her friend and future sister-in-law looked breathtaking. “Devin is going to want to marry you on the spot.”

Jolie laughed and held up a hand. “If he does, he’s out of luck. You have to see Rachel’s bridal gown.”

Set to marry Natalie’s notorious bachelor cop brother, Ash, Rachel was the bride-to-be. The reason she and Jolie were here. But Jolie had a rock on her finger that was twice as big as Rachel’s and a wedding to Natalie’s brother Devin to prepare for, as well. “I can’t wait to see Rachel in her dress. I’m sure she looks gorgeous.”

Jolie sashayed in front of the multiangle bridal shop mirror. “I want the whole wedding thing for myself, too. Including that white dress. For real, this time. No pretending.”

Natalie nodded. As part of a plan to distract the media who had taken to following Devin’s every move, Jolie and Devin had staged a fake engagement and pretended to plan their wedding. It had been tough on Jolie, who’d been in love with her boss for a long while. But in the end, she and Devin had both realized they wanted to be married.

For real.

On the other hand, Natalie only had bridesmaids’

dresses in her future, and as fabulous as this one was, it didn’t compare to the white, fairy-tale gowns.

But maybe …

A shimmer warmed her chest as she thought of how wonderful Gray would look in a tuxedo, waiting for her at the altar. She let out a sigh and tried to tamp down the fantasy, tough since she’d had her wedding planned out since she was about seven. It was definitely too soon for marriage plans, but at least she had a lunch date to look forward to.

“What are you so happy about?” Jolie stared at Natalie via her reflection.

“It’s a great dress.”

Jolie shot her a no-nonsense look. “That’s not a dress smile. I know you. That’s a man smile.”

Natalie couldn’t help but laugh.

“I knew it.” Jolie turned away from the mirror and faced Natalie directly. “So spill. I just saw you at the office and your mood wasn’t this fabulous. What happened?”

Natalie was far more excited than she should be to tell Jolie the story of how she met Gray.

Jolie reacted in all the right ways. She gasped at the image of Natalie being followed from the coffee shop. Her eyes widened when Natalie described the man emerging from the stairwell. And she let out a relieved breath at Gray’s well-timed rescue.

Natalie paused for dramatic effect. “And my rescuer? He asked me out.”

Jolie’s lips flattened into a line.

Not the response Natalie was after. “I thought you’d be happy for me.”

Jolie glanced away.

“What is it? You said yourself that I needed to meet different men. And this one is … wow.”

“I wasn’t thinking of some guy who suddenly appears in a parking garage.”

“He works at Kendall.”

Jolie’s frown grew deeper. “How do you know that?”

“He said Devin hired him to be part of the security department, and he had a key to the garage.”

“Devin hired …” Jolie pulled in a long breath and shook her head. “Going out with him doesn’t seem like a very good idea.”

“You’re not warning me about workplace romances, are you? You, of all people?” She never would have expected this kind of response from Jolie, who had just gotten engaged to Natalie’s brother Devin … who also happened to be her boss.

“It just doesn’t feel right, that’s all. You don’t know anything about him.”

“I know he’s nice and good-looking and he saved me from a guy who was a little bit creepy and wore really bad shoes.”

Jolie normally would have laughed at a comment like that, but she didn’t even crack a smile.

“I don’t believe this. I thought you’d be happy for me.”

“I just think you should be careful.”

“Careful?”

“You have to admit, you’ve picked some losers.”

“But Gray isn’t like those other guys.” Natalie couldn’t even count the ways he was different.

“How do you know that?”

How did she know? “I don’t know. I just do.”

Once again, Jolie gave her head a slow shake. “He could be something totally different than what you think. You might really start to like him only to have him turn around and leave.”

Like all those other guys …

Jolie hadn’t said it, but she might as well have.

Natalie wanted to protest, but at the moment, the words were totally out of reach. If she was honest with herself, she had to admit Jolie was probably right. Her friend knew what kind of men she’d dated. She’d heard the horror stories, even witnessed some of Natalie’s epic fails.

She tried her best to give Jolie a smile and plucked a gorgeous midnight-blue silk dress with a dramatic draped neckline from the rack. “You’re right. He can’t be as good as he seems.”

Jolie tilted her head and offered an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Nat. I know you thought I’d be happy for you. I just don’t want to see you hurt again.”

She couldn’t blame Jolie. “I know. I’ve done a good job of picking jerks over the years, haven’t I?”

“It’s not only that. You know, things have so been … crazy. Call me paranoid, but I don’t want any of that to rub off on you.”

She understood where her future sister-in-law’s worry was coming from. The Kendall family had faced enough danger in the past two months to make anyone a bit wary, even someone as plucky as Jolie. She and Devin had been through a lot and so had Ash and Rachel.

She gave Jolie a smile. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“But I do.”

“Well, stop it. I know things have been weird, but no one is going to want anything from me.”

Jolie didn’t look convinced.

“Really. Ash is a cop, Rachel a crime scene investigator and Devin is CEO of the company. Fair or not, they’re going to make enemies. And with everything we believed about the past blowing up, they’ve had a lot to deal with. But no one is going to target someone like me. I’m not part of the investigation. I was only six years old when … you know, they died.” She paused to take a breath. She didn’t normally talk about her parents’ twenty-year-old murders, not even to Jolie, and it took a second for her to compose herself and go on. “I have no power outside of the public relations department at Kendall Communications. I’m a threat to no one.”

“I’m not so sure.”

“I am. The biggest thing I have to fear is giving my heart to another man who’ll stomp on it and throw it away.” And in worrying about that, Jolie was right.

“Natalie?” Her future sister-in-law’s voice was steeped in concern. “I didn’t mean—”

“It’s okay. I know I don’t have the most reliable taste when it comes to men. But at least I do know my dresses, and this one that Rachel picked out for me is divine.” She turned the hanger of the midnight-blue dress in her hand and the skirt flowed with the movement as if dancing on air.

Jolie tilted her head to the side and studied Natalie. From the look on her face, she wasn’t falling for the dress distraction. “You’re not going on the lunch date, are you?”