Unpredictable Risk (R.I.S.C. Book 5)

by Anna Blakely

  Laying it over the back of one of her bar stools, she walked to the sink and opened the cabinet below. Brynnon reached for the small tool bag she kept there, continuing her thoughts as she began digging for her measuring tape.

  “I mean, you’ve been with me nearly two full days and there hasn’t been the slightest sign of danger.”

  She stood back up just in time to see Grant’s eyes shift away quickly. Fully aware he’d been checking her out, Brynnon fought a smug smile, pretending as if she hadn’t noticed.

  Walking past him, she put a slight wiggle into her walk as she moved up the stairs a little more slowly than usual. When he cleared his throat from behind her, Brynnon had to literally bite her lip to keep from laughing.

  Once inside the empty room, she quickly went to work, trying to measure the areas she wanted to put her dresser, bed, and twin nightstands. When the metal tape decided not to stay put, she stood to find something to help keep it in place...and ran into a solid wall of muscle.

  “Oh!” she exclaimed, startled.

  Grant looked down at her, his gaze impossible to read. “Need some help?”

  “Um, yeah,” she swallowed. “That would be great. Thanks.”

  A few seconds later, Brynnon realized not only had she not moved, but her hand was still resting against his rock-hard chest.

  “Sorry.” She jumped back, nearly stumbling in the process.

  “Where do you want me?”

  The deep, rumbled words left her aching in all the right places. And flustered. “I...um...what?”

  He glanced at the tape still in her hand. “What do you need to measure?”

  Wanting to slap herself upside the head, Brynnon laughed it off. “Oh.” She smiled. “Right. Sorry.”

  Good grief. Could she be any more lame?

  Turning back around, she closed her eyes for a couple of seconds to compose herself before returning to the task at hand.

  “If you could hold the end here, I’ll pull it to where I need to stop.”

  Freeing enough tape to ensure they wouldn’t touch, Brynnon held out the metal end for him. There were a few times during the process she thought she’d caught him staring at her exposed cleavage—an unfortunate and not-at-all intentional happenstance when she had to bend over to get the correct measurement.

  She had to admit it was nice to know there was an actual human inside all that cold, rough exterior.

  When she had all that was needed, Brynnon dropped the tape back into the bag and zipped it up. After heading back downstairs and putting it away, she excused herself to go to the restroom before the hour-plus trip back home.

  Once she was finished, Grant took a cue from her and did the same. While waiting for him in the living room, a cool breeze brushed over Brynnon, taking her by surprise.

  Remembering her furnace had kicked back off just before they came downstairs and her ceiling fans were all turned off to save electricity, she looked up to try to determine where the breeze would have come from. It only took a couple of seconds for her to spot the source.

  “Damn it.”

  Walking over to the scaffolding, Brynnon kicked off her heels and began climbing the metal rungs attached to its frame. The window to the right of the fireplace—the same one she’d worked on the last time she was here—was cracked open at the top.

  In her bare feet, Brynnon pulled herself up to the wooden platform and went to the window. She was usually meticulous about this sort of thing. Then again, she had been working day and night, lately. It was very possible she’d forgotten to shut it before she left.

  Pushing it closed, she’d just secured the latch when a deep voice boomed from behind her.

  “What the hell are you doing up there?”

  Startled, Brynnon spun around quickly and squealed. Grant was glaring at her from the doorway just under the stairs. He looked extremely pissed off, though she had no idea why.

  “Jesus, Grant!” she put a hand to her beating chest. “You scared the hell out of m—”

  Before she could finish the sentence, the structure below her began to sway and give. Brynnon tried reaching for the metal frame, but it was already buckling beneath her feet. She was thrown off balance, the edge moving just out of her reach.

  Terrified, she swung her gaze back to his. Grant’s eyes grew wide as they both realized what was about to happen.

  “Jump!” He yelled as he started to run across the room.

  What? “Are you crazy?”

  The wooden platform began to tip forward.

  “I’ll catch you,” he promised. “Just do it!”

  I’ll do what you say if my safety is truly a concern. Damn. She should’ve known those words would come back to bite her in the ass.

  Not wanting to fall amid the hard, metal pipes, Brynnon threw up a quick prayer and did as Grant ordered just as the entire scaffolding collapsed.

  Screaming as she went, she leapt toward his outstretched arms. As promised, Grant caught her, but her force of motion caused him to fly backward. Luckily, the couch was directly behind him.

  With a loud oof, Grant landed awkwardly over the arm of the couch, the momentum bouncing them both from the cushions down onto the floor. When it was all said and done, Brynnon was on the area rug in front of the couch...and Grant was lying on top of her.

  It took her a second to realize he’d somehow managed to place his hand between her head and the floor, protecting her as they fell. Man, he’s good.

  “Are you okay?” He stared down at her with genuine concern.

  “Yeah,” she squeezed the word out. “I just can’t breathe.”

  Cursing under his breath, Grant hopped off her much more quickly than she’d expect a man of his size. “Sorry. Here.” He held out his hand for her to take.

  Accepting the help, Brynnon was pulled gently to her feet. Grant went over and studied the fallen scaffolding closely. When he was finished, he turned back to her.

  With his hands resting on his hips, he asked, “You sure you’re okay?”

  “I-I think so.” She nodded, but looked down at herself just to be sure. Her right arm was a little sore, but other than that, she was fine. “Yeah. I-I’m good.”

  She glanced over his shoulder toward the massive pile of metal and broken wood. A shiver ran down her spine, knowing how much worse it could’ve been.

  “Are you?” When Brynnon brought her eyes back to his, the hard expression on his face damn near caused her to recoil.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” he hissed through his teeth. “You could’ve been killed.”

  Great. Her valiant protector was back in pissed-off bodyguard mode. Just when I thought he was softening up to me a little.

  “Uh, I was thinking that the window up there needed to be closed.”

  A muscle beneath his dark scruff bulged as he clenched his handsome jaw together. “What if you’d been alone?”

  She thought about all the times she had worked on the scaffolding with no one else around but decided that was definitely not something she intended to share with Grumpy McGrumperson. Instead, she gave him another truth.

  “I always keep my phone in my pocket while I’m working.” From the fire shooting from his eyes, that was not the right answer.

  “And if it breaks or you’re knocked unconscious?”

  The same frustration she felt last night started to seep back in. “Look, Grant. I appreciate your concern, but I’m a big girl. I’ve been doing this sort of thing for years, and that’s the first time anything like this has ever happened.”

  Nostrils still flaring, he looked as though he wanted to continue reprimanding her. Instead, he rolled his lips inward before telling her, “From now on, you need something done up there, I’ll do it.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me. You have no business being up on that death trap.”

  “Why? Because I’m a woman?”

  “It has nothing to do with your gender. You’re not going back up there beca
use it’s not safe.”

  “Says the Navy SEAL who’s probably gone into some of the world’s most dangerous places.”

  “That was my job.”

  “And this is mine!” A few seconds passed before Brynnon broke the uncomfortable silence. “Look, I told you last night. I don’t take orders from you.”

  “Wrong.” His gray eyes pinned her down. “You agreed to when it came to your safety.

  “From a perceived threat against my father, which has nothing to do with what just happened. The things I have to do for my job or to get this place ready do not concern you.”

  “My job is to protect you. Which means any threat against your safety concerns me.”

  They were still staring each other down when Brynnon’s phone rang. Pulling it from her pocket, she couldn’t resist showing him the screen. “Oh, look. It’s not broken.”

  With a smart-ass smile, she answered Angie’s call. “Hey, Ang. What’s up?”

  “Have you checked your email lately?”

  “No, I’ve been...” Brynnon glanced back up at Grant. “Busy.”

  “Busy, huh? That hunk of a bodyguard you told me about still hanging around?”

  She didn’t miss the woman’s mischievous tone. She should’ve known better than to mention Grant when Angie called before the open house this morning.

  “Ang,” she warned her friend not to go there.

  “What?” The other woman’s tone changed from devilish to angelic in a snap. “I’m just anxious to hear how busy you’ve been. That’s all.”

  Brynnon rolled her eyes. “Uh, huh. You mentioned an email?”

  Angie sighed. “Fine. Be a killjoy. And there are emails. Plural.”

  “Okay, I’ll bite. What were they?”

  “Offers from today. Three, to be exact.”

  Forgetting for a moment they’d just been arguing, Brynnon shot a smile in Grant’s direction. “Seriously? That’s great! Were they reasonable?”

  “Well, considering one was for the asking price and the two others were over it, yeah. I’d say they were pretty reasonable.”

  “Sweet! Okay, listen. I’m at the cabin right now. We’re about to leave, but I won’t be home for over an hour, so can you please write each of them back with the usual counter? We’ll see if any write back and go from there.”

  “Sure thing. And listen...anything happens between you and the guarder of your body, I’d better be the first to hear about it.”

  Knowing she was probably blushing, Brynnon told her friend, “I’m hanging up now.”

  “I’m serious!”

  Laughing, Brynnon said goodbye and ended the call.

  “Good news?”

  He wasn’t smiling—shocker—but he wasn’t scowling quite as fiercely, either.

  “We got three offers on the house. All at or above the asking price.”

  Grant tipped his head. “Congratulations.”

  “Thanks.” Feeling badly about the way she’d treated him after he’d practically saved her life, Brynnon sighed. “Listen. In all the excitement with...that”—she motioned toward the death trap that used to be her friend’s scaffolding—“I never did say thank you. You could have been seriously hurt, jumping under me like that, but you didn’t hesitate.”

  He shrugged. “It’s my job.”

  His job. Right. She really needed to remember that’s all she was to him.

  Ignoring the sting she shouldn’t feel, Brynnon said, “Regardless. Thank you.”

  Grant gave her another nod. “We should get going.”

  “Okay.”

  “What do you want to do about that?” He nodded toward the heap.

  “Leave it. I’ll deal with it later. I should probably call the owner and let him know what happened, though. I’ll offer to pay for a replacement.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “No, actually, I’m not. He let me borrow it and I broke it.”

  “You didn’t break it. It broke. There’s a difference. The guy’s lucky you didn’t get hurt.”

  “But I’m the one who put it together. Not him.” Brynnon looked over at the mess again. “I must not have tightened something down enough.”

  Even as she said it, she knew that wasn’t what happened. She’d used scaffoldings just like that one several times over the years. Not once had she ever had one wobble, let alone collapse like that one had.

  “It could’ve been a manufacturing issue, for all we know.” She looked back at Grant. “I’ll deal with it later.”

  Grabbing her jacket from the barstool where she’d left it, Brynnon put it on and followed him out the door. The chill in the air had more of a bite to it than when they first got there, making Brynnon excited for the impending winter weather.

  Texas wasn’t known for getting much snow, but the farmer’s almanac, along with every weather forecaster around the country, were predicting a much higher-than-average amount this year. As a kid, she’d always wished for a few feet of the stuff so she could build a snowman or throw snowballs at her brother. Unfortunately, the only time she ever got to play in the snow was when her family went to Colorado on the occasional skiing trip.

  Grant started the truck but didn’t put it in drive right away. Instead, he sat there, looking at her cabin and the immediate area around it.

  “You’re awfully secluded out here.”

  She glanced over at him. “That’s kind of the whole point.”

  “What are your plans for security?”

  Brynnon wondered when he was going to bring that up. “I keep meaning to get a security system installed.” She looked at her cabin’s front door and back to him. An idea struck. “Hey, doesn’t your firm install those?”

  “We do.”

  “Great. I’ll just hire you guys to do it, then. Can you get me in touch with whoever I need to talk with to get it all set up?”

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  She wanted to argue about him taking over, but something in his eyes told Brynnon he was actually pleased she wanted his company to handle that end of things.

  “Okay. Just get me some quotes on the systems you think are the best and let me know what it costs. We can go from there.”

  With his signature nod, Grant began driving them back to the city. “I still need a schedule from you that covers the next two weeks, at least.”

  Crap. She’d given him the list of contacts but completely forgot about the schedule. “I’ll get that done as soon as we get to the condo.”

  “That’s fine. What’s on the agenda for tomorrow?”

  She hesitated, unsure of how he would react to her plans. “Sunday brunch at my father’s at ten-thirty. After that, we need to make a trip to Children’s Medical.”

  “Children’s Medical?” He actually sounded concerned. “Someone sick?”

  She smiled sadly. “Almost every kiddo there.” When he gave her a no shit look, Brynnon figured she should explain.

  “A nonprofit group I’m associated with delivers Christmas gifts to the cancer wing each year. Tomorrow’s the day we scheduled for this year.”

  Grant’s lips became pinched, and his right eye twitched slightly.

  “Seriously? You’re going to get upset about this, too?”

  “I’m not upset,” he grumbled.

  “Could’ve fooled me.”

  The confusing man’s chest rose and fell with a deep breath. “It’s not ideal, from a security standpoint. But what you’re doing”—he glanced over at her, his expression softening a tad— “It’s a good thing.”

  “Oh.” With a chagrined smile, she offered a soft, “Thanks.”

  Okay, so maybe she needed to quit jumping to conclusions where he was concerned. Of course, it would help if the man changed his expression once in a while, rather than wearing that perpetual scowl all the freaking time.

  After a few minutes of awkward silence, she spoke again. “One of the few things I like about my father being a senator is the charity work I’ve been given acc
ess to through his platforms. Among collecting and delivering presents to the children at the hospital, this particular charity works throughout the year to help Children’s Medical raise money for juvenile cancer research.”

  At the mention of cancer, a shadow crossed over Grant’s face. Before Brynnon could ask him about it, he changed the subject.

  “After I drop you off at your car, I’ll follow you to your condo. Once we get there, I need to—”

  “Clear the inside and check the perimeter.” She smiled over at him. “I know.”

  Though he didn’t actually smile, there was a small twitch at the corner of his mouth. She swallowed hard, thinking of what it would feel like to kiss him there. To kiss him everywhere.

  Thoughts of earlier ran through her head, and she couldn’t help but be impressed with what she’d felt while he was lying on top of her. There’d been a definite bulge pressing against her thigh. Unless he was hiding a second gun in the crotch of his jeans, the man was seriously blessed.

  You’re just a job, remember? Brynnon’s spirit was instantly dulled. Damn that tiny voice, anyway.

  For the rest of the ride, she tried to forget all about the way his warm, hard chest felt beneath her palm while standing in the upstairs room. Focusing instead on a mental to-do list, she worked diligently to erase the memory of the other hard body part she’d felt.

  It worked, too. Until later.

  Lying in bed, she kept fighting against memories of him racing to her rescue. Wrapping himself protectively around her. His body pressing against hers on the cabin floor.

  Her body ached for his touch, but she knew that was impossible. For a minute, she thought about quietly getting herself off but then felt weird doing that knowing he was lying downstairs, asleep on her couch. Plus, knowing her luck—and him—the hard-ass would probably decide to do an impromptu intruder drill and burst into her room mid-orgasm.

  More than a little frustrated, Brynnon turned onto her side, punched her pillow harder than necessary, and forced her eyes closed. Instead of thinking about how incredible sex with Grant would almost certainly be, she began plotting ways she could talk her dad into forgetting about this whole bodyguard nonsense when she saw him at brunch tomorrow.