“Thelips?” Those eyes grew even wider half-a-second before she dropped her forehead to his chest with a muffled, “Ohmygod, just kill me now.”
A deep chuckle rumbled through him as he gave her back a few gentle pats. “It’s okay, Ro.”
“No, it’s not.”
“It really is.”
“It’s reallynot!”
“Look at me.” When she didn’t obey the first time, Brody gave her a dose of her own previous medicine. “Aurora…”
He’d purposely used her full first name, knowing she almost always responded to it.
With a slow, tentative movement, Ro finally brought her mortified gaze back up to his. “What?”
Holding her close, he grew serious because he needed her to see that he was. About this, he was as serious as a man could get. “What you did, that wasn’t your fault. But I…” Brody pushed aside his guilt and shame and told her, “I’m the one who owes you an apology.”
“You?” Genuine confusion left her brows turned down and her blue eyes searching his. “Why? What do you have to apologize for? I’m the one who kissed you, so why—”
“Because I kissed you back.”
8
Six days later…
“Wow.Your boobs and ass look amazing in that dress.”
Ro looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. “You think?” She turned to check for herself. “And I still wish you could be there tonight.”
She studied her reflection again, admittedly loving the way she looked in her new dress. And Meg was right. Her boobs and assdidlook amazing.
“I know, but you know how Christian and my brother both are. Overprotective doesn’t even scratch the surface with those two. Especially after what happened with the whole murder-for-hire plot I managed to get wrapped up in. But tonight is going to be fabulous and go off without a hitch, so please don’t worry about any of that. You have to promise me you’ll have a good time, and you won’t worry about all the rest.”
“I promise to have a good time,” she conceded. “And I’m not worried about the other. Not anymore”
She really wasn’t.
Despite Delta Team’s efforts to the contrary—as well as Detective Hansen’s unit in the CPD—there wasn’t a single piece of evidence, video or otherwise, that could even lead them in the right direction. After a week of dead-ends, Ro had finally written it off as two unfortunate but unrelated incidents.
As far as she was concerned, she was more than ready to put it all behind her. Brody and the others, however, weren’t so quick to thrown in the towel. Heck, he’d barely agreed that tonight would be his last night under her roof.
He had a life and work he needed to focus on. Real work with real cases and clients with real problems.
“But back to more important things…”Megan came to stand by her side “Yes, I think you look like a million bucks. I also think you’re going to have every guy at the party wiping the drool from their mouths.”
Ro’s smile widened a touch. Thanks to a last-minute change of mind, she’d gone with the royal blue number rather than the black, more conservative dress she’d originally considered buying.
Thank goodness for same-day delivery.
It was true, she’d specifically picked the sexier style hoping to gain the attention of a man tonight. But not just any man. No, this particular dress was purchased for the sexy, stubborn former SEAL waiting downstairs this very minute.
Brody’s laughing face filled her mind’s eye, and Ro had to work not to outwardly react. She still hadn’t told Megan she’d kissed the woman’s brother.
Not exactly the easiest conversation to start.
She’d picked up the phone a dozen times over the past week to tell her. But then Ro would chicken out, inwardly excusing her cowardly behavior by the fact that she hadn’t wanted to tell Megan something like that over the phone.
And since Brody had insisted on being her live-in shadow this past week, it wasn’t like she’d had a lot of time alone for such a private discussion.