“Brutus, it’s one of King’s?—”
He growled. “Don’t. Lie. To me. You gave the tour, Anna. Is this your home?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
“Say it, Anna,” he said as he stepped toward me again, crowding me against the wall.
He crooked his finger beneath my chin, and suddenly, I found myself staring up into those stoic brown eyes that rang loud and clear with…
Worry?
“Bee, what’s wrong?” I asked softly.
“Is this your home, Anna?” he asked. “Have we invaded your space?”
I shook my head softly. “It’s not an invasion. I told King that?—”
“Goddamn it, Anna,” he growled as he stepped away.
The heat of his finger slipped away from my skin, but the underside of my chin still burned.
“Bee, why is this such a big deal?” I asked with a shrug. “I wanted to help. Most of the crew’s safehouses?—”
“We are in your home, Anna!” he boomed as he whipped around. “Do you not understand the target that makes you!?”
My eyes widened as his voice practically rattled the fucking window of my room. I mean, sure, I’d heard him use that voice before. But never toward me.
“We never should have come here,” he grumbled as he pinched his nose.
A knock came at my door. “Anna?”
Fuck, it was Jasmine. “Yeah?”
She hesitated. “Everything okay in there?”
Goddamn it, she’d go tell every fucking woman now that this was my place. “Yeah, yeah. Everything is fine.”
“Go away, Jasmine,” Brutus barked.
I pointed at him. “Hey! You don’t get to talk to people like that in my fucking home.”
Jasmine scampered away on a giggle, and I groaned as I placed my face in my hands. How did this get out of control so quickly?
“I still don’t see what the big deal is—oh!”
Brutus grabbed my arm and pinned me to the wall, staring down at me with fire in those brown eyes of his. “How long have you lived here?”
I opened my mouth and closed it a couple of times. My god, the man was massive. And warm.
I had a suspicious thought of throwing myself at him and burying my face in that chest of his. I knew he had chest hair underneath there. I wanted to nuzzle into it.
“Pretty much since losing Mom and Dad,” I said softly. “I used my inheritance to buy and fix up this place.”
He shook his head softly. “You’re out in the middle of nowhere, Anna. We’ve got an entire sex trafficking ring breathing down our back, and you risk your entire home to house us? Why? Why put everything of yours at an unnecessary risk?”
I just shook my head. “I just wanted to help. Why is that so bad?”
He locked his hand around my other arm and held me tightly against the wall. His touch seared itself into my skin, his heat rushing through my veins.
