Page 15 of Protected By the Billionaire Ex-SEAL

“I won’t be on house arrest?”

“No. You can go to work. But everything else still needs to be monitored. I have to know where you’re going.”

Her eyes widen again, but she nods and relaxes. The relief on her face is so obvious that I know I said the right words.

“That’s…acceptable.”

I nod back. Then we’re back to that silence. Because I don’t want her to get stuck with her panicked thoughts from earlier, I clear my throat.

“I’ll show you the amenities. And your room.”

She nods again, then follows me as I give her a grand tour of the house. Satisfaction shoots through me when she makes pleased noises over the hygiene baskets in every powder room and bathroom, then flicks an astonished glance my way.

“Peach-scented?”

My lips quirk. “Soap and shampoo. My sister loves scented stuff. Sometimes the house smells like jasmine when she runs a bath.”

And now I’m thinking of Raven running a bath and the house smelling like peaches…and her smelling like peaches. Belatedly, I notice her gaze on my mouth, too, and I grit my teeth against the resulting tingle that runs through me.

Client, you ass.

I clear my throat again. “Anyway, shall I show you the sleeping quarters?”

She flicks her gaze away. “Okay.”

I show her mine first, which is as plain as it can get. Then we’re checking out her room, which is decorated with touches of flowers and more colorful quilts.

“It’s lovely.” She smiles a bit. “Your sister has good taste.”

I don’t tell her that the flowers were my choice and the quilts are new. “Yeah. She does.” When she steps in, so do I, pointing things out. “Bathroom, work desk, nook. Don’t be afraid to hang out by the window. It’s bulletproof and high, so no one can climb it.”

Her brows raise, but she doesn’t comment on it. Instead, she leans over to check out the window, her fingers caressing the white curtains with daisy prints on them.

“I can have a baby monitor installed.”

She straightens at the offer and immediately shakes her head.

“Absolutely not.”

The terse way she says that makes me think she’s headed to panic mode again, so I try to ease things up.

“Why? You don’t want me to hear you snoring?”

Her brows raise higher, but she’s not offended. She doesn’t look ready to panic, either.

“Among other things.”

Just like that, it’s fairly easy to imagine what other things she’s talking about, and before I know it, her moans are back in my head. Is she the type of woman to take pleasure with her hands? Will she be as loud as when I?—

I shove it out of my head, thinking of other explanations…like Raven singing in her room. Oddly, it tugs a smile out of me, one she puzzles over. Then I recall how this all started and my smile drops.

Raven, however, is still looking at me.

“I need to teach at the preschool. Not just for work, but because I owe Honey Lee a favor.”

I don’t know how we got back to this topic, but I take in her words and nod.

“I owe her one, too.”

---