Damn, she hadn’t been messing around when she’d warned him about the sarcastic/defensive thing. “First of all, we don’t know that Fagan can ID my car. But secondly, I freelance private security for a living. When I’m on the job, my personal cell goes under lock and key in a safe location. After that, it’s strictly burner phones, so I tossed the one I was using after I briefed your brother.”
Kylie’s dark brows shot upward. “You tossed it. As in…?”
“Out the window, about a hundred and ten miles ago. I already swapped it for a new one, just in case.”
“Oh.” She bit her lip, her eyes darting out the window as he slowed the car and pulled over to the shoulder. “I guess you’ve thought of everything.”
That, and he owed her brother the crown jewel of debts for the one time he hadn’t thought of everything and had ended up endangering not only himself, but his entire team. Including Kellan. Not that Devon wanted to go there right now. Or, okay, ever. “This is my job, Kylie. I keep people safe.”
As if to prove the point, he nodded at the cluster of trees just past the shoulder of the road where they’d stopped.
“You want me to go with you while you blow my phone to kingdom come?” she asked.
Devon answered her question by getting out of the Challenger and rounding the front of the vehicle to open the passenger door for her. “Your brother trusts me to keep you out of harm’s way, which means you don’t leave my sight unless absolutely necessary.”
For a second, she looked like she might argue. But something shifted in her bright blue stare, prompting her to murmur, “Whatever blows your skirt up, I guess.”
He led her through the trees, just enough for them to have cover while still keeping one eye on the car. Dropping her phone in a bald patch in the grass, Devon paced off about fifteen steps, because seriously, shrapnel was a bitch best left alone.
He unholstered his backup weapon from its spot just above his left ankle. “Go ahead and get behind me. And you’re going to want to cover your ears.”
Although she looked way less than thrilled about it, Kylie did as he asked. She stood close enough for him to feel her flinch at both shots he fired into her iPhone, but he had to hand it to her. Rather than get uppity about the ruined tech or complain about lost contacts the way some people did, she simply waited for him to make sure the GPS had been effectively disabled.
Two seconds later, the deed was done, and twenty more had them back in the Challenger, driving away from the blasted bits that used to be Kylie’s cell phone. Devon refocused on the road, figuring he had another hour, maybe two before they’d have to stop for gas, food, and a little shuteye.
“So, private security. That must keep you pretty busy,” Kylie said, and he steeled himself against the curiosity glinting in her eyes. The last thing he needed was to get personal with her, despite the stupid what’s-your-favorite-dinner crap he’d pulled earlier.
“Uh huh.”
She waited out the silence for a minute, then two. “Have you been out of the Army for three years like Kellan?”
“Mmm hmm.”
Another pause, but still, she didn’t let up. “And you’ve been doing private security the whole time?”
“Yep.”
Kylie arched a dark brow, turning to peg him with a high-level, no-bullshit stare. “Are you going to be this chatty the whole time we’re stuck together? Because really, all these details are wearing me right out.”
Whether it was her sassy mouth or his adrenaline finally letting down after being shot at a handful of hours ago, Devon couldn’t be sure. But his words launched out before he could tamp down the urge to give them air time.
“I’m thirty-one years old, and I’ve lived pretty much all over the map. I went into the Army right after high school, because it was either that or follow in my old man’s footsteps as a career criminal. I became a Ranger three years later, took a few strolls through Iraq and Afghanistan, and now I’m back here stateside, freelancing security gigs, most of them with private companies who need extra hands. Were there any other details you wanted, or did I hit the highlights for you?”
Her wide-eyed expression combined with her stunned silence to punch holes in Devon’s gut, and Jesus Christ, he was an ass.
And he hadn’t even let loose the part where he’d foolishly let himself get taken hostage on an ambush, not to mention how her brother had risked his life to save Devon’s about three nanoseconds before a rogue insurgent buried a bullet in both of their gray matter.
Devon opened his mouth for a sloppy retraction, but Kylie beat him to the one-two. “No, that’s pretty good, actually.”
“What about you?” he asked, even as his better judgment howled at him to stand down and shut up. But at least talking about her would be better than opening his yap about the not-so-good old days.
“Me? I’m pretty much an open book, I guess. Kellan and I don’t have much by way of family, but he’s six years older than me, so he does the protective thing a lot.”
Devon’s brows climbed upward. “You’re only twenty-five?”
Kellan had never mentioned the age gap between him and Kylie, and she was tenacious enough that Devon never would’ve guessed it was more than a year or two.
“Yeah, but I’ve been pretty much on my own since Kellan went into the Army. After high school, I did a semester at community college, took some cooking classes.” She shrugged, although the rise and fall of her shoulders was just a hair too stiff to carry genuine nonchalance. “I like to cook and I’m pretty good at it, but jobs in the front of the house are easier to get, so I just bounced around, working as a hostess and waiting tables and tending bar. That kind of thing.”
