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“I – yes. Of course. Gray stays in the room across the corridor from mine. You can use that.” But oh, heaven help her, that was so close to her room. How in God’s name was she going to sleep?
He shoveled some food into his mouth and she watched, fascinated, as he chewed then swallowed. He washed it down with a glass of water. How could the man make even something as ordinary as eating sexy?
“How long have you been doing this?”
“I started the security business seven years ago. I worked as a bodyguard initially. Now I mainly run our operations, occasionally taking on assignments when personally requested.”
“Like this?”
His lips flashed in something that could have been agreement or otherwise.
“But you don’t really want to be here, do you?”
He lifted a full fork to his mouth, not answering for some time, as he finished the mouthful. “I prefer the work I do at present.”
“It’s more than that. You don’t want to work for me.”
“I don’t consider myself to be working for you.”
“Why not?”
“For one thing, I’m not getting paid to be here.”
“You’re – what?”
“Gray’s a friend. He asked me to do this as a favour for him.”
“Why’d you agree?”
“You think I could have lived with myself if I’d said no and something happened to you?”
Her heart lurched. “Because Gray would be upset?”
“Gray would be devastated.”
“So you’re here for him,” she mumbled, nodding, wondering why his admission of something so patently obvious should set her heart a skitter.
“Yes.”
It was her turn to eat. She barely tasted the salad, but took two scoops anyway.
“Our business went from small jobs for people we knew to word of mouth recommendation meaning we could expand to offer a coast to coast service, and then, within the space of eighteen months, we were booked so steady we needed to hire a team.”
“Who’s ‘we’?”
“My business partner, Ashton Perry.”
“Gray knows him too,” Max commented, tilting her head to the side. “I’m sure I’ve heard him mention his name.”
“Probably. We were in Iraq together.”
Max’s eyes widened. “That’s how you know each other?”
Noah dipped his head in silent agreement.
“He never talks about his time there. I have no idea what it was like.”
Noah didn’t elucidate. Even in her gin-infused state, Max noticed.
