Gabe didn’t bother following his brother’s lead. His gaze scanned her living room before landing on her TV and gaming system.
“What do you play? Tell me it’s something badass like Ghost Recon.”
“Sorry,” she said, meeting his grin. The man smiled all the damn time. She knew he had to be good at his job. Family or not, she couldn’t see Emerson making anyone who couldn’t pull their weight a part of his team. He was too competent for that. It was still hard to see the good-natured Gabe as anything other than harmless, which come to think of it, might be his super power. “I’m anArrangementplayer.”
“Not that crazy steampunk thing with Tesla and the other dead scientists? Those are history lessons, not games. You’re breaking my heart.”
“You know an awful lot about it for someone who doesn’t play.” She stuck her hand on her hip and shot him a look of mock disapproval. Gabe teasing her took away some of the alien feeling of everything that had happened to her in the past two days. The world couldn’t be coming to an end if she could joke about it.
“Not me, him.” He jerked a thumb toward the hallway where Emerson had disappeared. “It’s the only non-work thing he does. His screen name is Eddington.”
Sophie barely managed to stifle her gasp. Either Gabe was too busy shuddering in mock horror to notice, or he assumed her reaction was to the name and not because she recognized it. Her screen name was Severhan. She and Emerson had been playing online for months.
––––––––
EMERSON PRETENDED TOsearch for bad guys hiding in Sophie’s closet. He trusted the police and asking them to check the apartment had been an abundance of caution. If he’d actually thought the shooter had been anywhere near Sophie’s place, he wouldn’t have let her in the building. The peering into closets was to give himself time to figure out what to do next. Gabe understood, or he wouldn’t have let Emerson search alone.
He heard his brother and Sophie in the other room laughing about something, and for a fraction of a second, he felt the sting of jealousy. It was crazy. He was glad Gabe was there. Since the shooting, he hadn’t been able to leave Sophie alone. He’d had to wait for the paramedics to show up before he could speak to the police, and even then, he kept checking in with her. His brother was one of the few people he’d trust to take his place and he’d been grateful when he arrived. He just wished it didn’t sound like he and Sophie were having so much fun together.
Again, crazy. Gabe had fallen hard and fast for Berlin. They were well on their way to building a life together and his brother was a better man for it. And Emerson wasn’t falling for anyone, but it would be nice once in a while to relax and ease up on the reins—have a little fun himself for a change.
Who was he kidding? His overdeveloped sense of responsibility was a well cultivated trait. One that had made him a great deal of money and helped him build a successful business in a field whose very nature was problematic. Problems, or rather preventing them when he could and solving them when he couldn’t, were his bread and butter, and he had no intention of changing that or the control freak tendencies that made him good at his job. He heard laughter coming from the other room and closed the bedroom door a little harder than was necessary.
“Hey, man.” Gabe looked up from where he and Sophie were standing by the television staring at the gaming console. “What do you want on the pizza?”
“We’re not staying long enough for pizza.” He heard Sophie gasp and kicked himself for being an ass. She must’ve assumed he meant they were leaving her. After what happened earlier, there was no way in hell he’d let her stay by herself. But he also wasn’t spending another night on her couch. The easiest and safest thing for her was to get her to a different place. His place. That’s the story he was telling himself, anyway. For any other client, he’d set up a security perimeter, organize a rotating detail, and they’d keep the focus on keeping her in her own space. He wasn’t sure what she was, but he knew Sophie wasn’t just another client.
“Dude, everybody has time for pizza.” Gabe glanced from Sophie to him and back again. When his gaze met Emerson’s again, it was clear he was waiting for his older brother to fix things.
“Sorry,” he said, feeling sheepish. “We can stop for pizza on the way to my place. Sophie, why don’t you pack a bag with the things you’ll need for a couple of days. You can stay with me until we get this sorted out.” He braced for the questions he knew were headed his way before turning to meet the confused stares of his brother and the woman he’d decided to move in his house. For her protection.
“I can’t—"
“Yes, you can,” he interrupted before she could list a bunch of reasons that wouldn’t change his mind anyway. Now that he’d made the decision, having Sophie stay at his house felt like the perfect solution. He ignored the rest of his feelings. She was young—way too young and innocent for him—but that just made him more determined to take care of her.
Sophie left the rest of what she been about to say trail off and relief replaced confusion on her beautiful face. She didn’t want him to leave. He tried and failed to ignore the way his chest tightened at the thought. Her blue eyes met his and she nodded before turning toward her bedroom.
“Well, all right then,” said Gabe with a grin.
EMERSON’S MEN LEFT almost as quickly as they’d arrived. Once the cops collected the evidence—some cigarette butts and a few empty bullet casings—there wasn’t much else for them to do. Gabe piled in the backseat of Emerson’s SUV, leaving the passenger seat for Sophie. Emerson could’ve insisted he leave them alone, but if Gabe figured out it mattered to his brother, Emerson would never hear the end of it. And he couldn’t be too mad. Having his brother along seemed to relax Sophie. He’d get behind anything that made her more comfortable. Her hands had been like ice when she handed him her small overnight bag, and she was quiet, too quiet, considering the fight he’d expected her to put up about leaving her place.
Her boss called while Sophie was packing and from what he’d managed to overhear, she had the next couple of days off. Seaton had rescheduled the trunk show for some time next month. After the attempted robbery, he was surprised they were going through with it at all but their in-house security seemed to think it was a bungled crime of opportunity instead of a direct attempt to get to Seaton’s pearls. He was less sure, but he honestly didn’t know what to think.
Given the amateur nature of the burglary attempt and the fact the whoever hurt Sophie obviously hadn’t wanted her dead, it seemed unlikely that it and the shooting were related. Proximity in time and the fact that Sophie had been at the center of both made it impossible to stop looking for connections. It didn’t matter. He and his men would keep digging until they found something and in the meantime, he’d keep Sophie safe. He reached across the seat to take her hand, wrapping her fingers in his.
“Your hands are freezing,” he said, tightening his grip and bringing their joined fingers to his mouth. He blew hot breath against her fingertips and ignored the fact that hand warming wasn’t something he’d done for any other client.
“Sure you guys don’t want to be alone?” called Gabe from the backseat, the smart ass thick in his voice.
“Fuck off.” Emerson winced as the words left his mouth and let go of Sophie’s hand. When he glanced over to apologize for his language, he found her watching him, one eyebrow cocked and the corner of her lips curving up in a smile.
“You know I’ve heard that word before, right?”
Ignoring his embarrassment, he punched the button on the heater and exhaled as warm air flooded the cabin.
“He still needs to say sorry. Burned my fragile ears,” said Gabe in a tone intended to piss him off.
“I’d shut up if I were you or he might not let you have any pizza.” Sophie shifted in her seat, and he caught her smile out of the corner of his eye. He’d do a lot to see her smile, even if it meant putting up with his asshole younger brother.
