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“And what aboutoutside?You have to leave eventually. You were just going to waltz out into the night on your own? What if he’s waiting in the dark? What if he’s hiding out there and counting down to when he can grab you?”
She spun toward him, only to discover that he’d closed in on her. Crept behind her with those silent steps. “What is your deal?” Now her own anger burned. “Why are you pulling the overprotective—”
“Don’tsay I’m acting like a brother again.”
Fine. “Why are you pulling the overprotective-assholeroutine on me? I have mace. I have a taser. I have the sense to check my surroundings before I leave. I’m not going to stop living my life just because of that jerk. It’s the holiday season. I wanted to do something nice for the staff here at the office, so I stayed late to work on a surprise.” One that had been ruined. Courtesy of theassholein front of her. And, yes, okay, it had also been ruined because clumsiness was one of her attributes. “You’ve done your due diligence. You checked on me. I’m alive. So, how about do me a favor?” She gave him a smile. One that she knew would hold a brittle edge. “Get the hell out.”
Brady swallowed and stepped even closer. “How long have you thought I was an asshole?”
Since you broke my heart into a thousand pieces.“Forever,” she said breezily.
“I see.” Brady yanked a hand over his face. “That’s gonna be a problem.”
Why was he lingering? “Glad you’re home safe, Brady.” Dammit, she was. Worry filled her every time he left on a mission, and that tight ball only eased when she saw him, safe and sound, again. “But it’s time for you to go.”
His hand dropped. He peeked at her. “Did you miss me?”
Yes.“Why would you ever think that?”
The hand that had just dropped now rose. His knuckles skimmed over her cheek. “Because I missed you. Even more this time than on the missions before.”
What?
His head leaned toward her. “Can’t keep going on like this. If something had happened to you while I was gone…”
His eyes were on her mouth. The temperature in the lobby seemed to have blasted up at least twenty degrees. And was he leaning toward her?
He…was.
Once more, her hands rose, too. This time, they curled around his shoulders. Even in her heels, she didn’t come close to his height. The man seemed to swallow her with his massive size. “Nothing happened,” she whispered. “I’m fine, Brady. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“But I do.” A rasp. “I worry about you all the time.”
He leaned in even more—and they had already been plenty close. Noelle had the crazy idea that he was about to kiss her. Maybe she pressed up on her toes because kissing Brady had been a fantasy that she’d had for longer than she could remember—
“Because I worry, that’s why I told your brother that I would pull bodyguard duty while I am town.” A nod. His hand slid from her cheek to dip under her chin. Hetappedher chin. “I assured him that I would keep you safe and that I would keep an extra close watch on you.”
No, no, no. A million times…no. “That’s not funny.”
“Once more, sweetheart, I’m not laughing.”
She wasn’t his sweetheart.
“Not laughing, but I am reporting for bodyguard duty.” Brady winked at her. “That reminds me…Elliott said you wouldn’t mind if I crashed in your spare bedroom. Things will be better that way because I can keep a closer watch on you.”
Her mouth hung open. Noelle tried to suck in air, but just wheezed and choked. Brady in herhouse?
“I’m a great roommate, promise. You’ll barely even know I’m there.”
She would know. Every moment. “This is a bad idea.”
“We’re friends.”
Noelle flinched.
“I have stayed with you before. This will be nothing new.” His lips curled in a half-smile that almost flashed his dimples, but the ice still lingered in his eyes. “Your brother is worried about you. I’m in town, I need a place to stay, and by rooming in yoursparebedroom, I can keep an eye on you. Win, win.”
It didn’t feel like a win. “You have a giant house, Brady.” A big, beautiful Victorian-style home that had originally been built in the early 1900s. When his parents had been killed in a car accident, the house had passed to him.
