She crossed her arms, prepared to give him the look of death when she realized what the result would be. Instead she threw up her hands and stomped back toward the kitchen.

“That goes double for tantrums,” he called after her.

“I wonder if any of you are free tomorrow morning. I need someone to look out for Lyric while I meet with the security firm her record label has hired,” Connor said over the dinner table.

In the process of raising her fork to her mouth, Lyric dropped it onto her plate with a clatter, and she stared mortified across the table at Connor.

“What was all that about where you go, I go, and vice versa?” she demanded. “For God’s sake, I don’t need babysitters.”

“The team providing peripheral security and I will be deciding what needs to be done to ensure your safety,” Connor said evenly. “You’ll just interfere and argue. We can get it done a lot quicker if you aren’t there.”

She stared at him in disbelief. She’d been accommodating so far. She’d conceded on goddamn everything. What else did he want from her? A note signed in blood avowing her compliance?

She itched to bolt from her chair and get the hell out of there, but he’d expect that. He watched her even now as if waiting for her to throw a fit.

She decided to ignore him instead.

She lowered her gaze and stabbed at the meat with her fork. She tuned out what the others were saying. She didn’t give a shit about these people. Or Connor fucking Malone. Every time she thought it wouldn’t be so bad to be tethered to him for the next two weeks, he had to remind her what a huge asshole he was.

To her absolute mortification, tears stung her eyelids. Hell would freeze over before she’d ever let him see her cry.

Damn it, she’d tried her best to work with him. She knew she could be difficult and usually she didn’t give a flying fuck, but she’d honestly tried with him and his friends. She’d done everything humanly possible to tone it down because secretly she’d wanted his approval.

Fuck that and him. She didn’t need anyone’s goddamn approval. Only her own.

“You are such an asshole, Connor.”

For a moment Lyric thought she’d totally lost control of her tongue and aired her thoughts. But when she looked up, she saw Faith glaring holes in her brother.

Connor raised an eyebrow at his sister.

Even “sweetie” looked at Connor like he’d lost his mind.

“It’s not like you to be such a jerk,” Faith continued. “Lyric doesn’t deserve that from you.”

“Maybe we don’t have the full story,” Gray said in a diplomatic voice.

Faith glared at her husband. Then she turned to Lyric, who had her teeth sunk firmly into her bottom lip so she didn’t humiliate herself further by showing how affected she was by Connor’s attitude.

“You’ll come with me, Julie and Angelina to Serena’s house tomorrow. The men can all go find something else to do.”

Connor held up his hand. “Now wait a damn minute. No one’s going anywhere with Lyric. What part of her being in danger don’t you understand? I’m not risking any of you girls by sending you off together on some girls’ day out.”

“Damn right,” Nathan said with a scowl.

Lyric rose as gracefully as she could under the circumstances. She smiled in Faith’s direction. “Thank you for dinner and your hospitality. I had a really good time. But I should be going now. I appreciate the offer, but Connor’s right. None of you should be around me. In addition to having some crazy person lurking after me, apparently I’m a toxic influence.”

“Sit down, Lyric,” Connor ordered.

“Fuck off, Connor.”

She turned and stalked away from the table.

Connor watched her leave but didn’t go after her. She couldn’t get far without the car keys. She needed some time to cool off and he’d just do something stupid again. Like kiss her senseless.

“Nice,” Micah drawled. “And you once accused me of being an SOB.”

“She’s driving me crazy,” Connor muttered.

“It’s not her you have to worry about right now,” Gray said carefully.

Connor looked up to see three very pissed-off women glaring holes through his forehead.

“What was all that crap?” Angelina demanded. “This isn’t like you, Connor. You’ve always been so . . . sweet. And protective.”

Connor winced. She made him sound like a pussy.

“She didn’t seem that bad to me,” Julie said with a shrug. “And you were a jerk even if you didn’t mean to sound like one.”

“There’s no reason she can’t come to Serena’s tomorrow,” Faith said as she frowned at Connor. “Damon has tight security. No one is going to get onto his property without him knowing about it. And he has Sam.”

“Who the hell is Sam?” Connor grumbled.

“His mountain of a driver slash bodyguard,” Micah said dryly. “He has great affection for our women. He’s like a mother hen with them. The one time they didn’t let him go with him, Damon said he had a kitten.”

Connor frowned. “You think Lyric would be safe there? This is serious. I can’t just leave her anywhere, but if I take her with me, she’s going to balk at the constraints we’re going to put on her. I know you all think I’m being a jerk, but the truth is, I’m going to do whatever is necessary to keep her safe, whether she likes the measures or not.”

“I can go with them,” Micah said. “I’ll call Damon tonight and let him know the situation.”

Connor’s frown deepened. Yeah, he needed a place to stash Lyric so he could get her security straightened out. What he hadn’t mentioned was that if he didn’t get a good feel for this team her record label had hired, he was going to tell them to take a hike.

“You need to go find her and apologize,” Faith sniffed. “If I were her, I wouldn’t go anywhere with you.”

“She doesn’t have a choice.”

“Why are you so mean to her?” Julie asked.

Connor sighed. “I’m not mean to her, Julie. I just don’t kiss her ass like everyone else in her universe does.”

“I like her,” Angelina said. “She’s refreshingly honest.”

“You like everyone, sweetie,” Connor said with a grin.

“I don’t like you right now,” she said pointedly.

He winced. “Oh ouch. Damn. That hurt. Okay, okay, I’ll ease up. I’ll even apologize. The last thing I want is to fall into you girls’ bad graces.”

“Smart man,” Nathan murmured.

“You go find her and tell her she’s coming with us tomorrow,” Faith said. “Damon will take care of things. He always does.”

That earned her a glare from every man at the table.

“Well, he does,” she said defensively.

“It’s not a good idea to remind me of all he’s done for you,” Gray said mildly.

Faith blushed and Connor promptly tuned them out. He was pretty tired of hearing about Damon Roche himself. Him and his damn sex club or whatever the fuck he called it.

“You’re not taking her to his damn club, are you?” Connor demanded.

Faith turned bright red. “Good God, no! We’re going to his house. Not The House.”

“I don’t know,” Julie said thoughtfully. “Lyric might enjoy a night at The House.”

“Julie,” Nathan growled. “You aren’t setting foot in that place ever again.”

Julie grinned cheekily.

“What are you waiting for?” Faith asked. “Go, go, go. Shoo already.”

Connor sighed and got to his feet. Women were a plague. There was no doubt about it. He had his share of crazy ex-girlfriends, but they had nothing on the women currently in his life. He loved them all dearly, but he didn’t envy their men one iota.

He should have known that Lyric would fit in beautifully.

He stalked through the house, annoyed that everyone had turned on him. He never wanted this pain-in-the-ass job in the first place.

She was probably out in the car pouting. He’d have to go out and be nice. She’d probably pop off at him and his dick would stand up and pay attention. Then he’d start having fantasies about kissing her again.