“Rome.”
Hand on the knob, he stopped. His wide shoulders seemed to stiffen, but he turned.
At the look he gave her, she sucked in a sharp breath, but couldn’t find enough air.
The expression in his eyes was too intense for a hallway conversation.
She lifted her chin. She hated how he made her feel seen and judged and exposed in a single look.
“What do you need?”
She bristled at his terse question. “We need to talk.”
“No, we don’t.”
“Yes, we do.”
He opened his door, and before he could shut it in her face she followed him inside.
The scowl he sent her way was the best thing she’d gotten from him all day. At least she could work with a scowl.
It was the way he’d stroked his thumb over her knuckles in that room that messed with her head.
He faced her. “You shouldn’t be in here.”
She cocked her weight to one hip and gave him her best glare. The one that made men in clubs slink away without asking for her number a second time.
“You shouldn’t have left me sitting in that room by myself.”
Something in his eyes shifted—just barely, but enough to know she’d struck a nerve.
She wrapped her arms around herself, then, hating the protective gesture, dropped them to her sides and forced herself to stand still.
“You made me feel bad yesterday.”
His jaw flexed.
If she stopped now, she’d lose her nerve, so she barreled on. “I didn’t plan to touch you. I don’t do that. I don’t grab people because I’m upset and need comfort like some fragile little damsel in distress.”
“I didn’t think—”
“I’m not finished,” she cut across him.
His jaw clenched tighter, and damn, he looked even hotter and more dangerous.
“Then the second I got out everything I needed to say about the man with the scary voice and the pizza burn, you pulled away like I burnedyou.”
His stare darkened, confusing her more. His eyes held too many things at once.
Frustration. Heat. Restraint.
Other things she didn’t have a name for but felt low in her stomach.
She gulped. “Look, Rome. I know you’re not my friend. I know I’m only here because you had orders to bring me. I’m your assignment or your charge, or whatever word makes this less human for you. But I won’t let you make me feel guilty for needing to lean on someone for five minutes.”
His fists curled at his sides.
Her breath hitched as even more air got sucked out of the room and the walls closed in tighter. Maybe Rome was too biginside it, too dangerous in a way that had nothing to do with guns or military training.
