Rendezvous (Renegades 5)

“You’ve been here that long?”

“Mostly.” He kept one hand curled loosely around hers and used the other to scrape his fingers through his hair. His smooth, thick, jet-black hair. Hair she’d only felt between her fingers that one time on the beach. “I’m doing the fight and stunt scenes in Rogue Justice. Have you heard of—”

“Really?” She almost screeched, barely pulling her voice back a notch in time to save her dignity. She slapped a hand over her mouth and darted an embarrassed look around the restaurant. “I can’t believe I just did that. You’d think I’d never met anyone famous before.”

That made Keaton laugh, and Lord, when the boy smiled, really smiled, Brooke’s heart could have been directly attached to a power plant. His looks put the man solidly in the tall, dark, and panty-melting category. Sometimes he looked Italian, sometimes Greek. His Asian characteristics were there—in his high cheekbones, in the slight taper to his eyes—but no one ethnicity ruled his looks. Not like Brooke with her dark hair, blue eyes, and white skin that burned before it tanned, instantly tagging her as one of the black Irish.

But what made Keaton unforgettable to Brooke was this quirky, funny, warm, intricate side of the man she’d gotten to know during her weeks in Los Angeles.

“I’ll take your fangirling any day of the week,” he told her.

“I love that show,” she said. “Oh my God, I wish I’d known. I can’t believe Ellie didn’t tell me during one of our conversations. Now I’m totally going to marathon the whole season and fast-forward to the fight scenes just to watch you. That’s so awesome. Wow, and intense,” she added, thinking back through the episodes of the action-drama built around a political conspiracy plot. “Those fight scenes are…complicated and violent and long.”

“Tell me about it.” He rolled his right shoulder. “My body is screaming in agreement with you.”

“Oh…” She winced, wishing she could ma

ssage out every last ache. “Ouch.”

He waved it away. “Nothing a few meds can’t fix.” He wrapped both his big hands around hers, his fingers loose and warm—like his body. He had a way of being so alert, so intense, so focused, while also being so completely relaxed, so utterly comfortable in his own body. It was the sexiest thing Brooke had ever seen. “Let’s talk about you. Tell me about this new job. How long are you in town?”

Oh yeah. That. That tedious part of her life that had driven her to the apple pie in the first place. The one that felt like an anvil locked around her ankle. She hadn’t been proud of having to take the first and best-paying job she could find, and she was even less proud of who she’d had to take the job with, so she’d asked Ellie to play it down if anyone asked. Evidently, she had, and if Brooke didn’t have to get into the ugly details of it with Keaton, she’d prefer not to.

“We’re scheduled to be here eight weeks,” she told him, pausing while she searched for ways not to talk about a subject so central to both their lives—work.

“Then back to Florida?” he prodded.

She smiled and nodded. “Yeah.”

“So…?” he said, grinning in a what’s up? sort of way. “You’re awfully quiet. We always used to talk over each other. Tell me about this new gig.”

She went for a vague approach. “It’s the best-paying job I’ve ever had.”

“Sweet.” He paused, waited, lifted his brows. “But…?”

“Let’s just say she’s no Ellie.”

His mouth compressed into a commiserating smirk, and he nodded. “Ellie does leave some pretty big shoes to fill.”

“I guess a country music blockbuster with a heart of gold is a little hard to follow.”

“And you hooked up with her from the very beginning. That creates a special bond. You can’t expect to have that with every boss.”

She nodded, dropped her gaze to their hands, and added her free hand to the pile, covering his. “You’re right.”

“You two were also more friends than employer-employee.”

“True, but she was good to everyone.”

“She still is. She’s an amazing person. As are you,” he said with a squeeze of her hand. “Which is why you two were so good together.” He drew a hand from their knot and tucked her hair behind her ear with the softest look in those dark eyes of his. “Change is hard.” He paused, searching her eyes, then asked, “Are you seeing anyone?”

She didn’t understand at first. “As in dating?” When he nodded, she shook her head with a laugh. “Me, no. No time. Between the job, and my family…” She shrugged. Then forced herself to ask the same, even though she really didn’t want to hear the answer. “You?”

“Nah.”

When he blew off the idea, Brooke dug a little deeper. “Should I translate that into you’re still just sleeping around.”

He laughed. “If I had any kind of morals or values, I’d be hurt.” But there was something subdued in his tone, and she wondered if she had actually hurt him. Before she could apologize, he added, “But, seriously, no, I’m not seeing anyone, even casually. I’m in…”