"Put that down before you hurt yourself."He said it like a man telling her to mind the step. No alarm, no defending himself, and no apology at all, which was the only thing that stopped Lucy screaming again."You're threatening the man who pulled you out of a wreck this morning, with a letter opener. Sit down and breathe."Damon swung his legs off the bed and walked past the blade as if it were a chair.He took an apple out of the bowl and bit into it. The crack of it filled the quiet room.Lucy held the dagger up for several long seconds with her breathing ragged.Then she lowered it. There's a limit to how long anybody can point a knife at a man eating fruit."Saved me from what.""Somebody put a bomb inside your chest. A very specialized one, and it went off early. I took it out and dealt with it, and you'll be tired for a day.""A bomb. Inside my chest.""Rampage energy, folded up and set to a schedule. It started going off early and the shock hit your heart before it reached your

The laughter hit the private terrace like a wave breaking.Vanessa's aunt laughed so hard she had to put her wine down. The cousin who had spent the whole lunch on his phone looked up, delighted with something better than his screen.Even the servers by the door traded looks.The ex-convict had said it out loud. At a table full of people who knew exactly what the Presidential Suite was."Did you hear that? The rented husband takes lunch with the head of the Administration Department!"One of the uncles wheezed it out and had to put a hand on the table."Careful. Maybe he's the mayor himself, traveling in disguise. We should all bow."Vanessa stared at the tablecloth and prayed for the floor to open up.Two days. She had known him for two days.He had already burned through more of her family's respect than she had built in twenty-six years.I should never have brought him here.Shane came out of his laughter with the ease of a man who did this professionally. He leaned back, swirled hi