Since I Fell For You(23)

Rosa suddenly noticed him. “Oh, hi!”

“Rosa, this is Roman.” Before the other woman could make any wrong assumptions, Suzanne added, “He’s my bodyguard. I’m sure Drake told you all about what they did behind my back, right?”

“He did, and I was really mad at him.” She scowled. “I told Drake they shouldn’t have hired a bodyguard without your permission.”

“I agree. But as you can see”—Suzanne nodded toward Roman—“what’s done is done.”

“You’re being much nicer than I’m afraid I would be,” Rosa said. She turned again to Roman. “In any case, it’s nice to meet you. Come on inside and make yourselves comfortable. There’s plenty of food and drink. Let me introduce you both to everyone.”

Five minutes later, Roman had memorized another half-dozen names and faces. He’d make sure to look them all up tonight to ensure that none of them posed a potential threat to Suzanne.

Drake wasted little time in taking him out on the patio so that they could speak in private. Roman made sure to stand where he had a clear sight line to Suzanne.

“So, how’s it going with Suz? You’re still here at the end of day one, so that’s something.”

“She’s not happy about having me around, but she’s been so busy today at work that I don’t think she’s had time to do much about getting rid of me.”

“She’s smarter than all of us combined,” Drake said, obviously immensely proud of his sister.

“No offense to you and your brothers, but I’ve got to agree with you there,” Roman said. “I’ve never seen anyone’s brain work so fast. Her colleagues are constantly racing to try to keep up.”

“I’m not much of a computer guy, but the stuff she works on is really interesting, isn’t it?”

“It is. Everyone in her company is young and energetic and undaunted. Most of all, your sister.” Which was why Roman needed Drake to know something. “There was another server attack this afternoon. A bad one, from what I could gather.”

With a low curse, Drake turned to look with concern at Suzanne, who was already knee-deep in planning with the others around the coffee table. “I’m assuming that since she’s here, she’s already fixed the problem?”

“She did.”

“I know she’s convinced it’s just a little unimportant funny business, possibly from one of the many companies whose buyout offers she has repeatedly turned down—”

“Don’t worry,” Roman assured Drake. “Even if she’s willing to look at these server attacks as more of a challenge than anything else, you can let Alec and Harry know that I’m not going anywhere until we’ve gotten to the bottom of things. I won’t let anything happen to her.”

Drake seemed to weigh his words for a few moments. “Alec said you’re the best.”

“I am.” Roman might not be proud of some of the things he’d done in his life, but he was proud of the way he ran his security business. No one had ever been hurt on his watch. No one ever would. “I promise you, she’s safe with me.”

* * *

By the time they left Drake and Rosa’s, Suzanne was way too exhausted to even think about putting on her “sexy” act. Heck, she couldn’t even bother to put on her shoes at this point, carrying them instead as she tried to stay awake long enough to get into the cab.

She curled up on the seat, rubbing her feet and yawning. “I’ve got a six thirty a.m. meeting tomorrow, so I’ll be heading out an hour before.”

“Do you always move this fast?”

Her eyes had fallen closed and she couldn’t muster up the energy to open them as she replied, “You mean sloth speed?”

She didn’t hear his response, or remember the rest of the taxi ride. Only that she woke up to Roman’s hand on her arm. “We’re home.”

Years ago, she had learned how to catnap during a nonstop day. She’d obviously just done that in the taxi. It always took her a good sixty seconds to come fully awake again, so she was really glad Roman was there to help her out of the taxi and into the lobby of her building, his hand on the small of her back to make sure she stayed on course in her sleepy state.

It was a little weird coming home with Roman like this. Not like being walked in by a date. But not as if he was just someone working for her either. In any case, she was too tired to make sense of her feelings right now.

As they rode the elevator up to her floor, she said, “Having you around today wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.” Clearly, she was also too tired to keep her mouth shut.