Since I Fell For You(5)

“We know you can take care of yourself,” Harry continued, “but wouldn’t it make you feel better to know there was someone looking out for you while you get to the bottom of whoever has been harassing you and why?”

“I already feel great about things, thank you very much. And we all know that you haven’t hired him”—she hooked an irritated thumb in Roman’s direction—“to make me feel better. You hired him to make yourselves feel better. I’ve told you a million times that I’m handling things. I don’t need you making decisions about my life. And I definitely don’t need a bodyguard!”

She spun on her boot heel and headed for the door. Alec and Harry started to follow her, but Roman stopped them. “I’ll take care of things from here.”

Harry still looked conflicted about the way they’d handled it, but if anything, Alec looked more convinced than ever that his sister needed a bodyguard. “We know you will.”

Suzanne was fast, but Roman had professional practice at chasing people down. By the time he got outside, she was burning up the sidewalk, so angry that strangers were having to jump out of her way so that they didn’t get mowed down. People made bad decisions when they were angry, something Roman knew all too well. Somehow, he needed to make her see that having him around wouldn’t be a bad thing.

He had nearly caught up when she stopped on a dime and spun around so quickly that Roman found himself nose to nose with her.

“Stop following me!” Her eyes were spitting fire. “Weren’t you listening? I don’t need you to watch over m—”

The taxi came out of nowhere, speeding around the corner so fast that the driver momentarily lost control, aiming straight for them on the sidewalk. Roman pulled Suzanne into his arms and threw her as far off the sidewalk as he possibly could before leaping in the same direction and covering her body with his so that they were pressed tightly to the brick wall.

The driver finally hit the brakes when the vehicle was a hairsbreadth from Roman’s left heel.

As close to Suzanne as he could be outside of a bedroom, Roman could feel her heart pounding as fast as his. Her chest was heaving, but she wasn’t crying the way anyone else would have been.

“Thank God.”

He couldn’t hear her words clearly at first. Couldn’t possibly process them with blood rushing like class-five whitewater in his ears. But when he heard the taxi shift into reverse and pull away from them, he realized that the danger had passed.

Which meant he needed to let her go.

He’d protected his clients with his body dozens of times. But he’d never been so reluctant to move away from one of them. Never felt a desperate need to run his hands over every inch of their bodies, head to toe, to make sure they were truly all right.

“Suzanne.” He finally drew back enough so that he could look down at her face. “Are you okay?”

“I am.” She swallowed hard as she blinked up at him with eyes so clear and pretty that they would have stolen his breath away if he’d had any left after the near accident. “Because of you.”

How, he wondered, was she managing to smell like a spring morning in the middle of a dirty Manhattan sidewalk? And why the hell was he letting himself even notice something like that about one of his clients? A completely reluctant client, no less.

Roman never liked taking on jobs this way. It was always better to be hired directly by the client rather than by a third party. But at the same time, he understood her brothers’ concerns. Keeping Suzanne safe was the most important thing—even if it meant a little extra work persuading her to see things clearly.

He wasn’t at all glad that the taxi had almost taken them out on the sidewalk. There might be a silver lining, however, if she was now convinced that he could keep her out of harm’s way, regardless of what kind of harm it might be.

He was just taking a step back when she put her hand on his arm. “What about you? Are you okay?” When she licked her lips, he couldn’t look away from her glistening mouth. “The taxi came so close. I was sure that you would be—”

“I’m good.” The two words came out more gruffly than he intended as he made himself put a good couple of feet between them. It would be a fine line with Suzanne—to stay close enough to protect her no matter what happened, while never getting close enough to lose control. “So now you see why having me around is a good thing.”

Just moments after they’d nearly been crushed by a taxi, the last thing he expected her to do was to snort. “Thank you for saving my life. I totally owe you for that. But it was just a freak accident. No matter what you or my brothers think, I still don’t need a bodyguard.” She pushed away from the brick wall. “Good night, Roman.”