Ireland shook her head. “That’s okay. I can make it on my own.”
“It’s late and dark outside. I’m not letting you walk along the path by yourself.”
Prime was located at the back of the resort and down a meandering path of upscale stores. Nothing was open at this hour, and itwasdark. More importantly, Bran was in stubborn male mode. Ireland had brothers who entered the mode more often than she wished; she was familiar with how utterly impossible it was to snap the male species out of it.
She was tired, and her brain was still running over the code that made no sense. Instead of arguing with Bran, she followed him out, and he locked the door behind them.
“Are you done for the night too?” she asked.
“I’ve got a couple more hours to put in.”
A couple more hours meant he’d be there until two in the morning. “When do you sleep?”
He looked at her with a smirk. “Worried about my sleeping habits?”
Ireland frowned. “Forget I asked. I forgot who I was talking to.”
A look of hurt crossed his face, and then he said, “I run the restaurants. I don’t arrive as early as my brothers, but I stay late.”
Not that she had any reason to be worried about his health, but his answer stupidly relieved her.
Why should she care whether or not Bran Cade got enough sleep? She blamed it oncode brain.
Which reminded her… “Not to give you more work, but do you think you can pull together the orders that went awry after the new software was installed?”
They entered the lobby, and Bran touched the small of her back, escorting her around a couple heading in the direction of the resort’s casino. Ireland’s flesh warmed beneath the light pressure.
Damn Bran and his hands.
He was being a gentleman, but there would be no hands from here on out, no matter what he’d said earlier. She still had him shoved halfway in that dungeon. The bad half of his body—the part that contained his mouth.
“Sure,” he said. “I’ve already been looking through them. Why do you need it?”
She had her suspicions about those orders and the software—and James. But she wouldn’t bring anything up until she was certain. “Just being thorough.”
A doorman opened the door, and Ireland stepped outside the entrance. “See you tomorrow?”
Bran nodded, and she made her way to her car, but sensed his gaze on her. The parking lot was well lit, and there were people coming and going. She wasn’t in a darkened alley, yet she’d swear he was being protective again.
She glanced back, and sure enough, Bran was watching, waiting until she got into her car.
Ireland sighed. She had him halfway in the ugly-guy dungeon and she wasn’t ready to let him out, not even with his sudden protective streak. She didn’t trust that mouth of his.
From what she’d heard from Cali, Bran wasn’t the boyfriend type. Ireland would be crazy to give in to her attraction to Bran the way she had on the booze cruise. He would hurt her. Just like her past boyfriends. Just like the men she used to work for.
Chapter 12
“What the fuck did you do?”
Ireland flinched at James’s tone inside Prime restaurant. Fortunately, the customers were gone at this late hour. Even Bran had run off to take care of something in one of the other restaurants on the resort.
James hadn’t been at Prime when Ireland arrived late this afternoon, so she’d returned to what she’d been doing the night before—cleaning up code and rewriting portions according to Bran’s instructions. James hadn’t seen the changes she’d made. Until now.
“I deleted code that was unnecessary and rewrote a few sections,” she said as calmly as possible, though her heart raced. James’s brown eyes were nearly black, and his body was tense and leaning toward her in a way that had her shrinking back.
“Don’t fuck with my code, do you hear me?” His gaze ran down her body, and he snarled. “I have no clue why they sent you instead of letting me handle everything. But if you continue to screw with the program, I will personally hold you accountable.”
Was that a threat? They were talking about coding for an online ordering system, for God’s sake. What was going on?
