Page 14 of Iron Shield
A twitch at the corner of his eye was the only indication that she might be getting on his nerves.
“Then you go back to sleep.” He gave her a look. “One more thing. I’m going to need your phone.”
She recoiled. “No way am I giving you my phone.”
“It’s for your safety, Stina. Please don’t argue.”
She stared at him for a heavy heartbeat while her mind worked through ways to get out of this. Seeing none, she pushed out a sigh and pulled the phone out of her purse.
When she handed it to him, she noticed his shoulders didn’t relax even after she did what he asked. They carried a kind of tension that seemed carved into him. And there were faint lines near his eyes, but he was still scanning the kitchen like the bowl of lemons could be bugged with a listening device.
“Are you going to tell me why I’m here or for how long?”
He faced her. “Even before you sent that photo to Jolie, we knew someone was after you both.”
“Who is we?”
His face was a blank mask. “My team.”
“Are you with the FBI?”
“No. Let’s just say I have the skills to protect you.”
Her skin prickled at his words, partly from fear…
Partly from how damn hot that sounded.
“We’ll stay here until I get orders to move you to another safe place.”
She stood, feeling the exhaustion of her day hit her along with the fact she was standing feet away from a man who was willing to kill for her.
“I need my things.”
“I know. I’ll make sure you get what you need.”
That wasn’t the same as letting her go home. The argument sat between them, and she was too tired to continue it.
Without a word, she walked down the hallway to the bedroom he’d assigned her. The plain space was clean and had a queen bed, a dresser and a nightstand. The curtains were already drawn over the window, and part of her wondered if a safehouse had bulletproof glass.
He’d switched on the lamp as if he’d tried to make the space more inviting.
It didn’t work.
She closed the door and almost locked it, but stopped because Rome had told her not to.
She stood in the middle of the room with nowhere to process all the things breaking loose inside her.
She was about to lose her apartment.
That agent was dead because of her.
Jolie had betrayed her by telling Stina’s secrets.
No wonder you’ve had so many bad men in your life.
The first tear fell before she had a chance to stop it, and she covered her mouth with one hand as if that could keep the rest from following.
She cried silently because the comment stabbed her deep and suddenly she was homeless and scared and didn’t know what would happen tomorrow.
