Page 16 of Protecting Bree
“This?” she asked, when he didn’t elaborate.
“Being with someone I can’t stop thinking about. Who I constantly worry about. After I’ve spent months wondering what she’s thinking and doing, at all hours. It’s…disconcerting.”
She couldn’t help it. She snorted. “Yeah.”
His head tilted. “You feel it too?”
Bree nodded.
“Does it make me a dick to be relieved that I’m not the only one?”
She smiled up at him. “No.”
“Fuck. That smile. You have no idea what it does to me. Come on, we need to get in the house. I don’t like standing outside like this.”
And just like that, the reality of her situation hit home once more. She wasn’t a normal woman on a date. She was the target of a scary man who wanted to find her and force her to have sex with men for money. And thatsucked.
“Damn, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Smiley said, as he led her toward MacGyver and Addison’s front door.
“You didn’t,” Bree tried to reassure him.
“Bullshit. Don’t lie to me. Don’t say what you think I want to hear. Be honest with me. Always. Because I don’t know how to be any other way.”
Bree looked at the man at her side as they approached the door. He was so rough around the edges. A little paranoid, if the way he was eyeballing their surroundings wasany indication. He was honest to a fault and didn’t seem to give a crap how he looked…but then, he looked good no matter what he was wearing, or even if he hadn’t remembered to brush his hair—which he hadn’t. It was kind of sticking up all over his head in a way Bree assumed he might look after sleeping.
But she couldn’t deny that with every minute they spent together, she was drawn to him more and more.
“Did you hear me, Bree?” he asked.
“Yeah. You didn’t scare me, but Iama little nervous in general. About tonight, about this Mateo guy, about everything.”
Smiley nodded. “I’d be worried if you weren’t. But we’re on this. All of us. My team, Tex, the commander, everyone.”
Bree opened her mouth to thank him once more, but the door in front of them was jerked open and a girl stood there. Ellory. Bree would recognize her anywhere.
To her absolute shock, the girl threw herself at her.
Bree went back on a foot to keep herself from falling, and she wrapped her arms around the girl, who was hugging her as if her life depended on it. Thankfully Smiley already had his hand on the small of her back, because he kept her from literally falling on her ass with Ellory in her arms.
“Ellory!”
Looking through the door, Bree saw a tall redhaired woman shaking her head but smiling at Ellory with love. “I’m sorry, she was so excited to meet you. I’m Addison. Come in. Please.”
Ellory let go of Bree and took a step backward. “I’m sorry too. I couldn’t wait another second to thank you.”
“El, back up, let them in,” Addison scolded gently.
“Sorry, yeah! Come in, come in. We’ve been cooking nonstop since we got home from school. I can’t eat a lot of what we made, but it smells delicious. And Yana helped too.”
Bree smiled at the enthusiasm of the young girl. She’d heard about her Crohn’s disease from Smiley, so she wasn’t surprised at her mention that she wouldn’t be eating the same as everyone else.
She stepped into the house and saw Smiley give MacGyver a chin lift, and that made her grin. It was such a guy thing to do. But before she could comment on it, Ellory took her hand. “Come on, Yana’s excited to meet you! And so are Artem and Borysko.”
“Ellory. You’re being rude,” Addison told her with a frown.
“Oh, she’s fine. I’m excited to meet everyone,” Bree said.
“ButIhaven’t even gotten a chance to officially meet you yet,” the woman grumbled.
