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“What are you doing?” he repeated.
A shift of his stance drew her gaze down. He had his hands clasped behind his back, and he wore only a pair of red boxer briefs that fit like a second skin. Noticing the bulge in the front of those briefs made her cheeks burn, but then she spotted the scars from his injury and surgery. Belatedly, she recalled how much he resented her staring, and she jerked her gaze back up to his face.
“I, um…” She tightened her arms around the afghan clutched to her chest. “I’m going to sleep on the couch.”
He frowned toward the guest room. “Is there something wrong with the bed?”
“No. The bed is fine. It’s just…there are no curtains or shades.” She gave a self-conscious shrug. “I know it’s stupid, but it freaks me out that someone could be watching me.”
“It’s not stupid at all,” he corrected. “I’m sorry I didn’t think of it.”
“Well, I didn’t either, until I was in the room by myself.”
“I can hang a blanket over the window for tonight,” he offered.
She shook her head quickly and backed up to sit on the couch. “It’s okay, this is fine. Sorry if I woke you.”
“I wasn’t sleeping yet.”
“Oh.” She sat for a moment, then busied herself arranging the pillow and blanket. Better that than drooling over his bare chest, gorgeous arms, and ripped abs. Or taking a longer look at his red briefs.
He stood there, contemplating her with one hand still behind his back. Flutters kicked up in her stomach just before he released a soft sigh.
“Is it just the window?”
She futzed with the blanket some more before admitting, “No.” A little spurt of anger had her thumping her hands on her lap before clasping them together. “I hate this. I’m not usually such a wimp. I lived alone for the past few months. I was practically alone at my parents’ house a year before that, when they were spending most of their time in Washington.”
“I don’t think you’re a wimp.”
“Well, I feel like on
e.”
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Finally, she glanced his way. When she met his gaze, Dev gave a sideways jerk of his head, toward the hall. “Come on.”
She couldn’t go back in there alone. No matter how much she wished she could. She twisted to readjust the pillow. “I’ll be fine here on the couch.”
“I’m not talking about the guest room, Shelby. We both need to get some sleep.”
Her whole body flashed hot, but she only hesitated a moment before gathering her blanket and pillow to walk across the floor toward him. He made a sweeping gesture with his arm for her to go first, and she noticed once again that his other still remained behind his back.
She glanced over her shoulder when he fell in step behind her. “Do you have your gun?”
He lifted one of those nicely muscled shoulders. “What kind of bodyguard would I be if I heard a noise and came out here empty handed?”
“You don’t have to hide it from me.”
“I didn’t want to scare you.”
When she paused a few feet inside his bedroom, he brushed past and walked to the side of the bed closest to the window. He set the weapon within reach on his nightstand, no longer trying to hide it from her sight.
