Page 35 of Unseen Danger

The sight should’ve terrified her. But there was something so magnificent about him, like Hercules come to life. She couldn’t seem to look away.

Even weirder was the tingling that stirred in her belly. Not like the usual nerves of fear. But something else. Something closer to that time Gary Benson had asked her to senior prom.

A low growl woke her up.

She glanced down at Alvarez

The K-9 stared at Aaberg through the windows as he growled.

“Easy, bud. He’s one of the good guys.”

As she gave Aaberg one last glance through the windows, he flipped another tire, his head angling toward the windows. His features bunched together, aggression contorting his face.

A shiver tracked down her spine, and she swung away, marching back into the darkness.

One of the good guys? She may have just lied to her dog. And to herself.

Eleven

“Somebody smells nice.” Louis swiveled away from the security room monitors with a grin as Branson stepped up beside him for a look at the screens.

“That would be me. Time to head home and hit the showers, brother.” Branson hid a cringe behind the teasing. Maybe he’d overdone the cologne.

He’d probably also spent a little too long making sure his hair laid right and touching up the stubble along his jawline.

But his eyes scanned the monitors to spot the reason for all the unusual attention to his morning preparations.

Nevaeh’s black jacket and curvy figure appeared on monitor C as she, the dogs, and Jazz headed for the house’s rear entrance.

His heart thumped against his ribs, nearly startling him. He stifled the urge to shake his head at himself and the strange feeling. There was something about Nevaeh Williams.

“Have a good day, man.” He clapped a hand on Louis’s shoulder before he hotfooted it out of the security room and headed toward the back of the house.

He should not be this excited to see Nevaeh. Especially since he’d somehow frightened her. Again.

He couldn’t figure it out. She wasn’t a timid or fragile person. That much was clear from her heroic effort to save Kicker from being burned to death. And from the bold way she handled D-Chop and the fact she was in the protection business.

Yet he’d seen fear in her eyes when he’d gotten too close in the kitchen last night. And before, at the scene of the fire. He’d been close behind her then, too, apparently without her being aware he’d approached.

Maybe she just had an unusually heightened sense of personal space?

He did tend to get physically close to people, thanks to his upbringing in a hugging, touchy-feely type of family. Not everyone was used to that.

He’d be careful to keep his distance this time. Which would be a challenge given how she seemed to have the opposite effect on him, her mere presence making him want to move closer.

Feminine voices reached his ears, sending a surge of warmth through his chest. Sounded like they were in the parlor just ahead.

The wall ended to his right, opening into the wide room.

Two women with dogs walked his direction across the gray and white marble floor as they laughed about something.

A smile curved Branson’s mouth at the sound of Nevaeh’s laugh. Rich and vivacious. Like the woman herself seemed to be.

Except when she looked at him. As she did at that moment, all trace of amusement instantly gone from her face.

“Oh, hi.” Jazz gave him a smile and moved closer with Flash.

Nevaeh slowed to a stop with her dog a few feet behind and to the side, positioning Jazz between her and Branson. Was that intentional?