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Jack shrugged. “None at all.”
“Sierra says you watched him on the surveillance cameras you set up in the hall and the lobby,” Cody said, making sure there was no judgment in his voice. “Anything look familiar about him?”
Jack hesitated for a long moment, then shook his head. “He was a guy. Average height. Average weight. Nothing special about him.”
“You hesitated for a moment. What did you see?”
Jack looked away from him. Studied his hands for a long moment. When he looked up, he said, “He snapped his fingers a couple of times as he was walking away. That looked familiar, like I’d seen it before. But I have no idea who it was or where I saw it.”
“Okay.” Cody sighed. “If you think of who it might be, let me know. Otherwise, we’ll wait until Mel comes through with a face and name. In the meantime, you have to make a decision. Are we all staying here? Or are we all staying at Sierra’s house?”
“I vote for staying here,” Jack said immediately. “And no reason for you to stay,” he said to Cody. “I can take care of Sierra.”
Even before he’d finished speaking, Cody was shaking his head. “Not on my watch. I was hired to protect your sister, and I’m going to do my job. You focus on your work and let me focus on mine.”
“I’m perfectly capable of watching over my sister.”
Cody tilted his head. Jack needed to know that wasn’t going to happen, but he didn’t want to jump all over Sierra’s brother. He loved his sister and wanted to help her.
So Cody leaned toward Jack. “If I sat down at your computer and tried to work on your project, what do you think would happen?”
Jack shook his head. “Unless you’re a world-class computer programmer, you wouldn’t understand a thing on the screen. You’d screw it up.”
“Exactly,” Cody said, holding Jack’s gaze. “I know nothing about your work or the correct way to do it.” He leaned closer. “And in spite of the fact that you’ve had bodyguards most of your life, you know nothing about my work and how to do it. Right?”
Jack studied him for a long moment. Nodded slowly.
“So we both stay in our own lanes. Do the thing we know how to do. Agreed?”
Jack watched him for a moment, then one side of his mouth curled up. “You’re tough, Bodyguard Man. And since I love my sister, I’ll let you do your job. As long as you promise not to lay a finger on my computers.”
“Won’t go near them,” Cody said, holding up his hands. “You’ve got a deal.” Jack Cook was a charmer. Cody wondered if Sierra was, as well, when she wasn’t being pursued by Russians.
“Now that the pissing contest is over, the only question is where we’re staying tonight,” Cody said, with a tiny smile for Jack. “This apartment? Sierra’s place?”
“My house is too small for all of us,” Sierra said. “I have three bedrooms, but one is my office. And Jack wouldn’t have any place to set up his computers.”
“Not going anywhere without my equipment,” Jack said immediately. “I’ve only got two bedrooms, but they’re both big. My spare bedroom has two beds, so you guys can share it. Has its own bathroom, too.”
Cody scrambled for some excuse to move them all to Sierra’s house. Spending the night in the same bedroom as Sierra? Total nightmare. Watching her sleep? Listening to the sounds she made while sleeping? He’d be awake all night with a raging hard-on.
Cody scrambled for some excuse to move them all to Sierra’s house.
But he couldn’t come up with a good reason to force the issue. So they’d stay here. He and Sierra would share a room.
It would be heaven. It would be a nightmare.
Either way, he wasn’t sure he’d survive.
Chapter 17
After a long pause, while everyone looked at everyone else, Cody finally took control. “Sierra told me you do a lot of your work at night,” he said to Jack.
Jack nodded. “Yeah. Fewer distractions. No phone calls.” His mouth curved up in a smile that made him look very much like Sierra. “Internet connection is faster, since most of the people who live here are in bed instead of sucking up the bandwidth.”
“We don’t want to disturb your habits,” Cody said. “But we’re both exhausted. You mind if we hit the sack?”
“Not at all,” Jack said, and Cody spotted the relief in his expression. He turned to his sister and gave her a quick hug. “See you in the morning, See.”
