She sighed but held his gaze. And though he was supposed to be checking her pupil size, he couldn’t keep from noticing the ring of navy around her sky-blue irises. Why hadn’t he ever noticed that before? And why hadn’t he ever noticed the different shades of blue in her eyes? They weren’t one continuous color; they were a kaleidoscope of different hues.
“Well?” she asked, breaking the spell he seemed to be falling under. “Satisfied?”
“Not yet.” He pulled one hand away. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Two.”
“Now?”
“Four. Three.” She narrowed her eyes when he pulled another finger down so only two remained. “Okay, stop changing the damn number. I feel like an idiot enough as it is.”
She didn’t look like an idiot. She looked beautiful.
He quickly released her and moved several inches away. Dammit, that was the kind of thinking that was going to get him into trouble. He cleared his throat again. “Headache, nausea, dizziness?”
“Only briefly when you were whipping your fingers around.” When he glanced at her, she frowned. “No, no, and no.” She reached for her sweater and coat. “I’m fine. And I need to be going.”
A whisper of panic raced down his spine. He captured her arm so she couldn’t stand, then reached around her and took her coat and sweater. “You’re not going anywhere. You might not have a concussion, but you’re obviously rattled. Besides which.” He pushed to his feet, tossed her coat and sweater on a chair out of her reach, and rested his hands on his hips as he looked down at her. “You’re not going anywhere in that car until a mechanic looks at it.”
“It’s barely dented.” She twisted to look out the front window across the dark cul-de-sac. “Isn’t it?”
“Barely or not, it’s getting checked out.” He headed for the kitchen. “I’ll call a tow truck in the morning.”
She sighed and leaned back into the couch.
Since he’d seen her drink tea at work in the afternoons, he fixed her a cup of English Breakfast and grabbed the bottle of acetaminophen. Before he could head back into the living room, his cell on the counter buzzed.
He thought about ignoring it, but flipped it over. Then wished he hadn’t.
After typing a quick response, he tucked the phone into his back pocket and headed into the living room. Marley was hunched over her cell tapping on the screen when he entered.
“Here.” He handed her the cup. “Drink. It’ll make you feel better. And give me that.” As soon as she took the mug, he plucked the phone out of her free hand.
“Hey. I need that to call a cab.”
“Not right now you don’t.” He dropped her phone on the coffee table and eased back into the opposite corner of the couch.
She frowned and lifted the mug to her lips. “You’re awfully aggravating when you’re bossy.”
“I know. Deal with it. After three years you should know how.”
She rolled her eyes, took a sniff of the hot brew, then sipped. “Mm. I thought you were only a coffee drinker.”
“Contrary to what you might believe, I’m a man of many varied tastes.” Not that he wanted to get into those tastes with her right now. Especially when his favorite taste at the moment was her.
Shit. Don’t go there.
The cell in his pocket buzzed again. Relieved by the distraction, he pulled it out, read the response, then frowned and typed a quick note.
“Problem?” Marley asked, sipping her tea.
“Nothing I can’t handle.” He set his phone next to hers on the table.
Her eyes narrowed. “I know that look, Jake. What’s going on?”
He debated whether he should tell her, especially with everything she was already dealing with, then figured the easiest way to get their relationship back on solid ground was to go back to what they did best. Which was dealing with crises.
“That was Miller. Someone’s looking into my properties.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged, crossed his arms over his chest. “Could be nothing.”
“Or it could be something. Which ones?”
“Here. Italy. The Caribbean.”
Her face paled, and she lowered her mug. “Do you think it’s the Red Brotherhood trying to figure out where you are?”
“No.” He knew it was possible the terrorist organization that had targeted Landon and Olivia six months ago could be gunning for him, but his gut said this was something else. Something he probably shouldn’t mention to Marley, all things considered. “And even if it were, they’d go after Miller, not me.”
“You helped bring down the head of their organization. I’d say that gives them every reason to go after you.”
Possibly. But he didn’t want her stressing about this now. “Don’t worry about it.”
She huffed and lifted her mug again. “I do. The same way you worry about me getting a bump on the head.”
Something in his chest turned over as he watched her sip her tea. Something he hadn’t felt before. “I know how to take care of myself.”
“That’s what worries me.”
His brain flipped back to the plane, and how angry she’d been that he’d taken that risk and almost gotten killed trying to save them from the Black Eagles. Then fast-forwarded to the way she’d kissed him crazy in the galley until he could think of nothing but her.
Those tingles intensified until it felt like his entire body was vibrating.
“What are you going to do about it?” she asked quietly.
The Red Brotherhood. Not their kiss. God, he needed to get his brain back online. “Nothing.”
But the bigger question was, what was he going to do about her?
His heart raced, and he knew he needed to change the subject before he did or said something that would make things worse. Perching one bare foot on the edge of the coffee table, he said, “So. Wanna tell me why you’re plowing your car into a light pole on my street at nine p.m. on a Sunday night?”
“Oh.” Her cheeks turned a soft shade of pink, and she lowered her mug to her lap. “I, um, was on my way home when I remembered those papers I need you to sign.”
He had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. “What papers?”
She frowned like he was a complete idiot, and the expression was so cute, he had to physically restrain himself from leaning over to kiss the scowl off her face. “The papers we’ve talked about several times. For the properties you asked me to list because you have no intention of using them.”
“Oh.” A familiar bitterness rolled through his stomach when he remembered the handful of houses he’d asked Marley to sell. One that dampened his awareness of her in a good way. “Those properties. Right.”
All were homes he’d inherited from his father when the old man had passed. All had meant something special to his dear old dad. And all were nothing more than ugly reminders of a father who cared so little for his kids, he’d preferred spending time gallivanting around the globe with strangers rather than being present in their lives.
“I have the realtors’ contracts. I just need you to sign off on each one.”
“Yeah. Fine. I’ll do it.”
She leaned forward to set her mug on the coffee table, and knowing she was about to get up and go out into the snow to get the papers in her tiny, slippery shoes, he laid a hand on her thigh to keep her from standing. “Later. Finish your tea.”
She shot him a look, but he just gave it right back to her. If there was one thing he knew about Marley Addison, it was that pushy was the only real action she responded to. And right now he’d be as pushy as he needed to be because she wasn’t leaving this house until he knew for sure that she didn’t have a concussion and wasn’t in danger of doing some kind of other bodily harm to herself.
T
heir eyes held, and electricity sparked between them. A familiar electricity charged with conflict and exasperation. But tonight there was a whole lot more. A heat that was simmering beneath the surface. The same heat they’d both felt in the jungle. On that plane. A heat he knew from the color in her cheeks she felt as strongly as he did.
She sighed, eased back into the cushions with her mug once more, and took another sip. Silence slid over them, the only sound the flicker of the flames popping in the fireplace. But that heat was still there. Bubbling and rolling with energy, kicking up his pulse and making him twitch. And even from his end of the couch, he could smell her delicious scent rolling over him like a warm, luxurious wave, drawing him in, making him forget all those reasons her being here late on a Sunday night was a bad idea.
She lowered her mug and looked up at the far wall. “I like your house. It’s not at all what I expected. You live in the suburbs.”
Chitchat. He could do chitchat. It, at least, would keep his mind off the way her breasts pushed against her tank and the long, shapely line of her thigh. “What did you expect?”
“I don’t know. A fancy downtown penthouse with a doorman and security up the wazoo.”
“I’ve got security up the wazoo. You just can’t see it.” He glanced at her. “But a stuffy penthouse? Seriously?”
She shrugged. “You have the money for it. And you do dress all Mr. GQ.” Her gaze dropped to his favorite faded jeans and the ratty Notre Dame sweatshirt he’d pulled on earlier. “Well, usually.”
“Don’t let the image fool you. Underneath I’m just an ordinary nobody.” Leaning back farther into the cushions, he laced his fingers behind his head. “A giant disappointment, as my father always liked to point out.”
“I hardly think you’re a disappointment. You graduated top of your class at Notre Dame. You were a Navy SEAL. You run an incredibly successful security business. If your father was disappointed, then I’d say his standards were more than a little skewed.”
Jake stared at the blank TV screen on the wall across the room. The one he’d flipped off when he’d heard Marley’s car slam into that light pole. “He died before I started Aegis. But I doubt he’d be proud, especially with the way the guys run roughshod across his pristine properties.”
“Which is why you let them do it.”
He tipped his head her way and grinned, a feeling of supreme pleasure rushing through him. “Yeah. It is.”
“So tell me why he wasn’t proud you were a SEAL.”
He sighed and looked back at the TV. “Because he wanted me to work for him. Take over the day-to-day operations of his mega-empire so he could run off with his latest girlfriend who was half his age. I only joined the navy because it was the very last thing he ever expected or approved of. Wasting my degree. That’s what he told me the day I informed him I was enlisting.”
“And when was that?”
“College graduation. Took me out to lunch after the ceremony. Actually carved out two whole hours for me. It was a monumental feat for him.”
He heard the sarcasm in his own voice and clenched his jaw. All that victory slipped away as he stared at the blank screen and remembered how ticked his father had been that day. “Man, he was pissed. Almost as pissed as the day my mother walked out on him.”
“How old were you when that happened?”
“Seven. Just turned seven.” Too old to go with her, too young to take off on his own. “Happy birthday, Jakey. Momma has to run to the store. I’ll be right back.” Only she hadn’t come back, and she’d never meant to. He’d spent the last thirty years resenting her for that. Not for the fact she’d wanted to escape her emotionally detached husband—hell, Jake had been trying to do that most of his own adult life, and he still couldn’t manage the feat even with the old man dead and buried. No, he’d resented her for leaving her son—her own flesh and blood—with the man instead of taking him with her.
That day was still fresh in his mind. As fresh as if it had happened yesterday.
“I guess that explains why you let the board of directors manage his companies and aren’t involved in any of them,” Marley said quietly.
Her voice pulled him back from the depressing memories spinning in his head. “Yep.”
“And I’m guessing that’s why you don’t live in any of the properties you inherited either.”
“Right again.” Jake looked around the living room. It was sparse—light gray walls, a few prints hanging here and there, worn furniture he could easily afford to replace but didn’t feel the need to get rid of. “He’d hate this place. So below my potential.” He shook his head and looked down at his foot against the coffee table. “Just like me.”
“Well, I like it. It’s cozy. A real home. Not institutional like Aegis.”
He glanced over at her. Her gaze skipped over the room, taking it all in, and the twinkle in her eye said she was telling the truth. All that animosity he’d been feeling for his fucked-up parents trickled away. “You think Aegis is institutional?”
“Maybe institutional is the wrong word. Stuffy.”
“Stuffy?”
“Formal?” She turned her smiling eyes his way. “Sometimes I’m afraid I’m going to knock a sculpture or a plant over and some ancient butler will poof out of the walls and jump on me.”
Jake chuckled, feeling better with every passing second. “Don’t tell anyone, but that’s the way I feel there too.”
It also explained why he was usually in a bad mood at the office. Even though he loved his work, there were days when he wondered if setting up his company in his father’s eccentric mansion had been a good idea. He’d done it to prove to the old man—even in death—that he could make something of himself. But these days he was starting to think there were too many ghosts lingering there. Too many reminders of a childhood spent mostly alone.
“Why don’t we remodel?”
“Huh?” He glanced over at her.
“Start with the offices and the reception area and go from there. Make it your space and not his. I think it would make a difference.”
The idea revolved in his head. It had potential. He could easily afford it. And it might make all the difference in how he felt every day when he had to go to work.
But as he stared at her, his mind drifted away from Aegis and settled back on her. How the heck did she do that? How did she so easily see through his bullshit when no one before her ever had?
“I’ll talk to some contractors this week.” She sipped her tea. “Get some estimates.”
And there she went. Taking charge like she took charge of everything else. Awing him with not only her independence, but her ability to know exactly what he needed long before he did.
She lowered her mug to the coffee table, then moved for her phone. “I should probably get going.”
Jake glanced over his shoulder out the window. Snow had started to fall again, which meant the roads were going to be slick. And that panic re-forming in his chest told him loud and clear that she shouldn’t be out in it. Even in a cab.
He reached for her cell phone on the table before he thought better of it and pushed it out of her reach. “You’re not going anywhere tonight.”
“Jake, really. This is silly.”
Not to him. “No, it’s not. It’s a safety thing. You’re staying here tonight.”
She shot him a look. One he knew was meant to be exasperating but was so damn sexy, it brought a flood of warmth to his belly all over again. “We both know that’s not a good idea.”
Heat sizzled between them. A heat he knew might just burn him if he wasn’t careful. “When has that ever stopped me?”
He pushed to his feet before she could protest, grabbed both their phones, and tucked hers into his back pocket. Then he ignored the little voice in the back of his head saying he was playing with fire. “You’re still not leaving. End
of story. Now get up. Since you don’t have a concussion, you’re going to bed.”
Marley followed Jake up the steps to the second level and eyed her phone in his back pocket.
This was silly. She didn’t need to stay overnight. She didn’t have a concussion, just a bump on the head. And she wasn’t feeling the least bit tired. Only embarrassed and way too turned on to deal with his overly sexy bossiness at the moment.
Dammit. When had his being bossy ever been sexy? When he’s being bossy to keep you safe. When he’s being bossy to look after you, like now.
She swallowed the lump forming in her throat and eyed the curve of his ass in the worn, faded denim. His words on the jet, just before they’d parted ways Saturday morning flashed in her brain.
“I care about you . . .”
Yeah, she knew he did care deep down. But the question was how? If she hadn’t known he had attachment issues before, she did now. Holy cow, his mother had abandoned him when he was seven, when he was just starting to figure out how the world worked. And she hadn’t just left him with any father. No, she’d left him to fend for himself with a man who’d been as warm as a piece of steel.
Thinking about Jake’s childhood made her own years growing up seem downright peachy. No wonder he didn’t have a wife or a girlfriend or even a steady relationship. After that kind of upbringing, she was impressed he even had the emotional ability to form friendships.
“This is the guest room.” Jake pushed the first door on the right open with his hip and held it so Marley could pass. “It’s not much, but it should work.”
The room was small, just big enough for a queen-size bed and two bedside tables. Double doors opened to a closet on her right. To her left, she peered past Jake toward what looked like a bathroom.
The space was cozy, with pale-yellow walls, a white bedspread, and four simple pillows. There was nothing sexy about the room. Nothing that should make her feel uncomfortable. But then she stepped inside and her arm brushed his chest, and a rush of heat spread across her skin where they had touched, telling her this was the very last place she should be.