Chapter 4

“So let me get this straight.” Shiloh rubbed at her temple near the spot that most felt like it was going to explode and glared at Ivan, who was lucky she didn’t usher him to the door with a firm invitation to never darken it again. “You and Kellan cooked up a scheme to protect me from a man standing in a hallway and voila. I have a new fiancé and houseguest, neither of which I asked for.”

Her brother didn’t even have the grace to look embarrassed at the way he’d just taken over her life.

“You act like nothing has happened when we all know that’s not true,” Ivan said calmly.

“Something happened all right.” She showed her teeth. “I made the mistake of telling you the truth.”

Last time she did that. See if he liked being kept completely oblivious to what was going on in her life. Nothing bad had happened with Creepy Guy. Kellan had been there. And she’d keep right on pretending she’d always get that lucky.

But then in a totally unexpected move, Kellan unfolded from the couch where he’d been sitting in silence, walked straight over to her door and opened it. “Ivan, why don’t you let me and Shiloh hash this out? You’ve made your case. We’ll let you know how it shakes out.”

Shiloh closed her mouth as her brother scrubbed at his face, nodded, and then—wonder of wonders—did exactly as Kellan suggested, leaving them blessedly alone without a backward glance.

Nice trick. She should be writing this stuff down.

Then Kellan shut the door and she had a whole new problem. Without Ivan’s dynamic presence to focus on, Kellan kind of took over, spilling into all the spaces that she’d never realized were empty.

“Sorry,” Kellan said simply and shrugged as he stood halfway between the door and the couch as if suddenly unsure where he might be welcome. “If it makes you feel any better, I told Ivan I wasn’t agreeing to this unless you did. I am not a fan of the high-handed approach.”

That took all the fight out of her. She leaned against the back of the matching wingback chair that sat catty-corner to the couch, giving her ramrod straight back a break. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault Ivan the Terrible chose you as his latest victim for the bulldozer treatment. I should be apologizing to you for putting you in the middle of this in the first place. I still haven’t properly thanked you for rescuing me yesterday, and now Ivan drops all of this on me…”

Ivan’s heart was in the right place. He just tended to get overbearing and dictatorial sometimes, which made her dig in.

“This is not about who owes anyone,” Kellan interjected quickly. “It’s not that big of a favor, so put that out of your mind. I couldn’t sleep at night in my own condo anyway now that I know there’s a serious threat. Let me crash here and we’ll all feel better. That’s all there is to this. The fake engagement thing is strictly to avoid gossip. You know, if you even care about that. Some women wouldn’t.”

The implications washed over her and dang it, her cheeks went hot. “I’m the kind who cares. So I appreciate that. And it is a big favor. Being fake engaged means a lot of hand-holding and adoring looks. I’m not sure how to even do that.”

“If you’re worried about my acting skills,” he said blithely, “don’t. I can hold my own.”

That’s when he gave her one of his adorable lopsided smiles, the same one that had made a mess of her insides yesterday. Okay, so he had that part down pat, no problem.

“It’s not you I’m worried about,” she muttered without thinking and that’s when Kellan figured out where he wanted to stand—entirely too close to her.

Wow was he tall. She blinked up at him as he took her hand gently in his. It was a strange contradiction for a guy with such obvious strength to have the capacity to be that restrained. Her heartbeat went into triple time as he looked down at her.

“I’m not worried about either of us,” he murmured. “We’ve known each other a long time. We just have to get comfortable with each other and it’ll be fine.”

Easy for him to say. She was the least comfortable she’d been in her life, with Kellan’s deep voice flooding through her and his fingers clasping hers. When had he gotten so devastatingly gorgeous? Or rather, when had she started noticing it? Because of course he looked the same as he always had.

“This is going to put a big hole in your dating life,” she said, which he’d likely already figured out.

“I’m good.”

That told her nothing at all. Was he planning to keep seeing women on the sly? Or was he on the downside of a bad breakup? Suddenly, it felt hugely necessary to dissect the man who would willingly enter such a stupid agreement, all for what amounted to a favor for a friend.

“So that’s it,” she said with a narrowed gaze. “You’re on board with this fake engagement-slash-houseguest plan for something as inane as a guy standing in the hallway.”

“Shiloh, I was in the room with that jerk.” Kellan’s hand tightened on hers. “He’s not a garden variety loser, no matter how much you might want to believe he’s not a bad person. If he was in the hallway, I’m on the couch. Period.”

Oh well, when he put it that way…

What did it say about her that her insides totally gushed over a man who pledged to protect her in such a firm, authoritative voice?

“Maybe we should sit down and talk through how this will go,” she suggested a bit breathlessly as she contemplated the reality of having Kellan’s particular brand of masculinity behind closed doors twenty-four seven. “I mean, you have to go to work, right? It’s not like you can be around all the time.”

Which was pretty much what Sergio had pointed out: that he’d be waiting for that exact scenario. She shuddered, and not the way a woman should when a man like Kellan still grasped her hand in his like he meant to hold it for eternity.

Kellan didn’t hesitate, just tugged her over to the couch and settled her onto a cushion before sliding onto the one next to it. Still without letting go of her, a trick and a half that she couldn’t help but notice. It meant he was good with his hands. Good with women. Good with her.

None of that was good. Or rather it was far too much so. She had to get her head screwed on straight here. In other words, stop thinking about how nice it would be to grab hold and never let go. Also known as her usual method of operation, which would be a disaster in this situation.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Kellan said in that same voice that told her he had it all under control. “For the first half of the day, I’ll come with you to your daycare space and help you do whatever you need done. Move stuff. Hang things. Pay me if you want to. But consider me your handyman and find things for me to do.”

Oh she could find some things for him to do all right. Her mouth was practically watering at the thought of Kellan with a hammer in his hand, his sleeve bunched up on his forearm as he swung it at something. The wall probably, but her mind was on the man, not the end result.

“What about your job?”

“You come with me to the gym for the second half of the day.” He shrugged. “It might be a little boring but maybe you could take a spin class or something. Bring your laptop and work on admin type things in my office.”

“Or better yet. You could teach me some self-defense moves,” she suggested with an arched brow. “That would be much more helpful than sitting on a stationary bike.”

And far more fun.

“I would be happy to do that. In fact, I insist. I think it’s a brilliant use of our time, especially if we take it outside to the green and make a big deal out of it.”

Like a public show in the residents’ courtyard that would get a lot of attention, specifically Sergio’s? “I like it. You’re an interesting person, Kellan Walker.”

“What? Why do you say that?”

He ducked his head, but otherwise his expression didn’t change, which was one-hundred and eighty degrees from how her face worked when someone said something unexpected and complimentary about her.

Maybe she should be taking lessons from him about that. Her face always acted like a lighthouse, beaming her feelings for everyone to see far and wide, which was what got her in trouble a lot. She couldn’t hide it when she started really liking a man, and he always clued in. Usually backing off as a result.

That’s when she realized how horribly difficult this fake engagement would be for her. It wasn’t real. But how was she supposed to act like she was in love and cast adoring looks all over her new fiancé without falling head deep into the fantasy?

The gig was tailor made for someone like her. After all, it was in the job description for her to act like the clingiest woman on the planet. The better she did, the better she would sell it.

She could be herself, for the first time ever in a relationship. And it wasn’t real.

Worse, she had to make sure he didn’t think it was real. She had to be as standoffish as conceivably possible whenever they were alone.

And now her heart hurt.

This was why she’d sworn off dating. Ivan was always saying that she let her relationships swallow her whole. Now she had the best opportunity available to practice the opposite. It was far past time for her to think about grownup things like how this favor was all about saving her from a dangerous mess she’d created—not about how gushy Kellan could get her.

“You’re an interesting person because almost no one would agree to sleep on his buddy’s sister’s couch strictly because she’s attracted a stalker,” she informed him, since that much was true, but it was a far cry from what she’d been thinking about him a moment ago. “You get nothing out of this, which is not okay.”

“That’s not true.” Kellan chose that moment to let go of her hand and ran his over his dark hair, rumpling it. Which did nothing to decrease his attractiveness quotient. “I get the satisfaction of knowing that my friend isn’t worried about his sister. Also, I get to help my new neighbor set up shop. A daycare next door to the gym is a huge benefit to my business.”

Oh. Well she’d never thought about it like that. “So you’re saying it’s convenient for someone to drop off their kids at my place while they’re at the gym. That’s a great angle. I could run a special.”

She warmed to the idea as Kellan nodded. “Now you’re on the right track. We can offer a dual discount.”

“Strictly business. On that note, I guess it’s official,” she said brightly and held out her hand for him to shake, pleased she could get on the right page. Business only. No gushiness. “Welcome to Team Anderson.”

That made Kellan laugh as he clasped her hand to seal the deal. “I’ve always thought of myself as Team Anderson.”

That was a stark reminder that she’d definitely needed. Kellan and Ivan had been friends since they were in fifth grade. Kellan had become a permanent fixture at their house, especially after her dad had died. Oddly, her mom had facilitated Kellan’s quasi-adoption into her family, insisting that his presence gave her something to focus on besides the big empty space where her husband had been.

Kellan was off-limits for so many reasons. The more she put that notion front and center, the better.

“Maybe we should get started on moving some of your stuff?” she suggested, suddenly very interested in not sitting on this couch with her fake fiancé any longer. The temptation to think about impossible things was too great.

Kellan waved that off. “I can do that anytime. What I think will get us the biggest bang for the buck is that public self-defense lesson.”

“Oh, you mean right now?” Shiloh glanced around but couldn’t find a single reason why that was a problem. “Sure, let me change.”

“No. That’s one of the biggest misconceptions about self-defense. The odds of you needing to defend yourself while you’re wearing yoga pants is slim.”

She made a face. “Clearly you have no concept of how often I wear yoga pants. But I get the point.”

He grinned, which was fast becoming her favorite smile of his—it wasn’t nearly as treacherous to her insides. “That’s why I’m the expert. We need to clue in our friend the creep that I’m going to be around a lot, but on the off-chance he gets you alone again, you’re now perfectly capable of taking care of yourself.”

Oh, she did like the sound of that. All of it. Kellan being around a lot and being able to defend herself. “We should tell Ivan that he got his way.”

He’d gloat about it too, the big jerk.

But then her throat went dry as Kellan blinked his big brown eyes at her. “Make no mistake, Shiloh. I’m doing this because I want to, not because Ivan asked me to. You’re important to me too.”

“Oh, well yeah, of course. Because of Ivan. I get it.”

“Because of a lot of reasons,” he said cryptically and then the mood vanished as he stood, helping her to her feet as well. He was efficient like that. “But partly because I like the idea of having the potential to blacken the eye of a man who would take advantage of a woman.”

Dang it. There went the gush in her insides again.