Kayne’s jaw flexed.“Name?”
“I didn’t catch it.Tallish, dark hair, late twenties maybe.No name tag.And he kept smiling like he knew me and was amused.At me.”
Kayne muttered something in Cajun under his breath.“What else?”he pressed.
Chloe twisted her fingers, nerves prickling.“He said he’d been watching the progress and it was nice how hands-on I was.”Her stomach knotted at the memory.“But the way he said it didn’t sound complimentary.”
Kayne went still.Absolutely, terrifyingly still.
“Did he touch you?”he asked, too calm.
“No!Just stood too close.And then,” she bit her lip, “he said I shouldn’t be the last one here.Ever.”
Kayne rose to his full height, blocking out half the hallway lights.The shift was instinctive and physical, positioning himself between her and a threat that wasn’t even present.That warm tendril of safety unfurled in her belly before she could stop it.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“Because nothing happened.And I didn’t want to overreact.Maybe he was just socially awkward.”
“Or he was testing boundaries,” Kayne said, voice sharp.“Seeing how close he can get, or if you scare easily.”
Her breath hitched.“Do you really think that?”
“I think men don’t accidentally act predatory, Chloe.And you already have a stalker.Any strange man who decides to get familiar with you at work jumps straight to the top of my problems list.”
Despite the worry twisting her insides, she smiled, though it was a small, shaky thing.“You have a problems list?”
“Yeah.”He stepped closer, entering her space in the opposite way from the man yesterday.He was being protective.“And you’re the whole damn thing.”
Heat flared through her body at the way he said it, stripped of the teasing he usually wielded like armor.
Kayne touched her arm lightly.“Next time somebody makes you uncomfortable, you call me.Understand?I don’t care if it’s something or nothing.You call.”
“Okay,” she murmured.
“I mean it.”
She looked up at the rigid line of his jaw, worry tucked behind those mossy eyes.“I didn’t want to bother you.”
His laugh was incredulous, as if she’d told him water wasn’t wet.“Cher, protecting you is not a bother.It’s the job.”
But the way he saidjobmade it sound like something else entirely.Something bigger and riskier for both of them.
Chloe swallowed, suddenly too aware of how close they were.“He just made me uncomfortable.That’s all.”
“That’s enough.”Kayne’s fingers brushed her elbow gently.“I’ll talk to the foreman.Get a roster.We’ll ID him.”
“We?”
Kayne’s smile turned dangerous.“Did you think I was letting you handle this alone?”
“No,” she admitted softly.“I guess I didn’t.”
Kayne studied her for another beat, making sure she felt his promise, not just heard it.Then he stepped back, the tension easing but not disappearing.
“All right, let’s go find this jackass.”
Chloe realized, not for the first time, that Kayne in protector mode made the whole world feel a hell of a lot less terrifying.
