Brynnon snorted. “Okay.”
Brow arched, he asked, “Is that going to be a problem?”
“No,” she chuckled. “It’s just that...it’s Angie. She’s a total soccer mom. A cool-as-hell soccer mom, but still. We’ve been friends for years, and she’s like a second daughter to my dad. I can promise you, Angie didn’t send him any threats.”
“Still need to rule her out.”
“Fine.” Brynnon gave him a tight smile. “I’ll include her information.”
Once that was settled, they finished the rest of their food in relative silence. After taking care of the check—she’d insisted on paying for her own meal—they walked to their cars parked by the sidewalk out front.
A cool breeze hit, and Brynnon wrapped her opened flannel shirt around herself a little tighter. Brushing some wind-blown hair from her eyes, she spoke as they approached his truck.
“I’m assuming you’ll follow me home, make sure it’s safe, and then meet me at the flip house tomorrow morning?”
Grant looked back at her as if she’d missed something big, his answer shocking to say the least. “I’m staying with you.”
She nearly choked on her own breath. “Excuse me?”
“Standard protocol.”
When the wind blew another chunk of hair into her face, Brynnon slapped it away. “Uh, not for me, it isn’t.”
“Too bad.” He shrugged one of his big shoulders. “This is how I work.”
Through clenched teeth she informed him, “Well, it isn’t the wayIwork. Except for when I was still in high school, no other bodyguard assigned to me has slept inside my house.”
“Just means they were shitty at their jobs.”
Grant’s stare was unwavering, and he spoke with a confidence she found both attractive and frustrating.
“Well, seeing as how the condo is mine”—she dug her keys from her purse— “I’m pretty sure I get the final say about who stays in it and who doesn’t.”
Seemingly aloof, Grant pulled his own keys from his pocket and pressed the fob to unlock his truck. “Sorry, sweetheart, but my job is to be your bodyguard.” His eyes locked with hers. “The name kind of implies that your body is, you know...guarded.”
Irritated he’d twisted her words from earlier to fit with his agenda, Brynnon squeezed her fist around her keys. “Do you even have a change of clothes?”
“I packed enough for a week. If this goes longer than that, I can either do my laundry at your place, or run by my apartment for more.”
Damn.The guy had an answer for freaking everything.
An image of his boxers mixed with her panties left her flustered. If she had that sort of reaction to his laundry, there was absolutely no way he could stay under the same roof as her.
“Fine.” She smiled up at him. “I’ll compromise. You can stay parked out front.”
He shook his head. “Not good enough.”
With a shrug of her own, she said, “It’s gonna have to be.”
Spinning on her toes, Brynnon went to her car, got in, and slammed the door harder than necessary. Wrestling with the urge to scream, she started the ignition and shoved the gear shift into drive.
Not bothering to wait on him, she peeled out of the parking lot and headed toward home.
Once there, she parked in her drive and walked quickly to her front door. Rather than pulling in directly behind her, as she’d expected, Grant parked his truck in the street against the curb.
His long legs made it easy to catch up to her, so by the time she’d unlocked the door and was reaching for the knob, he was there. Putting his hand over hers to stop her.
“I need to clear the house and perimeter.”
