Operation Saving Daniel (Entangled Covet) Read Free Page B

I’d love to join you.”
    He released his breath and tried to tell himself that his reaction was purely because he needed to understand why she was here. After all, she’d gone ten years quite happily without speaking to him.
    This was his sisters’ work. If they had sent her after him, he had to face the threat head on. That was his excuse for inviting her, anyway.
    “Let’s go then,” he said before he could convince himself this was a really bad idea.
    The restaurant was around the corner from the office; they used the place regularly, and he presumed the dog would not be an issue. As they walked, he cast a sideways glance at Lissa, managing to do it without turning his head. She might be thinner, but she still had breasts. She’d had beautiful breasts, small but full and firm, and sweet. With hard little nipples, and she’d been so sensitive there. At the memory, his cock twitched in his pants.
    Shit, he really shouldn’t be thinking like this.
    And another thing, maybe worse; when he’d first seen Lissa, something had awoken deep in his mind, clawing at the mental bonds that usually bound it tight inside. The sensation was strange and new.
    Had he gone too far and too fast with that last dose?
    Beside him, he could feel the weight of Sophia’s puzzled glance, as if she, too, sensed another presence, and he clamped down, tightening his control. A low growl trickled through his mind and then was silent.
    As he suspected, the hostess at the restaurant hardly batted an eye at the dog, merely led them to a table on the terrace. Daniel glanced at the animal where it lay under the table, its protuberant brown eyes never leaving Lissa. She couldn’t have a nice pedigree pooch like normal people. No, she had a three-legged mutt.
    Maybe if he’d lost a leg or a limb, or something, she might not have run from him all those years ago.
    It occurred to him that he was really quite bitter. And the idea shocked him because it wasn’t Lissa’s fault that his life was such a pile of crap.
    “Let’s have some champagne,” Sophia said. “It’s not every day an old friend returns.”
    “An old family friend,” he inserted. He didn’t like the way Sophia scrutinized Lissa. “A very distant, old family friend.”
    Lissa cast him a black glance, while managing to smile brightly at Sophia. “Why not? I’m not averse to a little champers. But could you keep an eye on Spot. I must go wash up.”
    The dog whined as she walked away, but then settled to keeping a wary eye on them. Daniel watched until Lissa disappeared, then glanced down to where Sophia’s fingers rested possessively on his arm. He’d had about as much of the touchy-feely stuff he could take—she was making his skin crawl. He picked up her hand, dropped it on the table, and moved his chair a little distance from her.
    Sophia narrowed her eyes. “She seems to know you very well, considering she’s nothing but a ‘distant’ friend of the family. I’m guessing your little sister has sent her friend to spy on us. Julia hates me.”
    Julia wasn’t the only one. “Does it bother you?”
    She pouted. “Of course it bothers me. I want your family to love me as much as I love you.”
    “Yeah, right.” Sophia was a power-crazy bitch and liked to tug on his rope every now and then. If only to prove her power and piss him off.
    One day she would push him too far.
    The growl echoed inside his head again and he flinched.
    “What was that?” Sophia asked, her arched brows drawing together.
    Had she sensed it? Luckily, Lissa returned so he was saved from answering. He’d thought—no hoped—she might have taken the opportunity to put on some makeup, lipstick perhaps. Not because he particularly liked makeup, but because a perverse part of his brain needed some small indication that she wanted to impress him. But no, her face was as bare as when she’d left the table.
    She sank down opposite him and waited while the waiter poured her Dom Perignon. When he