“No?”
“No. What’s going on? And if it’s dangerous, I’m insulted you think I’d leave you.”
“You do realize that I spent ten years chasing and hunting terrorists and really, really bad guys. And gals.”
“But you don’t do that anymore. You’ve closed that chapter, started a new one, now you’re a business owner, brother, friend, and so many other things that don’t involve hunting terrorists and really, really bad guys and gals. You’re also my friend and I’m not leaving you.” She lifted her chin for good measure. She had no doubt that if he wanted, he could throw her over his shoulder and dump her in her car. But he couldn’t make her stay.
She waggled an eyebrow in challenge.
“Now is not the time for that,” he grumbled. “Your front door is open.”
“What!” she gasped, moving to get a glimpse. Again, he forced her behind him.
“When I tell you a building is burning, you don’t run to it, woman,” he said.
“What were you saying about hunting terrorists?” She might have heard a snort.
“Fine, stay behind me,” he conceded.
She had no problem with that. Gripping his shirt, she shuffled forward with him, inching toward her house. When theyreached the door, he stood to the side, sandwiching her between his body and the wall, and set his hand on the wide planks.
She held her breath as the heavy wood swung slowly open. Collin paused, maybe to listen, although the rush inherears muted most sounds. A million years seemed to pass before he stepped around the frame and into her living room. Pulling her in with him, he gestured for her to keep her back to the interior wall.
“Stay there. I’ll check this floor.”
Before she could answer, he was halfway across the room, silently moving through the space. She watched him check furniture, the hall closet, and the bathroom, before he disappeared into the kitchen.
Less than a minute later, he reappeared. “It’s clear down here. Any chance you’ll lock yourself in the bathroom while I check the rest of the house?”
She weighed her options. “Will it make this go faster?”
His head tipped an inch to the left. “If I find something, yes. Dealing with it will be easier if I know you’re safe.”
She made a face. “That’s such a cliché.”
His brows dipped. “What is?”
“That you can do your job better if you don’t have to worry about me.”
He frowned. “Not sure if it’s a cliché, but it’s true.”
“I’m not a damsel in distress.”
“No, you’re a damsel who doesn’t know the first thing about hand-to-hand combat. I’m a guy who doesn’t know the first thing about planning a four-hundred-person event. We have different strengths.”
Well, when put like that… “Fine, I’ll stay down here.”
She tried not to read too much into the look of relief on his face as she crossed the room. Letting herself into the small powder room, she locked the door, then leaned against thevanity. She didn’t hear Collin’s footsteps on the stairs, but the distinctive creak of her closet door traveled to her with the subtlety of a banshee’s screech.
True to his word, not five minutes passed before he jogged down the stairs, this time not cloaking his steps. “You can come out,” he called.
“Nothing?” she asked, opening the door a slice. A dumb question since he wouldn’t have told her to come out if that hadn’t been the case, still, she felt compelled to ask.
“Well, someone was here, but they aren’t now,” he answered, stopping in the middle of her living room and crossing his arms. She probably shouldn’t be noticing his biceps, but it was hard not to. He was primed for a fight, and they were bulgier than usual.
“How do you know? Other than the door?” she asked, focusing on the more important, if far less interesting, topic.
“Unless you’ve grown sloppy in the past seventeen years, you never would have left the closet the way it looks now.”
