Page 3 of Tight Spaces

"I am more than my brain." Not that other people seemed to realize that.

Sometimes, even her family, as wonderful as they were, tended to treat her like an extension of her IQ. They were all highly intelligent, but the fact that she’d outdone them all academically put her inside a bubble that could get really lonely.

Not that she ever complained. She wouldn’t disappoint her family for the world. And being anything less than grateful for all the opportunities for the amazing education that she’d had would do that.

"Why didn’t you just stay in a hotel overnight?" Max asked, apparently dismissing the subject of her smarts.

Thank goodness.

"The super wasn’t sure he’d get to the door right away." And she hadn’t wanted to stay in the apartment alone right now.

Her roommate wouldn’t be back until a few days before fall term started and that was weeks away. Rebekah had gone home for the summer, while Danusia had opted to stay on and work on the research for her doctoral thesis.

The attempted break-in had shaken her; not that she’d admit that to anyone else.

"Bullshit. A new door for you is his top priority."

"Now you really sound like my brother." And she didn’t feel sisterly toward Max. Not even a little.

"Do you want me to talk to your super?"

"I’m perfectly capable of handling this on my own," she gritted out. She was not his little sister, and even if she had been, Danusia was twenty-four. "I’m an adult, or hadn’t you noticed?"

Something flared in his gaze that sent butterflies on suicide bombing missions in her stomach. "I noticed."

"I don’t need anyone talking to my super for me, not you, not my brother. Understood?"

Amusement curved his lips and he saluted, way too precisely for him to be anything but true military. "Understood, ma’am."

She laughed. "Oh, knock it off."

"You’ve got Roman’s temper."

"Most people think my brother doesn’t have a temper." He was too cold to be considered temperamental.

"I’ve known him a long time."

"You haven’t known me very long, but you’ve already sussed out one of my secrets."

He shrugged, those big, muscled shoulders rolling and pulling his dark t-shirt taut across his perfectly defined pecs. "What can I say? I’m good."

"No arguments here." She gave him a look, doing her best to let him know she didn’t just mean his interrogation techniques.

His eyes widened and then narrowed. "Save that for your college boy friends."

"I don’t have any."

"You don’t have any male friends?"

She didn’t have very many friends at all, but that wasn’t what she meant. "I don’t have a boyfriend."

"So, get one."

That had her laughing out loud. "Right, like that’s going to happen."

"Shouldn’t be too hard. You’re wicked smart. You’re sexy." He did that shrug-thing again.

She wasn’t sure if it was the shrug, or his words, but her heart felt like it had started practicing for the Grand Prix. "You think I’m sexy?"