Bare It All

All in all, he made a rugged, mouth-watering package. Alice gulped and asked with some hope, “Are you looking for Reese?”

“Nope.” He scooped up the dog. “Instead of hanging out here while you analyze me, how about we take this little party inside?”

But they weren’t having a party! And how had he known she was analyzing him? “I, ah...”

As if she had no say so at all, Rowdy strode in, and she could have sworn Cash smiled at her as they went past. Alice just managed to get out of Rowdy’s way.

With the back view of him now presented to her, she couldn’t help but notice his muscled tush—and the outline of a big folding knife in his back pocket. She’d barely met him, but it didn’t surprise her that he’d armed himself. In fact, she’d bet he had another weapon or two hidden on his person.

Why was he here?

She had no reason to distrust Rowdy. But then, she had no real reason to trust him either.

Leaving the front door partially ajar, she followed him into her apartment.

They hadn’t been properly introduced, but she knew Rowdy as one of the men involved in the violence yesterday. “You’re Rowdy Yates, Pepper’s brother.”

“And you’re Alice, Reese’s neighbor.” He gave her a killer grin guaranteed to make a woman’s knees wobbly.

Alice didn’t doubt its effectiveness—but he wasted it on her. So far, only Reese had the ability to overwhelm her with his presence.

“Alice Appleton.” Given that Reese now knew her name, there didn’t seem to be much reason for the continued subterfuge—at least, not in that. Concern furrowed her brow. “Is everything okay?”

“You tell me.” Going to her couch as if he visited every day, as if they were somehow old friends instead of brand-new acquaintances, he dropped into a seat. Cash remained on his lap, a look of rapture on his dark face.

Given his exceptional good looks, it wasn’t a hardship to study Rowdy. And in that study, she saw so many emotions. Self-assurance. Even arrogance.

But she also sensed his troubled thoughts. About what? Yesterday he’d been in the middle of extreme circumstances. Reese had told her that Rowdy’s sister had been threatened. How powerless had that made him feel?

He appeared the overprotective sort. But now his sister was with Reese’s good friend, Detective Logan Riske. Did that leave Rowdy somehow displaced? Did he have any other family to turn to?

She had family, and yet, she was still...alone.

“How long are you going to do that?”

Worry for him kept her from embarrassment, and obliterated her usual reserve. “Not much longer.”

“Good.” He got comfortable, one arm along the back of the couch. “I don’t mind female attention—”

“I’m sure you’re used to it.”

“—but now it’s getting a little disturbing. Almost like you’re dissecting me or something.”

“My apologies.” After a moment of hesitation, Alice approached him, decided to sit close and even reached for his hand.

Wariness sharpened his casual posture.

She ignored his unease, and instead went with her instincts. “How are you, Rowdy?”

Taken aback, he scowled. “That’s my question for you.”

“I’m not the one who was threatened yesterday.”

He tried to retrieve his hand, but Cash in his lap hampered him, and she held on. “That wasn’t—”

“A big deal?” Very gently she patted his hand. “Of course it was. Guns were aimed at you, and that means you could have lost your life at any moment.”

“I figured we’d get free.”

Or had he resigned himself to death? Since he’d settled in, she knew she wouldn’t easily get him to leave. Instead of even trying, she held his hand in both of hers and tried a different tack. “I met your sister yesterday. Only briefly and of course not under the best circumstances. She’s very beautiful, and very brave.”

“Yeah, that’s Pepper for you.”

“The two of you are close?”

He stopped straining away and instead scrutinized her. “Very.”

“I understand that she was threatened, as well.” She tipped her head and said without inflection, “Human trafficking, correct?”

His jaw locked as he leaned forward. “Never would have happened. I’d have taken those bastards apart with my bare hands before letting them—”

“I know.” She squeezed his fingers to soothe him, to let him know the coarse language hadn’t offended her. His hands were big and rough. Capable hands—not that it would have mattered. “Good men always feel that way, and yet, you know that women still get hurt.”

Dark eyes narrowed in a scowl. “What do you know about that, Alice?”

Poor Rowdy. He hoped to turn the tables on her by deflecting her concern.

She wouldn’t let him. “I can see your worry, Rowdy. Your vulnerability.”

“What the fuck?” Indignation wasn’t the only emotion coloring his laugh. “I am not vulnerable.”

“The language doesn’t shield you. In fact, it gives away your upset.”

His teeth clenched. “I’m not upset either.”

“Of course you are.” His raised voice was as much an indicator as the guarded expression in his eyes. “About your future,” she insisted, “about what to do next and how to proceed.”

“Proceed with what? Sorry, sweetheart, but you’re not making any sense.”

And now endearments. It was a tactic meant to reduce her conclusions to insignificance. The little woman spouting nonsense. She shook her head in pity. Rowdy didn’t know her fortitude, he didn’t understand that it took a lot more than that to derail her.

“Your sister is in love with a police detective. Where does that leave you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

They both knew better. “For a man who treads a fine line of right and wrong, how difficult must it be to have a cop for a brother-in-law?”

He breathed hard, then muttered, “They’re not married yet.” Pulling his hand from hers, he set Cash aside and stood. After a moment, he shrugged. “But, yeah, I saw her today and it seems they’re making plans at Mach speed.”