Page 46 of Sharp Lies

“She thinks he’s still obsessed with me,” I finished.

Warren’s eyes had narrowed as he listened, but he nodded when I was finished. “I think she’s right. And I think you’ve got to be careful. Because you already know what he can do—what he’s done to you before—and that was when he claimed to love you. Now that he knows you’re trying to move on...”

“It’s going to get even worse,” I guessed.

“Yep. You’re going to need even more protection than you did before.”

He stood up and walked toward me, all battered, masculine elegance, prowling like a panther on the hunt. “You’re going to need someone around to make sure he doesn’t get his hands on you.” He slid his arms around my waist and looked down at me, his face showing a mixture of concern and possessiveness. “I think you should let me stay at your house from now on. To make sure he doesn’t do anything we’ll both regret.”

My heart leapt into my throat and tried to choke me at the look in his eyes, and I had to admit that having him around all the time...

Well, it wouldn’t be the worst thing.

But my mother would also kill me.

“How about you stay at your house and I stay at mine, and I let you protect me from over here?” I whispered. “Less complicated.”

Something flickered in his eyes, but the ghost of a smile played across his lips, and he nodded, then bent to brush his lips against the shell of my ear. “I don’t think this gets any less complicated,” he whispered. “But I’ll agree to your terms. For now.”

CHAPTER 21

LILY

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“WHAT ARE WE DOING here?” I asked, looking around at the carnival. This place had everything: roller coasters, food carts, games, and a petting zoo, and the place must have gone on for at least ten blocks. I’d known it was happening, of course—it was summertime in Illinois, and we always had carnivals in the summer—but when Warren had told me he was taking me somewhere, I’d also thought we were doing something more serious.

Like maybe to meet that friend of his who was supposed to be doing research into Tony McCarthy’s background and find things we could use against him.

Instead, Warren had pulled into the parking lot of the carnival with a grin and looked over at me like a little kid who’d just pulled off a terrific prank.

“What, you don’t like carnivals?” he asked.

I gave him the most sarcastic look I could manage. “Warren. Everyone likes carnivals. But I thought we were doing something more serious. Like maybe figuring out what was going on with Tony and his dad.”

“And I thought,” he said, reaching over and yanking me toward him on the seat, “that you could use some time away from that.” He put a hand up and brushed the hair off my face. “I also thought it was about time we had a real date.”

“What, you don’t think a midnight trip to the police station is a real date?” I asked, heart racing at how close he was.

“Too many other men involved.”

I cocked an eyebrow at that and couldn’t help myself. “And you think there will be fewer men at a carnival?”

He chuckled, taking my hand. “No one who’s going to be focusing on you as much as Layton did. They look at you twice and I’ll kick their asses. Come on.”

And with that, the tender moment was over and we were walking hand in hand through the parking lot toward the screeching, flashing, roaring, and bleating carnival on, according to Warren, a ‘real date.’ I hadn’t mentioned to him yet that we’d also gone out to dinner at one point, because I was guessing his response would be the same there.

After all, that doctor had stopped by the table, and he hadn’t been there to talk to Warren. So there was another man involved in that date as well.

I grinned as we walked, the energy of the carnival rushing through me. Sure, I’d thought we were going to do something more important, like figure out what the hell Tony McCarthy might have done in his past life that could get him in trouble. Maybe even arrested. But I’d always been a sucker for a carnival, and the idea of going to one with Warren at my side—and evidently fighting any man who came too close—was too good to pass up. I didn’t necessarily like the idea of being out in public, with Tony and his friends on the loose and probably itching to cause trouble, and I knew the cops were looking for Warren specifically, given the incident at the bar. There was every chance we could run into someone we didn’t want to see while we were here.

But there were also about a million chances that we’d spend the night acting like children at a carnival, and I thought the risks were worth taking. Especially if Warren kept smiling down at me the way he was doing right now.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked as we got in line for tickets.

“All the people we don’t want to see while we’re here. All the things that might go wrong. And the fact that as long as I’m with you, I’m guessing we’ll come out of it okay,” I said honestly.

He tipped his head back and gave me a narrow-eyed stare. “You’ve been thinking about all of that in the twenty steps we’ve taken since we got out of the truck?”