Page 79 of Mr. Dangerous

24

Rob

IfollowedNaomi out of the study. Damn it, she looked adorable, walking away from me with her shoulders squared, mad as ever even though she'd been quaking with pleasure in my arms fiveminutesago.

"Joe!" she called happily, dartingforward.

Joe leaned down to hug her. Naomi looked petite next to him, dwarfed by his lean height, although I noticed that he held his damaged right leg behind himprotectively.

"I heard y'all were desperately in need of a body guard," Joe told us as he squeezed Naomi tight. "Even anoldone."

"I think this boy is in desperate need of a body guard," Naomi said, jerking a thumb at me over her shoulder. "Delaneys seem to have enemies everywhere. Maybe including me. I haven'tdecidedyet."

"Naomi," I chided, but I could never finish what I'd been trying to say in the study with an audience. Joe might not care -- Joe always kept the family secrets -- but I couldn't say anything in front of Liam. They were taking note, I was sure, of Naomi's messy dark hair sliding out of her ponytail, her flushedcheeks.

I felt a wave of anger. What had happened between Naomi and me, what I wanted to happen again, was private. I hadn't had the chance to tug Naomi's hair and untucked top back into respectability. She'd flown out of the room at Liam's knock. It had seemed as if she wanted toescapeme.

Joe grinned. "Yeah, yeah, since you guys were kids. Love and hate." He ruffled Naomi's hair as if she were stillakid.

She rolled her eyes, grinning. I felt a flare of odd jealousy. Naomi seemed so at ease with people like Joe who had been in her life since she was a child. Just not with me. Everything between us seemed to grindawkwardly.

Except for the sex, ofcourse.

“We should go through everything like we said,” Liam said impatiently. “Rob, you’ve got to let Naomi go. She has a life ofherown.”

Naomi gave Liam a look that I couldn’t quite decipher. Then she said, "Joe, you’ll keep Robsafe,okay?"

"I don't want you to go." I heard the authoritative note in my voice, the words an order, and I winced internally. That was the wrong notetotake.

"Okay," Naomi said, nodding. “The thing is, I could go hang out with my parents. Get my work done. I wouldn’t bealone.”

She turned and walked out of thekitchen.

I shot Liam adarklook

"What did I do?" Liamdemanded.

"Don't even," I said. I strode after Naomi, whose steps squeaked faster across the marble, as if she were racing for the door. "Naomi,stop!"

She spun on her heels. "No, Rob. No. You don't get to talk to melikethat."

"I'm not trying to talk to youlike that,"I said. "But I know you aren't stupid. Going out there alone isstupid."

"I'll be withpeople."

"Great, then maybe you’ll put your family in danger. This isn'tajoke."

She hesitated, and I felt guilty for scaring her all over again, as much as I needed her to listen to me. I rested my hands on her slendershoulders.

"Hey," I said, softly, trying to ignore the spectators. "You want me to say I'm sorry, I used the wrong tone? Sure. I'm sorry. But don't be stupid to get backatme."

Naomi glanced away from me, and I thought for a second that she was looking at the stairs, and I was about to turn to see who was there. Then I realized she was blinking away tears. Oh my god. Now I was making her cry. How was I makinghercry?

"Rob is right," Joe said, steppingforward.

"You'll pay me to sit around your house and watch movies?" Naomi’s lips flickered as if she were trying to smile through hertears.

"Maybe you can vacuum," I said, "If you really feeltheneed."

---