Page 27 of Keeping Guard
She shrugged, then bent over when Lucky nudged her leg with his nose. “I missed you, sweet boy.”
Noah wondered if she’d missed him a little. She laughed when Lucky tried to lick her face, and as they loved on each other, an unfamiliar longing grew inside him. He didn’t want it, this feeling she stirred up inside him. So what if he was jealous of his...not his. If he was jealous of a damn dog.
“Why does Jack call you Double D? If that’s your bra size, I’m impressed.”
“Funny. It’s what my team calls me because I always have a pair of dice in my pocket.”
“They must mean something to you,” she said, her attention still on the dog.
“Just a reminder of what not to be.”
“Yeah, how so?”
She was a sneaky one, tricking him into telling her more than he’d ever told any of his SEAL brothers. His teammates didn’t know that his mother had been killed by his father. He never talked about the old man or the reason for the dice, had never told a soul why his fingers sought the dice when he was tempted to act in any way like that bastard.
“Noah?” she said, looking up at him when he didn’t answer her question.
“It’s probably best if I go.” Before he laid his pitiful life story out for her.
“You told me at the waterfall that your father killed your mother. Do the dice have anything to do with that?” she said, her attention back on the dog. “I think they do if they’re a reminder of what you don’t want to be...or maybe who you don’t want to be.”
How the hell had she connected the dots? To keep from kissing her again to shut her up, he walked to the window and stared down at the people walking by. Exactly what was he about here?
“Noah?”
That soft voice wrapped around him, offering...what? He didn’t have a clue. There was only one thing he’d like to have from her, and that was to get lost in her body for an hour or two. Then he’d leave and never return. But she wasn’t a woman a man could walk away from. She was a woman a man would want to wake up with in the mornings, go to bed with every night, to make a life with. That made her dangerous.
He’d see to her broken door, and then he’d leave and never come back. But was she safe? Her ex wouldn’t come back today, but what about tomorrow? He turned toward her. “You should tell your father about the stunt your ex pulled today.”
She unclipped Lucky’s leash from his collar, then stood, walked to the kitchen, and filled a bowl of water for the dog. Noah stuffed his hand into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the dice. The ingrained protective side of him didn’t want to walk out that broken door, leaving her defenseless. He was messed up, though, and had no business adding her troubles to his.
“Are you ignoring me?”
“No.” She left Lucky in the kitchen lapping up the water. Stopping a few feet in front of him, she said, “Will you be my person?”
He blinked. What in the world did she mean?
“That sounded better in my head than hearing me say it.” She blew out a breath. “I was out interviewing all morning, and my feet are killing me in these shoes. I’m going to go change, and then I’ll explain, okay?”
“It’s your show, princess.” It was a shame she was losing the shoes. He allowed himself a few seconds to imagine her wearing nothing but those heels while her legs were wrapped around him.
“Enough of that,” he muttered. While she was changing, he studied the door. The lock was broken, and the wood around it splintered. It really needed to be replaced.
He called Jack. “Hey, you know anyone who can make an emergency visit to replace Peyton’s door today?” He could do it, except that would mean a trip to Home Depot or wherever, but he wasn’t going to leave her alone with a broken door.
“Actually, I do. I meant to call him before I left but got sidetracked by the entertainment.”
“Entertainment?”
“Yup. Watching you and Peyton was like being at a comedy show.”
Since Noah couldn’t deny that, he kept silent. The woman was amusing.
“So, what’s the deal with you two?”
“There is no deal.” Because he wouldn’t allow it.
“Uh-huh. Not sure this is a good time for you to get involved with someone.”
