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Dinner was incredibly delicious, her stomach was full, and her heart was happy. They’d finished dessert, were sipping the last of their coffees and January was forced to admit, she didn’t want the evening to end already.
A buzzing on his phone made him pull it from his inside pocket, look at the message, smirk and then tuck it away.
“What was that?” she asked as she set her cup back into the
saucer.
“Glenn.” He shifted in his seat. “He’s made some progress. Wanted to update me.”
“Do you need to go check in?”
“No. I trust him to do his job.”
“I mean, if you needed to go, I’m happy to tag along and wait patiently while you do your thing.”
“January Fulton, are you trying to manipulate me into bringing you to visit my brother at his workplace?”
She made wide eyes at him as he gave her an incredulous look. “Would I do that?”
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“I’m not sure. I would like to think the woman I thought I knew was demure and sweet and would never manipulate me at all,” he teased her.
“Demure and sweet,” she would have choked on her coffee if it weren’t empty now, “as if.”
“I was thinking we could go for a nice evening stroll. There is a park nearby.” He threw a stack of cash on the tabletop.
She shrugged and got off her chair. She paused as he turned to push his chair back under the table and on impulse jumped up and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, though I’m not sure what you’re thanking me for.”
“For bringing me out and having fun. This was nice. I liked dancing with you and dinner was incredible.” She linked her fingers into his and swung his arm playfully, “I’m happy to go for a walk or you know, to watch you work.”
“You’re naughty,” he tapped her nose with his other hand and nodded at his security who were now waiting, “trying to play me into taking you to see what Glenn and Ford are up to.”
“Is it working?”
“A bit,” he admitted as he escorted her out of the restaurant 2/6
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towards a waiting car. “We can walk to the park, it’s about fifteen minutes, or the car can take us down and we just walk the park.”
She pouted, “let’s drive down.”
He shook his head at her antics. When they slid into the back seat of the car, he rested his arm across the back and curled her to his side. “You don’t really want to go see what it is Glenn and Ford are up to.”
“I keep thinking of the guy who was interrogating our
daughter. I kind of want to see him getting the same in return.”
“It is more than simply asking questions and applying a bit of pressure, January. It’s,” he cleared his throat, “violent. I don’t think you’re ready for such things.”
“Can’t I be the judge of that?”
“January, honey, I love you and I love this enthusiasm but let’s be real. You’re not even sure you want to be with me. You haven’t committed yourself to the family and while I trust you and have no problem believing you would keep what you saw secret, if you wake up tomorrow and decide you will never want to be with me again, you become a security risk.”
“Gulliver!” she blinked at him in disbelief, her lashes batting against her cheeks as she struggled with the insinuation she 3/6
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might betray him. “I wouldn’t betray you!”
“You say that now but you’re not my wife according to you. We’ve had one date. I wouldn’t normally bring a woman to an interrogation.”
“That’s not fair!”
“You can’t have your cake and eat it too, January,” he was full on mocking her now, a smile tugging his lips despite trying not to. “Now, my wife, my woman, I might be inclined to show her the inner workings of the Raptis organization but some girl I just took on one date?” he huffed, “well that, I don’t think would be appropriate.”
“We have a child together!”
“Who we coparent very well together,” he leaned forward to speak to his driver, “the park where we previously planned please.”
“Gulliver,” she whined loudly and pursed her lips at him, “it’s so unfair!”
“Would you rather go back to the hotel and call it a night?”
“No!” she kicked her feet a bit and leaned against the seat, the warmth of his arm at her shoulders. She turned her head away and stared out the window. “I think I should be given more 4/6
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trust than this.”
“As my ex–wife or as the woman I just had one date with?”
She scrunched her nose up at his words.
“My legal team would be spitting nails if I brought someone I wasn’t in a committed relationship with to such a thing.”
She bit her bottom lip, “what if we were in a committed relationship?”
He gave a chuckle, “but we are not. Someday, when we are in a committed relationship, we can revisit this conversation.”
“But what if we were?” she turned her face back to meet his
eyes with as much innocence on her face as she could muster.
“January, we are not.”
“We’re not strangers, Gulliver. You’ve said multiple times you love me.”
“But you don’t love me which means you are a security risk. You’re being stubborn and I see where Kaylee gets her penchant for pushing boundaries but until we have made a commitment to one another again, I cannot and will not bring you into a situation where you are privy to information which can put my brothers at risk. No.” 5/6
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“This sucks,” she leaned her head back. “You don’t trust me.”
“In my shoes would you trust me? In fact, I’m not sure you do trust me, January. If you trusted me, if you believed in me and my love, we would not be starting over with our relationship, and you and I would be planning a vow renewal with legal documents this time. However, you’re unsure of me. Your uncertainty is a risk to my family, January.”
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