“And yet, you never had a bodyguard,” he said flatly.
“Well, no one was after me,” I said defensively. “I was never in danger. And sometimes the venue provided a bouncer to hang out by my dressing room or whatever. I had Sledge to walk me out. I usually have a ton of friends at my shows… I’m never alone.”
He just stared at me for a moment, his jaw hardening again.
Then he looked away, out the window.
When we pulled up to the hotel, Andre dropped us at the front entrance and Ronan escorted me up to my room. He walked me in without a word, turned on the lights and searched the room before heading back to the door.
“What’s wrong, Ronan?” I asked him. Because something was wrong.
Something was going on. Something more than his usual hard-ass security guy routine. And more than the thing at the club tonight.
I could feel it.
Ever since this morning, he’d been edgy and tense. And it was starting to put me on edge, too.
I was all stressed out now, thanks to some idiot gangbangers who’d decided to tear apart a perfectly lovely fundraiser over… whatever. Money? Territory? Male egos gone totally out of control?
I needed to destress, and so far, it wasn’t happening. With Ronan all tense, I couldn’t seem to relax.
For someone I’d only known a week, I was waaay too tuned into him and his moods.
He was standing by the door, and he drew a deep breath before he looked up and met my eyes. “Tell me. Is that really the kind of people you want around you?”
“What people?”
“I mean, is that the kind of man you want?”
I stared at him.
After what just happened… he was challenging me about my feelings for Yancy, of all things?
Before I could even respond to that, he said, “Because I’m telling you, Summer, that is the kind of man who shrivels when someone tries to break into your house in the middle of the night.”
“I was never planning to marry Yancy,” I informed him. “He’s always made it clear that he’s attracted to me, but we had a working relationship. Tonight was just a work thing.”
“Right. Well, you might want to screen your ‘work things’ a little better. You deserve better.”
I just kept staring at him.
He stared back.
“I realize that,” I said slowly. “And if I knew what was going to happen, I never would’ve asked you to leave me at the club.”
He straightened. “That wasn’t—”
“I didn’t exactly expect a black tie brawl to break out in the middle of the event.” I sniffed a little. I wasn’t crying, but I was close. Not sadness, but frustration.
And my reaction to the whole experience, which was really starting to kick in—sending my emotions in every direction at once. I wanted to take a hot shower and wash off the whole thing. I wanted him to stop looking at me like that.
I wanted to curl up in his arms.
But I stood where I was, alone.
Why didn’t I bring any of my girlfriends with me on this trip? I usually brought a friend when I traveled.
This time… I brought Ronan.
“Summer…” He shook his head, like he was frustrated, too. “I just want you to be safe.”
“I know.”
That was the job. The one he’d told me, the very first day he came on as my bodyguard, that he’d bleed out on my living room floor for, if it came to that.
He walked over to me. He reached up and lay his hand gently on the side of my neck. He was so warm. His thumb whispered over my jaw as that incredible electricity between us danced across my skin. It buzzed through my body and made me feel light in the head.
Couldn’t he feel it?
“You want a man who will stand up for you when shit gets rough,” he said in a low, gentle voice.
Then his hand dropped away.
I nodded a little. I didn’t know what to say.
“Stay in this room and keep the door locked.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
He left, and the door closed softly in his wake.
Chapter Sixteen
Ronan
I stalked over to my hotel room, just down the hall from Summer’s… pissed right off.
I was fucking kicking myself for leaving her at the club. For not being glued to her side when the shit hit the fan.
For letting other people get into my head.
Naveen, warning me not to go off the deep end with this assignment. Andre, after I’d dumped that drink on Yancy, telling me to chill out, walk the room before I did something else I’d regret. (I didn’t regret it.)
Worst of all, I’d let Summer get into my head.
I’m fine. I’ve got Yancy.
Why the fuck did I leave her with that guy?
No alpha in history had ever been named Yancy. The man was beyond useless. Was probably more afraid of breaking a nail than Summer getting hurt.
And Summer was scared.
Andre was on top of things, of course, but there wasn’t much he could do when chaos broke out and chairs started flying—except lock her in that office backstage. By the time I found him, most of the bar had been cleared out and Summer was in there with most of the female staff.
The look of fear and relief on her face when she saw me did me in.
I had a major soft spot for this woman.
When I looked at her… it was almost like I had a heart or something.
In the car on the way here, I’d almost broken right down and touched her. Again.
Already touched her way too much on the way out of the bar. I did not need to hold her hand like that, or put my hands on her bare skin at all, or brush her hair off her neck when I gave her my jacket.
But I did.
I could still feel her
