Gray eyes locked with mine. “Fine. Tonight I realized I can’t protect you if you’re in a different room, so this move is nonnegotiable.”
“You’re not even open to discussing it?”
“That’s what nonnegotiable means.”
I stood on one side of his bed, and he stood on the other side. I still clutched the trumpet, feeling like if I put it down I was signaling defeat. “That’s not fair.”
His jaw was set but his voice sounded even. “Fairness is irrelevant when safety is involved.”
He wasn’t trying to be cruel or authoritarian, nor did he appear particularly apologetic. He was protecting me and that didn’t come from a place of emotion, but rather a sense of responsibility.
I had been around guards often enough to understand that the matter was settled and this was my new reality.
But later that night, with the lights out and the knowledge that he was sleeping in the bed beside mine, I realized that for the first time since I had landed in Vancouver, I didn’t feel alone.
The morningwe took possession of Axel’s house, the air was heavy with early summer heat. Axel went to the gym while I showered and packed.
I sat on the end of my bed, flipping through channels, waiting for him to shower. Then I heard the water stop.
I was looking forward to moving into the house for one specific reason. Sharing a hotel room with Axel unsettled me. For the last month, he had been a cordial, if not distant, roommate. In fact, he was barely there.
But when he was, it was a different story.
He came out of the bathroom, wearing only a pair of shorts, while he put on his watch. He crouched in front of his suitcase.
I studied the expanse of his shoulders, the warm bronze of his back and the sharp taper of his hips. His muscles pulled tight across his abdomen when he reached forward, and I couldn’t seem to stop myself from soaking up each detail. The thickness of his wrists, the smoothness of his chest, the size of his arms. His body was so different from mine, so decidedly male, and I didn’t know how I felt about that, but I couldn’t seem to stop looking.
I hastily focused on the televised weather channel when he glanced over his shoulder at me.
Our eyes clashed, and I gave him a stiff smile, while awkwardly trying to keep my eyes from trailing below his neck.
I couldn’t wait until we were in the house and had more space.
On the driveover to the new house, Axel spent the entire time talking to someone about shipping containers, docks andschedules. When we pulled into the driveway, he handed me a set of keys and mouthed, “Go ahead.”
Didn’t he want to do this with me? I looked at him in confusion and then reluctantly took the keys. He didn’t follow.
The day we had viewed the house, I had been jet lagged, emotional and not really mentally available. I hadn’t paid much attention.
Today was different. I was actually excited to look around the place. I unlocked the front door and walked quickly through the main level, reminding myself of the layout and taking in all the details I had missed the first time. I loved the open floor plan, the giant family room off the huge kitchen and the glass shelves that separated part of the kitchen nook from the formal dining and living room.
I raced up the stairs to the second floor and looked at all the bedrooms that were available to me. Each had its charms, but the room farthest from the master bedroom had its own little balcony that overlooked the pool below. And, surprisingly, it had one of the biggest closets.
When I came downstairs, Axel was standing at the island in the kitchen.
“Our beds are being delivered late this afternoon,” he told me.
“Okay.” Two weeks ago, Axel had sent me a link to an expensive bed store and asked me to pick out a bedroom set for my room. That had been the last I’d heard about beds.
“I’ll bring our suitcases in and then are you ready to go?” He looked expectantly at me.
“Where are we going?”
He looked around the room once, like he was mentally inventorying what was missing. “We need to buy towels, dishes, blankets.”
“And you want me to come?” Surprised colored my voice.
His gaze narrowed on me. “I’m not going alone.”
