Page 58 of Unseen Danger
Was she teasing him? His heart thumped hard against his ribs. “Not that I know of.” He made a show of glancing at the floor behind him.
Nevaeh chuckled, a hearty sound that warmed him from the inside out. “What kind of cat is Princess? I’ve never seen one so small.”
A personal question. Branson tried to keep his breathing even as his heart continued to pummel his ribcage. “She’s a Himalayan Persian.”
Nevaeh watched him for a moment, probably the longest she’d ever looked at him, at least without frightened, widened eyes. “Did you pick her name?”
A grin tugged at his mouth. She wasn’t the first to ask that. “My sister did.”
“Your sister?” Both eyebrows went up.
Man, her expressions were cute. “Yeah. She’s twelve and very opinionated. I told her she could choose the name, and she insisted on Princess. Said my kitty was too beautiful to be called anything else. Couldn’t argue with that logic, could I?”
Jazz laughed, but Nevaeh kept his attention riveted. Because her lips parted in a full, glorious smile.
A jolt shot from his chest all the way down to his toes. Whoa.
“Team Leader this is D2.” Louis’s voice crackled through the coms earpiece Branson wore.
“Excuse me a second. Louis is talking to me.” He gave Nevaeh a smile as he activated his coms. “Team Leader, D2, go.”
“The garage entry gate is open.”
Louis must be in the security room watching the monitors. He’d probably let himself in the side door as he usually did.
“Roger, it’s not working right. I’ll take a look at it.”
“Roger, Team Leader.”
Branson gave the women a smile. “Sorry about that. The gate by the garage is sagging so much it’s scraping the blacktop. I have to see if I can get it closed before I turn in.”
“I guess we’d better get going, too.” Jazz glanced at Nevaeh.
The black-haired beauty gave him another cute smirk as she turned to leave.
“Have a good night.” His words trailed as he watched them leave, disappointment sagging his shoulders.
Though as he headed for the east side door out of the house, the closest to the standalone garage, the memory of Nevaeh’s smile buoyed his steps.
Why was she so different tonight? Was it having seen his cat? Maybe Princess made him seem less threatening. Or maybe it was just from having been around him more at Wilton High for the concert.
They both shared concern for D-Chop’s safety, as was obvious in her reaction to the knife in the poster. Her anger and concern had been written all over her expressive face. And she would’ve known Branson cared since he’d tried to talk D-Chop into cancelling the concert.
Branson pushed through the door and headed across the stone footpath that led to the garage.
He scanned his surroundings as he walked—a precautionary habit but also a search for the woman who was occupying his mind.
The security lights at the front of the house illuminated the curved driveway to his left. The blacktop split off from the main driveway to connect with the building he was headed for where D-Chop’s car collection was housed.
Branson left the stone path and cut across the grass to reach the narrower driveway that led to the garage.
The security lamps above the four garage doors cast enough light for him to see the wide, chain-link gate they always closed overnight for added security. No one should be able to get on the grounds without being spotted by Louis on the cameras or the Phoenix K-9 teams. But if someone did manage to sneak in with a mind to steal a car, they’d have a hard time driving it through the locked gate without being heard.
Darren was supposed to close the gate before he turned in for the night, but he’d reported it was sagging too much to latch with the post on the other side of the driveway and lock in place.
Branson slowed his quick walking pace as he reached the gate. It stood in the open position, drooping so that the bottom corner rested on the blacktop. He blew out a breath. So much for this being a quick fix. And so much for getting enough sleep tonight.
Though it was more than worth cutting his sleep short every night if it meant he could see Nevaeh.