The guy shook Nick's hand. "Dave. And why the fuck did Maria have me scrambling to hire a guard if she'd already asked you to do it?" Dave shot an annoyed glare at Dani.

Nick had to give Dani credit. She recovered quickly from the surprise of his stretching of the truth. After a quick wide-eyed glance, she turned her attention to Dave.

With a small shrug, she said, "I don't know. But I guess it's handled if you have something else you need to take care of."

Dave blew out a loud puff of air. "Only about a hundred things. Thanks for handling this."

"Sure. No problem."

He glanced back at Nick. "You're going to have to fill out some forms with human resources if you want to get paid."

"Will do. Thanks." Nick nodded.

Rule number one of subterfuge—act like you're supposed to be there and people won't question it.

It worked like a charm today. Dave took off to do one of his one hundred things, leaving Nick behind.

The moment Dave was out of sight, Dani spun to him. "What the hell?"

He lifted one shoulder. "It was the best way I could think of to be able to help you figure out what happened to the bride."

"But can you do that? Be a guard here?" she asked.

"Sure. I'm on medical leave for the next three weeks. I've got nothing else to do."

And besides, working here was a good excuse to be close to Dani. Not to mention, he was already bored out of his mind and this was only day two of his three-week medical leave.

This little show, even without today’s excitement over the missing bride, didn't look like it was going to be boring. That was for sure.

"Okay." Dani shook her head. "You know, I might not like you very much on most days, but you've got some balls on you, Nicholas Nelson."

Dani talking about his balls, even jokingly, hit too close to home. It brushed right up against his feelings about her.

That was problematic because, as she'd said, she hated him on most days. And she frustrated him to no end, in so many ways.

Exasperating. That's what she was.

He didn't know if he wanted to kiss her or spank her. Hell, actually, now that he thought about it, doing both would be hella hot.

And now he had a hard-on.

It was going to be interesting working on set with her. Very interesting.