Page 10 of Just This Once (Blackhawk Security)

He glanced around the room. Listened. Heard nothing. Saw nothing out of place, nothing unusual. So he turned to Sierra. “Come on in.”

She picked up her large backpack and stepped into the house. Her gaze drifted over the first floor, lingering on the large windows that wrapped around the house.

“In case you’re wondering, all the windows are bulletproof glass,” he said. “The siding looks like wood, but it’s cement. Won’t burn. And the security system?” He nodded at the panel on the wall. “State of the art. Not just the alarm that goes off if someone opens the door and doesn’t enter the right code. All the windows are alarmed, in case someone tries to open one. Or break one. There’s an alarm pad on the driveway. If a car drives over it, a bell rings in the house and I get an alert on my phone. Sensors on the edges of the driveway will pick up anyone walking on the grass. And sensors around the perimeter of the farm will sound an alarm at the slightest movement.”

“What about animals, like deer and coyotes?” she asked.

“Good question. The sensors are calibrated to alert only at weights over one hundred twenty pounds.”

Baker drew in a deep breath. Let her shoulders settle. “Sounds like you’ve got security covered.”

“Nothing’s foolproof,” he said, staring out at the pasture. He and Jase had made this farm into a fortress, but there were holes in any defense. Fortunately, most of the people who might be coming after him would be hired guns. And most of them weren’t Mensa members. “But we’ve got a good system here.”

“That’s reassuring,” Sierra said brightly.

She didn’t look reassured, and Cody wondered why. He’d put big money that the answer was whatever had made her so closed-off and wary.

“Let me show you your bedroom,” he said, picking up her backpack and heading up the stairs.

He led her to the guest bedroom and set her backpack on the floor. “Bathroom’s through that door,” he said, pointing to the corner of the room. “I’m in the room next to you. The room at the end belongs to Laila and Jason, the people who live here. For their privacy, it’s off-limits.”

“Got it,” she said.

“Go ahead and unpack your stuff.” He shifted a little, putting some distance between them. The room was a small one, and he was standing too close to Sierra. Her lemony scent made him want to edge closer, and those waves of honey blond hair curling around her shoulders, tantalizingly close to her breasts, made his fingers itch to touch. “I’ll see what’s in the refrigerator for lunch.”

Without waiting for her to answer, Cody stepped out of the room and closed the door. Took a deep breath. What the hell was wrong with him? He’d never had a problem guarding a woman. It was always a potentially awkward situation when he had to spend days or weeks protecting a female client. From the first day, he kept it strictly impersonal. Business-like. Kept it comfortable for both of them.

He’d only met Sierra Baker this morning, and he was already far too aware of her. He needed to block that out of his mind. Immediately. He was a professional. He knew how to ignore distractions.

But Sierra Baker intrigued him. She was a mystery, and he wanted to know what she was hiding. What ghosts lived in that guarded gaze of hers. He’d never been able to resist a puzzle, and Sierra was a complicated one.

He scowled as he clattered down the wooden stairs.She was an attractive nuisance. He needed to keep his mind on his work. Focus on the threat to Sierra and his goal of keeping her safe.

But all those layers she hid behind made him… curious. Yeah. Curious. That was it.

That vulnerability she kept so carefully hidden? He wanted to probe that. Figure out what was going on.

Not happening.

Not today. Not ever.

Blackhawk Security didn’t pay him to seduce his protectees. They paid him to keep them safe. And that included keeping them safe from their bodyguard.

Trying to keep his mind off what Sierra was doing in that room upstairs, he yanked open the fridge. Studied the contents, then nodded. BLTs with avocados for lunch. Spaghetti and salad for dinner. Laila had already made the sauce and left it in a bowl in the refrigerator.

A board squeaked above his head. Sierra, moving around in her room. When he realized he was straining for another noise from her room, he headed for the front door. Stepped out of the house and ran down the four steps. He’d make sure all the security was in place and working. Get his mind off Sierra.

Without looking back at the house, he headed down the driveway toward the road.

* * *

Sierra looked around the small room that would be hers for the foreseeable future, her eyes drifting over the antique dresser and bed frame and the small desk in the corner. A small nightstand sat next to the bed, holding only a lamp and a tiny clock.

Spartan quarters. She was fine with that. Her parents were wealthy, but they’d never been ostentatious. Had never flaunted their money. Sierra was used to living in a nice home that said ‘moderately successful’. Now, running away from the threat in Evanston, all she really needed was a flat surface to work on. She could use the desk in this room, or there might be one on the first floor. She’d ask Cody where she should set up.

Cody.

She couldn’t figure him out. ‘Bodyguard’, to her, meant muscles on top of muscles. A wide body. Head on a swivel and an obvious gun beneath one arm. Cody was none of those things.

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