Free The Set Piece by Catherine Lane Page A

nice? Diego continued to fidget.
    “Oh, thanks. But I’m good.” She took a shot in the dark.
    Diego smiled and moved toward the hallway. Amy relaxed; she’d made the right move.
    “You’ll be okay, all by yourself for the whole day?” he asked.
    “I will.” She smiled to let him know she was really fine with it.
    “Good. Hang out by the pool. Relax while you can. I have Friday off, and we’ve a command performance at my parents’ house. They all want to meet my fiancée, you know.” He said it lightly, as if meeting his entire family were no big deal.
    Amy’s heart started to pound. “Really?”
    “Don’t worry. My mother says she understands why I kept you a secret. It’ll be fun.”
    “Okay.” Amy wasn’t convinced. She’d known this was coming, but she sure wasn’t ready for it. Diego had more on the line here. How could he be so okay with it? Should she call him on it? For starting out so well, the day was disintegrating fast.
    “Can I walk you to your room?” Diego brought the evening to a close.
    “No. I’m good.”
    “Great. Goodnight, then.” He blew her a kiss goodnight, his go-to move at intimacy between them, and called Dulce to him. The mutt looked back and forth between Amy and Diego and sat down on her haunches.
    Diego laughed as he left. “Traitor,” he softly scolded the little dog.
    Amy sat on in the den. The room seemed so much bigger now Diego had gone; his presence was like that. She looked at the various photos on the mantelpiece. Most were of his family, in some he stood with his teammates, and there was one of him standing on white sand in front of a beautiful ocean. He looked larger than life.
    Dulce whined, and Amy picked her up. The little dog was her only ally in this new game. She buried her face in the soft fur. Dulce smelled of dog shampoo and something else, something wonderfully earthy and natural. The dog snuggled into her arms with a contented groan.
    “Come on, let’s go upstairs, sweet one.”
    In the kitchenette her phone beeped. She shoved her cocoa mug into the microwave and reached for it. For a second, she hoped Simon had finally answered her texts.
    “OMG. I just saw a promo of U and D on TV. UR FAMOUS! Let’s get together!”
    Not Simon, then. It was Blythe, the assistant store manager at her Starbucks. Blythe hadn’t given her the time of day when she worked there, and now a text? Knight had warned her about this kind of thing.
    “People will come out of the woodwork when they see you with Diego,” he had told her. “They’ll all want a piece of you. Stay away from them.”
    Amy deleted the text and dropped the phone back on the counter. She didn’t like a world where Paul Knight knew how it all fit together better than she did.
    “Come on, Dulce. Let’s go to bed.”

CHAPTER 5
    “You’re done studying,” Darla said softly.
    “I have a paper due,” Amy protested, but she knew it was futile.
    “Well I have something else due. Or someone else to do, should I say.”
    Amy’s chest fizzed with excitement. Darla moved to her side. She dropped her hand on Amy’s shoulder and slid it down her bare arm until their fingers entwined. A soft tug. The book slid from her grasp. Another soft tug. She was up and out of her chair.
    “Come on.”
    “Where we going?”
    “Places you’ve only dreamed of.” Darla smiled. Her grip on Amy’s hand tightened. Then they were moving through the library. Tall stacks towering above them and the passageway growing narrower and darker.
    Darla’s amber eyes sparked with desire. She cupped Amy’s cheek then delicately traced a fingertip along her jaw and pushed a strand of hair away from her neck. The gesture was so simple but so intimate. Slowly, she pushed her back against the wall.
    “You smell like books and grass and sun.”
    “That’s all I do.” Amy’s response was little more than a breath.
    Darla kissed her neck. “But I taste something else. Do you know what it is?” She dropped to her