Page 7 of Lethal Bodyguard Summer

“Deal…on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“No sex.”

While I very much wanted to have more naked time with her, it wasn’t an expectation for helping her. “Okay. No sex.” I let go of her hand and started driving again. “But if you change your mind—”

Aria shot me a look, and I relented. “So tell me, why would that guy think you’re Allie?”

“I-I don’t know.” Aria shot me another look, longer this time. “I mean, we look alike. We’re only ten months apart. If they saw me at her house…” Her voice trailed off.

Her hand shot across the console and gripped my forearm. Memories of last night flashed across my mind, and I fought to keep them at bay. Right now all that mattered was keeping Aria safe.

“They they don’t have her. Whatever is going on, if they’d found her—”

“Then they wouldn’t have gone after you,” I said, finishing her sentence.

Chapter five

Aria

That revelation was a welcome one and something I could hold on to. Better than the idea that I was back where I’d started this morning.

Brooks pulled into the short driveway in front of his house. In the light of day, it reminded me of a bungalow with its weathered wood and big windows facing the water. Memories of our night together that I’d held at bay came rushing back. The way he’d touched me. How he’d asked me if I liked it…

I shook my head, scattering them to the shadowed recesses of my mind.

“Inside,” he said, cutting the engine and jumping out. He waited for me in front of the hood, using his body to block me as we moved quickly up the short walk. Just a few short hours ago, I had thought he would just be another distant memory. Never did I imagine being back here ever, much less so soon.

Once the door was shut and locked behind us, I took the time to really look around. Last night, everything had been so dark, and afterward I had been desperate to get out before he woke up. The only thing I’d noticed was the sofa because I’d almosttripped over it. But the room also held a chair, a table, and a lamp. My eyebrows dipped. No TV. I’d never met a guy that didn’t have a TV.

I moved deeper into the room, drawn to the windows that took up the entire wall beside the sliding glass doors. A round table with four chairs sat in front of it, but there was room for me to pass. Outside in the back, a deck spanned the length of the house. Only a beach chair sat beside a small black metal table. Most of the space was taken up with a rack full of surf boards.

They were arranged by size and color. A smile lifted the corner of my mouth. I wondered what he’d do if someone moved them around. Just for fun.

My mouth drooped. How could I be thinking of fun? What kind of person did that make me?

Brooks set his keys in a dish by the door, turning to face me as I walked back into the room.

“Want something to drink?” he asked.

I shook my head, then stopped and shrugged. “Water would be nice.” He went into the kitchen, and I followed. “I need to go back to her house.”

Brooks was quiet for a moment as he got a glass and filled it with water. “We’ll go together after we regroup.”

“Okay.” Relief rushed through me when he didn’t try to talk me out of it or stop me.

He handed me the glass and led me to the sofa. “Feel like answering some questions?”

“What kind of questions?” I asked, leaning away from him.

“What can you tell me about your sister? Like what does she do for work? Who are her friends? What are her hobbies? Anything you think might be helpful.”

“She moved here a year ago after her boyfriend died. They’d been together since high school.” I took a sip of water. “She had started a pet-sitting business for travelers. She’d found a nichewith the boating crowds, but we haven’t kept up as much. She was…sad, and I was a horrible sister, too wrapped up in my own life to be there for her. I know she was struggling with Heath’s death.”

“What did she do before she moved here?”

“She was a nine-one-one operator. But after Heath died, she couldn’t do it anymore. It gave her panic attacks trying to help people through the worst days of their lives after living through it herself.” I set the water down and shrugged. “I don’t know if she has friends here. I do know the ones she had before, she ghosted.”