Page 215 of Duty and Desire
His lips did not move, but that damn eyebrow arched even higher as he leaned forward a little and took in the contents of my bag. I swear his eyes widened.
“Don’t you judge me. All of these things are necessary for my ongoing existence.”
“Of course they are, miss.” The man was so judging me. Bastard. “You carry a koozie around with you, I see.”
“It pays to be ready to party, Mr. Thayer.” I finally produced the keys, dangling on a Miss Piggy fob. “Here you go. Alarm code is eight five star three zero one two.”
“Yours and your mother’s birthdays?”
“How on earth do you know that?”
“We have extensive files on all our clients.”
“I haven’t been your client for that long.”
“We also do background checks for the owner of the building.” He unlocked the door and punched in the code before standing aside so I could enter. The door was then locked behind me.
“That would explain it. Still, you have a very good memory.”
“That code will need to be changed to something random,” he said. “And it might be best if I hang on to the keys next time. Should there be an incident, we don’t want anything delaying you from getting into a secure location. If you could wait here please, miss.”
He strode through my apartment, giving it a thorough, if fast, inspection. My open plan living room, kitchen, dining space, office, spare bedroom, bathroom, and…this was exactly when it occurred to me.
“Wait!” Sore calves or not, I ran. “Ziggy, stop!”
Brows drawn in tight, he stood in my bedroom. “Please wait back at the door until I’ve cleared the apartment.”
“Just give me a second.”
“Miss Cooper,” he said.
“Just give me one second.”
“I must insist.”
With one hand I scooped up the underwear, T-shirt, cardigan, jeans, and shoes I’d worn yesterday. “Normally I tidy up after myself and make my bed, I swear. This is very unusual for me.”
He just blinked.
“I just got in so early in the morning and then I slept so badly,” I said in an almighty rush. “Please don’t think I’m a slob.”
He blinked again. “There are precisely six locations in this room that an intruder could hope to hide in. That is all I’m thinking about.”
“Okay.” I smiled. “Good. Stick with that.”
His movements somewhat more stilted than before, he checked in my ensuite and extensive walk-in closet.
“Well, that wasn’t embarrassing at all,” I said. “All clear?”
“Yes.”
“Great. Excellent.”
The man just looked at me. I’m not sure what the look meant. But then his gaze dropped to the collection of items in my arms. Most noticeably, to the black lace thong dangling off my finger. Oops. Quick as possible, I scrunched it up in my hand. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Might have been the low lighting, yet I could have sworn the man almost blushed.
“Guess you’ve seen just about everything, what with being a bodyguard.” I slapped on my best friendliest smile. He wasn’t the only one who knew how to strike a pose. Even if his poses were mostly imitations of rock formations and other impassive, poker-faced things.
“Yes, miss.”
