There could be advantages, she thought suddenly, to letting him into her bed. Her life could get more exciting.
“Not on your life.” He disabused her of that idea quickly. “We’ll take the Bronco. It’s secure.”
“Can’t outmaneuver the bad guys on your bike then? I understand.”
“No, I can’t outmaneuver bullets when I don’t know which direction they could come from,” he informed her. “The Harley is for times when it’s safe enough to forgo protection. You’re not there yet.”
Emily paused and stared back at him in surprise.
“I’m not going to argue with you, Emily. I always have a reason for saying no. Realize that now. Because the day could come when I won’t have time for explanations.” A grin tugged at his lips as she watched him closely.
“I’ll try to do that.” She finally nodded as she wondered who the hell Kell Krieger was, and why he was so different from the bodyguards her father usually managed to acquire.
“Do more than try. Find enough control to make it happen. I have to be able to trust you when things go from sugar to shit, darlin’. Let’s make an effort to ensure I have that trust if that time comes.”
She watched him closely then. Seeing more than the man she wanted to sleep with, seeing more than the hired muscle her father had brought in to protect her. She saw a man. She saw shadows in his eyes and realized how often she had caught the flash of hidden demons lurking beneath the surface.
What had made him a man strong enough to realize that she didn’t want to be patted on the head and put on a shelf?
“I’ll do that,” she finally answered. “I’ll make the effort.”
He nodded abruptly. “That’s all I ask. Now grab your gear and let’s get on the road. The pilot flying us into Annapolis has his own schedule that he can’t deviate from. So we need to accommodate him.”
She was already moving, heading to the bedroom for the large overnight bag she had packed with a change of clothing. While she was there she grabbed the other change of clothes he had requested before pulling her purse from the dresser and heading back into the living room.
He was waiting for her. He took the change of clothes, stuffed them into a plastic bag then secured it with waterproof tape before shoving it into the black pack he carried along with a regular-sized duffel bag.
“Your neighbor, Ian Richards, is riding in with us,” he announced as he led the way to the door.
“My neighbor Ian?” She stopped and stared at him in confusion. “The blond in the back condo? The one who likes to flash his hard abs at Kira? Let me guess. He’s your partner?”
“That’s the one.” His voice rasped with a hint of male displeasure. “You’re not supposed to notice my partner’s hard abs.”
“They were hard to miss.”
His eyes darkened, his brows lowering, as he deactivated the alarm and unlocked the door. He looked . . . jealous. Emily felt a surge of excitement at the prospect. She hadn’t anticipated that.
“So, was your partner Daddy’s idea too? And was it Daddy’s idea not to tell me he was there?”
“He’s additional protection, nothing more.” He shrugged.
Emily sighed. “At least he’s nice looking. If I have to have trained escorts it helps if they’re good eye candy.”
“Eye candy, huh?” he muttered as he motioned her out. “I’ll have to smash his face a little and fix that.”
Emily looked at the face in question, attached to the hard body dressed in jeans and a cotton shirt, and turned to smirk back at Kell.
“Shame on you,” she said, pitching her voice low enough that only he could hear. “I promise I won’t molest him. You don’t get the same promise.”
“Vixen,” he accused her roughly as he reset the alarm and closed the door as he stepped out. Locking it quickly, he turned back to her, let his hot gaze rake over her. “I might have to spank you for being so insolent.”
She grinned as she tucked the handle of her overnight bag over her shoulder and winked back at him suggestively.
“Spankings only make me worse.”
“That’s what I was hoping.” He grinned smugly. “That just makes it a hell of a lot more pleasurable to give it, sweeth
eart. Didn’t you know that?”