Obsession (The Plus One Chronicles) by Jennifer Lyon Read Free Book Online Page A

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    “But…” Kat’s shoulders deflated enough for him to grasp her worry.
    Sloane tucked his hand beneath her chin. “New plan. If you’re called to be on a show, I’ll go with you to tapings as your security. Together we can handle your panic attacks. And Ana can come as your publicity director and baking assistant.”
    Kat stood up and faced him. “You’re not going to pull any strings to get me on a show, are you?”
    For one blinding second of temptation, Sloane wanted to do it and make her beholden to him. If he held her future in his hands, could he keep her love?
    Even after he killed?
    But the woman he loved wanted so much to do this on her own with the team she was building. “You and your team…” he nodded toward Ana, “…have this covered.”
    Her radiant smile lit up his insides.
    * * *
    Late Sunday afternoon, Sloane leaned back against the industrial fridge in Sugar Dancer’s kitchen, observing as Kat demonstrated to Isaac how to draw a skull on the boy’s cookie. Five boys and Ethan watched her with rapt interest while little Kylie frowned. “Skulls are ugly. I want flowers on mine.”
    Kat glanced up. “Yeah? How about a pony with flowers on her mane?”
    Kylie’s shrill of delight made Sloane wince. “Damn.”
    “Try it with four or five little girls taking over my house or out in the pool. My ears bleed.” John bit into a cupcake. “These are wicked good.”
    “Must be since you’ve eaten a half dozen.” He tried to keep the pride out of his voice.
    “I saw you scarfing those lemon cupcakes.”
    “I was being polite.” He’d have punched anyone who touched his awesome cupcakes. Sloane loved that creamy lemon-center thing. Kat called it lemon curd.
    John snorted. “Yeah, you’re all about manners and shit.”
    Ignoring that, he nodded toward his driver and fighter-in-training bent over a cookie with a look of concentration. “Ethan’s having as much fun as the kids.”
    “We should take a picture and show it to the other fighters.”
    “Post it on YouTube.”
    “And put it on the SLAM website.”
    Sloane laughed even though they’d never do it. Ethan had been one of their kids since they’d found him at sixteen. It’d taken a long time to gain his trust. The shit that boy had been through…yeah, seeing him laugh and decorate cookies was a damn good thing.
    “Frankly, I’m glad to see him joining in. He’s been withdrawing a bit around the guys.”
    Sloane had noticed it too, but he attributed some of that to Drake’s illness. It was draining all of them. “How’s his training?”
    John tossed his wrapper in the trash. “Spot-on. He works as hard as anyone we have. He still lets his temper get the better of him in sparring, but he’s working on it.”
    Self-control and a clear head were key to winning a fight. At twenty-one, Ethan needed to master that now. “Let’s meet tomorrow after I take Kat to work. I’ll spar with Ethan.” Sloane had agreed to work with him as time allowed, but between his own training, work, Drake and Kat, there was never time. That needed to change.
    “He responds to Kat. She’s the one who coaxed him to join in decorating the cookies.”
    Warm possession wrapped around his chest. His friends liked Kat, and somehow she’d seamlessly become a part of them. Like offering to have the kids come by today after her bakery closed to decorate some cookies to take home. Sloane couldn’t take his eyes off her with her easy smiles and gentle directions. She loved sharing her bakery with these kids.
    No other woman he’d done the plus-one thing with ever showed interest in the kids. They were throwaways. The most those women had done was donate money to the Fighters to Mentors program, and that was to get Sloane’s attention.
    Money was easy when you had it. But time and interest? Truly caring enough to share your passions with disadvantaged kids? That was real and priceless.
    He rubbed his chest as cracks of fear penetrated the