Raegan turned her head his way, and the breath froze inside his lungs. Despite being on opposite ends of the couch, he could see the same specks of brown floating in her brilliant gaze. For a second, Rocky thought she was going to really open up to him.
Instead, she plastered on a wide, friendly smile and said, “Work, unpacking boxes, and dealing with the garbage disposal from hell.”
To anyone else, Raegan’s response—and smiling expression—would probably come off as perfectly genuine. But not to him.
He’d seen that same look before. The one Raegan was trying damn hard to conceal.
It had stared back at him countless times through others’ tortured eyes. At times, he’d looked deep into it through his very own reflection.
Pain. Sorrow. Regret. Along with deeply hidden ghosts that appeared when you least expected them.
In Rocky’s experience, that came from those with troubled pasts, either from harrowing experiences while serving in the military or something else.
Or someone else?
“Speaking of work…” He used her response as a natural segue into what he was about to share. “You asked me before about the firm where I work, but I don’t think I ever said the name.”
Rocky and his teammates weren’t in the habit of announcing their place of employment to just anyone, but his gut was screaming that something wasn’t quite right with the seemingly sweet woman. If Raeganwasin some sort of trouble, and hecould do something to help, then he was going to make damn sure she knew there was someone she could turn to.
Interest flickered across her pretty face. “No, you never said. Just that it wasn’t very far from my bank.”
He settled himself back against the couch cushion and crossed an ankle over one knee. Keeping his tone as light and casual as possible, Rocky gave her the general rundown of who his team was and what they did.
“I work for a company called R.I.S.C. It’s pronounced ‘risk’, but the letters stand for rescue, intel, security, and capture. There are four R.I.S.C. teams so far. Alpha and Bravo Teams are based out of Texas, Charlie Team is in Virginia, and I’m on Delta Team, which is obviously based here, in Chicago.”
Her lashes fluttered with several surprised blinks. “R.I.S.C., huh? That sounds…a lot more exciting than home security systems.”
If she’d heard of the elite private security company, she didn’t show it.
“Oh, yeah.” He grinned. “It is.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Raegan asked him, “Is what you and your team do dangerous? I mean, rescue…capture…those don’t exactly sound like your run-of-the-mill security gigs.”
“It can be,” Rocky answered honestly. “Depending on the job.”
“So earlier today, when you said you do surveillance jobs and private investigations…”
“That’s true. But we also do a lot more.”
“Anything you’d be willing to share?”
“Sure. I mean, I can’t give you details of the jobs we’ve taken. Confidentiality and all that.”
“Of course.”
“But yeah…I mean, we’ve been bodyguards and aided local law enforcement in a few investigations. We’ve?—”
“Rescued people?” She studied him closely.
Rocky pulled in a breath, his mind wandering back to the three hostages they’d been able to save…and the one that never made it back home.
You save the ones you can.
He gave a solemn nod of his head. “Yeah. We’ve worked hostage rescues, kidnappings…you name it, we’ve pretty much seen it.”
Silence filled the air around them as she presumably took a moment to process all that he’d shared.
“When I rented this place, I asked the realtor about the people living in the neighborhood. She didn’t know about anyone else but mentioned she thought you used to be in the military. I’m not sure how she’d even know that, but…were you?”