The Girl Next Door (Shadow Agents 6)

He heard the clatter of Gabrielle’s footsteps. Rachel had brought her a pair of high heels that morning, and it sounded like Gabrielle was trying to race away in them. He jumped down the stairs and caught her, locking his fingers around her wrist. “Partner—” he stressed the word “—just where are you going?”

“Digging,” she mumbled. “Going to find my shovel and dig.”

What? He pulled her closer, positioning them into the shadows under the stairs. As far as privacy went, this place was their best bet. “I want to know what your boss told you.”

She bit her lower lip.

I want to bite it.

He shoved the thought back into the darkness of his mind. Later, he could try to get that delectable mouth beneath his again. At that moment, he had to find out if the EOD agents had been compromised.

Gabrielle shook her head. “I don’t want to risk you. This thing...it’s bigger than I thought. If possible, even more dangerous.” She tugged her arm free from him. “The partnership was a bad idea.”

Oh, no. This could not happen. He held his body perfectly still. “I thought the partnership had saved your hide a few times. Your boss was the one just saying you needed a bodyguard.”

“But who protects the bodyguard?” Gabrielle asked, voice sad and a little lost. “I didn’t think about the risk to you. I was only concerned with myself. I can’t do that anymore. I can’t put you in jeopardy.”

She was protecting him? He hadn’t needed protection, not since he’d been a kid.

A scared teenager, clinging tightly to his mother’s hand and begging her not to leave him. The memory flashed through his mind. There had been tears in his mother’s eyes. She’d promised him, promised, that no matter what, she’d always be with him.

His mother had lied. Before night had fallen, she’d been gone.

He’d been alone. No father. No grandparents.

Alone.

“I’m sorry, Cooper,” Gabrielle told him. “But this is where we end. I’ll pay you for the time you helped me.”

Back to payment? A growl rose in his throat.

“You can’t work with me any longer. There are things that you’re better off not knowing about at this point.” She headed down the stairs.

He stared after her a moment. She was seriously trying to protect him, him, from the EOD.

Right now, he hated his job.

The secrets between them weighed heavily on his shoulders, but he knew he couldn’t let things end like this.

Despite what she’d said, they weren’t even close to an end.

He stalked after her. Just as she was about to reach for the door that would take her to the ground floor, his hand lifted, and he shoved his palm against that do

or, making sure she couldn’t open it.

Her scent—so sweet and light, not like the cloying scent of Penelope’s perfume—teased his nose.

He bent his head closer to hers, following that tempting scent. “I’m not the kind of man who gets frightened by a little danger.”

“It’s not little.” She turned her head, met his gaze. “And I can’t let you take this risk for me.”

She was being honest. Brave. Caring. She was ripping his guts apart. He stared into her eyes, and he wanted her.

Yet the truth was that she was so far out of his league it wasn’t even funny.

She deserved someone who was just as honest as she was, someone who wasn’t working a second agenda.

Someone who might not have to contain her.