Invading her personal space to the point she had to crank her head back to keep their intense connection from breaking, her heart kicked wildly against her ribs as he leaned in closer.
“Not worried about your panties, Princess.” A muscle beneath his beard bulged with a clench of his strong jaw. “I’m worried aboutyou.”
Princess?
Ro blinked, shock parting her lips with a silent, frozen breath. That he was concerned for her safety wasn’t what struck her speechless. They’d been friends for ages, and given what he did for a living, the man was a protector by design.
But as she stood there, staring up in to those angry, magnetic eyes of his, she couldn’t help but feel his reaction to her current situation was about something else. Perhaps something…
More?
No. That couldn’t be right. This was Brody, for crying out loud.
He was here because his sister called him, he was pissed because Ro hadn’t, and his only stake in this game was wanting to make sure hisfriendwas okay. Which brought her back to her original argument against calling him in the first place.
“Your job is protect government officials and keep watch over super important people,” she reminded the big lug. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’m neither of those things.”
“Bullshit.” Brody’s deep, deep voice reverberated across the small stretch of air between them. “You’re important, Ro.” His throat worked with a hard swallow. “Really fucking important.”
She was?
“I am?”
His burly chin lowered with a curt nod as he shocked her even more with a muttered, “More than you know.”
Stone-cold anger was still present in his stare. How was it possible for this man to look and sound so furious while, at the same time, saying something so incredibly…sweet?
Not worried about your panties, Princess. I’m worried about you.
It was fair, she supposed. After all, wasn’t she always a nervous wreck when he and the team left town on some super-secret mission that would almost certainly lead them head-first into danger?
Of course, she was.
While her feelings for the man may run deep on a set of tracks only she knew existed, Brody wasn’t just someone she longed for in the dead of night when no one was around to judge.
He was her friend.
A good, loyal friend who was still staring down at her as if he were searching for something, though she had no idea what. But loyalty and friendship didn’t change the fact that this sort of thing was a waste of time for someone like him.
“You’re important to me, too.” More thanhe’dever know. “Which is why I’m not going to let you waste your time on something like this.” Ro gave a nervous lick of her lips, her long hair subtly brushing against her upper arms with a shake of her head.
“You’re never a waste of my time, Ro.”
Did his voice soften just then? Maybe just a teensy, tiny bit?
Stop looking for something that isn’t there, and focus.
“Come on, Brody. This isn’t the sort of thing you do, and you know it.”
“I protect the innocent.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he worked his throat. “Last I checked, that includes you.”
If this man knew even half the things she wanted to do to him, he wouldn’t be so quick to add her name to that list.
“I don’t need protection. I just need to find my things.”
“Uh…I think you might need both,” Megan inserted herself back into the conversation. “Maybe Yorke isn’t behind this, but someone obviously is. I mean, come on, Ro.” Her friend’s beautiful face fell with a look of concern. “Picture frames and earrings don’t just walk off by themselves.”
“Neither do panties.”