Since I Fell for You

by Bella Andre

Finally, she got up out of her chair to come at him. Close enough for him to see that her pupils had dilated slightly. "I can't believe you're grilling me for the details," she shot at him. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were jealous."

  She was wearing another outfit today that should be illegal--a sexy dress that cupped her breasts and waist and fluttered around her thighs, with fire-red heels that were the cherry on top of the sexy outfit. She was always breathtakingly beautiful, but when her eyes were spitting fire like this, he was hard-pressed not to give in to the answering fire leaping inside him.

  Nonetheless, he couldn't let her know that she was dead on the money about jealousy eating away at him. He had no right to care that she'd slept with someone else. He wasn't her boyfriend. Wasn't anything but the paid help. Unfortunately, those hard, cold facts weren't doing a damned thing to douse his feelings.

  Deliberately ignoring her comment, in as measured a voice as he could manage with her scent drawing him in even deeper, he said, "You wouldn't impede anyone else here in doing their job." From her reaction to hearing the guy's name, he now realized she truly didn't think she had been keeping anything from him in the taxi that morning when he'd asked about who might be a personal threat. She truly thought this guy she'd had a two-night stand with was harmless. If there was any chance at all that he wasn't, Roman needed to know. "Help me do mine."

  "I can already tell you that you're barking up the wrong tree, but so you don't feel like I've left one single thing out, the second--and last--time Craig and I had sex, we were at SecureCon." He could feel the bravado behind her words, the way she was trying to act so tough about sleeping with some guy she had no emotional connection with. But Roman knew firsthand how empty that could leave you. "Since he hadn't made a big deal about the first time we hooked up, I decided to give him another whirl."

  In her fury, she'd moved close enough that her chest was now pressed against his. He could feel how soft she was, how perfect. Sweet Lord, he'd known this job was going to be hard, but he'd had no idea how difficult things could get.

  "Is that enough detail for you," she said, "or do you need positions too?"

  Visions hit him--hard--of Suzanne naked and entwined with some other guy. Those pictures in his head twisted his gut into knots, even as he could barely look away from her full, red lips. Lips he was barely holding himself back from tasting.

  Devouring.

  "I've got what I need now," he gritted out past a jaw clenched brutally tight. Roman couldn't believe he had spent twenty years honing his control, only to have one beautiful, brilliant woman unravel it as easily as she would a ball of yarn.

  "Well, that's good to hear," she said with no small measure of sarcasm. "Let me know if you change your mind, and I'll be happy to walk you through every single thing we did during our two nights together."

  As far as Roman could see, Suzanne didn't believe much in fighting--she usually leaned toward calm and rational to make her point when she was working. But when she finally decided to get into the ring, she was scrappy. His respect for her rose another notch even as jealousy continued to hit him low and hard in the gut from her well-aimed jab.

  Right now, however, he needed to clear the red haze from his brain so that he could make a plan to keep Suzanne safe for a couple of hours while he went to put the fear of God into Craig.

  And yet, in the moment, he didn't see how he could possibly do anything but erase that final inch between them, how he could stop himself from dragging her all the way into his arms and crushing her mouth beneath his.

  He almost had his hands on her--was this close to kissing her--when a knock sounded at the door. She bounded out of his almost-embrace at the same moment he forced himself to take a step back.

  They were both surprised to hear Harry's voice. "Hey, Suz. Can I come in?"

  He watched as Suzanne worked to pull herself together so that she could open the door for her brother without looking as if she'd been on the verge of making out with her bodyguard.

  "Of course you can." She pasted on a smile and opened her arms. "What a nice surprise."

  Harry returned her hug, but frowned as he pulled away and took a closer look at her outfit. He seemed to be especially surprised by her shoes. "You look..." He shook his head as if he couldn't quite believe his eyes. "I've never seen you wearing such..."

  "These clothes have been hanging in my closet forever!"

  "Sorry." Harry seemed to realize that he'd upset her. "You look really nice, sis. Just a little fancier than usual." When her expression barely softened, he wisely stopped digging himself deeper. "I was hoping you might be able to squeeze me in for lunch. Any chance of that?"

  Finally, she gave him a smile. "I'd love it." Her smile faded again as she turned back to Roman. "You can trust me to have a meal alone with my brother, right?"

  "You bet. I'm going to step out while you two eat." He looked at Harry. "It would be great if you'd stay with Suzanne until I return."

  Her mouth set into a hard--but still gorgeous--line. "I don't need a constant babysitter."

  "I didn't only come to eat," Harry said, obviously working to smooth things over with the sister he adored. "I also wanted to get your thoughts on some new research I've been trying to figure out how to best present to my students. You always seem to have a knack for getting inside their heads."

  Looking slightly appeased by the fact that her brother was looking for her advice, she put her arm through Harry's and walked away from Roman without a second glance.

  CHAPTER NINE

  "I was going to ask how things are going with Roman," Harry said as they headed for her company's dining hall, "but from that exchange I just witnessed, it seems I've already got my answer."

  Still fuming, Suzanne replied, "It's bad enough that he thinks he's in charge of my safety, as if I can't take care of myself, but now he's digging into--"

  She bit back the rest of her sentence when several of her employees came over to Harry to say hello. Her brothers were always a hit around the office, partly because they were so nice to everyone at her company parties--but mostly, she suspected, because they were so good looking. Thankfully, her brothers knew better than to date anyone on her staff. Few things would need more damage control than if Alec or Harry broke one of her engineers' hearts.

  Bypassing the sushi and salad bars, she headed straight for the burger and fries station. Normally, she ate healthier food, but after her showdown with Roman--a showdown she was all but certain she had lost--she needed to drown her irritation in a big plate of grease.

  After she and Harry had their food on trays, she suggested they head back to her office. They usually ate in here with everyone else, but she was afraid she was going to have a hard time keeping her voice down while talking about Roman.

  No one had ever torn at her self-control the way he did. Right from the first night she'd met him, he'd driven her absolutely bonkers. The only silver lining, she thought with a slightly evil upturn of her lips, was that she was certain she was driving him equally nuts.

  Back in her office, Suzanne and Harry sat at the glass cafe table in the corner by the window...after she cleaned off the stack of computers, tablets, and phones that had taken up residence there.

  Harry, who could eat pretty much anyone under the table and never gain an ounce due to the jousting and fencing he loved so much, immediately dug into his food. Suzanne, on the other hand, couldn't eat anything just yet. Not when her stomach was still so twisted up over Roman's behavior.

  Not when she was still so twisted up over her own behavior.

  Because even when she'd been furious with him for accusing her of keeping her fling with Craig from him, she had wanted to kiss him.

  "What exactly is Roman digging into?" Harry asked.

  She stood up and started pacing. "My personal life."

  She hadn't meant to spit the words at her brother. Although it was his fault that Roman was around in the first place.

  When a pang hit
her in the middle of the chest at the thought of Roman not being around, she got even angrier. It wasn't like her to waffle like this or to be wishy-washy over a guy. And it definitely wasn't like her to break her own hard-and-fast rules about men. Rules she'd vowed to keep as soon as she'd been old enough to understand how destructive her parents' marriage had been.

  She had always made sure that the men she dated fell into a specific category. Good looking and fun and intelligent, of course, but also careful not to push her too far or too fast. The men she'd been with had been respectful of her wanting to move their relationship forward at a safe, careful, civilized speed.

  Whereas the sparks that kept shooting between her and Roman felt almost primitive. Reckless. Wild. All the out-of-control emotions that had torn her parents to shreds.

  "What parts of your personal life is he digging into?" In typical Harry style, his tone was gentle.

  She hadn't told any of her brothers about sleeping with one of the founders of CP Systems. It wasn't something they or anyone else needed to know. Now, however, she hated feeling as though she had deliberately hidden it from them. Because wasn't that what Roman had been insinuating earlier? That she should have divulged this information to him when they were talking about anyone who might have it in for her? He'd seemed so angry. So distrustful.

  It had hurt to have him look at her like that. More than it should have, when all they were supposed to be to each other was bodyguard and client. Definitely more than it should have when she was currently supposed to be implementing a plan to get him to resign and leave her to go back to the way her life had been before him. Before everything had felt so electric and heated and--

  She was doing it again, letting herself spin off on conflicted thoughts and feelings about Roman. She forced her attention back to answering her brother's question. "He's been doing background checks on everyone I come into contact with. And he's got a crazy idea that one of the guys I've"--she paused to search for the right word--"dated could have done this."

  "Someone you've dated?" Harry mulled that over. "What makes Roman think it might be personal?"

  She looked out her windows over the park. It was a great day outside. The sky was bright blue, the trees were leafy and green, and flowers were blooming everywhere. If only she could be out there running instead of trapped in her office with Harry having the most mortifying conversation of her life.

  "I was--" Darn it, how could she possibly find the right words? Although Harry tended to be the most reasonable of her three brothers, he was protective enough that she was wary of oversharing. But since there was no way around this now, she made herself say, "Intimate." They both grimaced, and she wanted to drop her face into her hands and hide as she finished, "With one of the founders of CP Systems."

  Harry dropped his fork onto his plate with a clang. "What the hell, Suz?" He looked nearly as upset as Roman. "How could you just mention this now?"

  "Because," she said, unable to hold back a scowl, "like I told Roman, Craig would never hurt me. Trust me, even if he cared that I ended things after we got together those couple of times--which he didn't--he doesn't have it in him."

  Harry pushed away from the table and moved to where she was standing at the window. "I do trust you, Suz. We all do. But even nice people can do crazy stuff when their egos are crushed."

  "I didn't crush his ego. It wasn't even anything serious."

  "Maybe it wasn't serious to you, but what if it was to him?"

  Suzanne knew she could be stubborn, but she always tried to make sure that stubbornness didn't edge over into stupid just so she could win her point. When Roman had suggested that Craig might have been more upset than he'd seemed over "losing" her, she'd outright rejected it. But now that Harry was saying the same thing...

  She finally accepted that she needed to make herself take a closer look at whether she was wearing rose-colored glasses where Craig was concerned. Maybe she should reach out to him to make sure everything was as okay between them as she'd thought.

  Yes, she decided, that approach made the most sense. And then once she confirmed that Craig wasn't an issue, she'd make sure Roman understood that the rest of her personal life was off-limits.

  "Okay," she said as she turned to Harry, "I'll admit that you've made me think. I promise I'll look more closely at this possibility."

  But instead of looking happy about it, Harry said, "Maybe you should let Roman look into it, Suz."

  "No." She wouldn't bend on this. "I'm not going to tiptoe around anyone. If I hurt someone's feelings, I'm going to be the one to ask if that's what I've done. And then I'm going to fix it."

  Harry looked as though he wanted to give her more unwanted advice. Wisely, all he said was, "Just be careful, okay? We love you too much to let anything happen to you."

  "I love you too. I love all of you, even if you need to stop poking your noses into my life."

  "Drake and Alec will be glad to hear that you've forgiven us."

  "You and Drake, maybe. But Alec..." She scowled. "You don't have to tell me that he's the one who steamrolled this whole bodyguard thing. I can guess. And I'll tell you what, I really don't appreciate the way it's tumbled my life upside down."

  "Is it really that bad having Roman around?" Harry held up a hand before she could shout yes at him. "Let me ask that another way. From the time I've spent with him, he seems to have a solid head on his shoulders. And Alec wouldn't vouch for someone he doesn't respect the hell out of. Are we both wrong?"

  Sometimes she hated being fair. But no matter how annoyed she was with Roman right now--no matter how annoyed she was for the totally unacceptable feelings she was having for Roman--she couldn't live with herself if she told her brother lies about him.

  "I suppose solid is a good word." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Like a big block of cement who is always there whether I'm working or running or with family."

  "Doing his job, in other words."

  "I suppose so. It's just that..." She tried to put her conflicted emotions into words. "I can never quite focus when he's around."

  "You?" Harry looked extremely surprised. "Lose focus?"

  "You have no idea how much of a struggle it's been to get things done since Roman's been following me around. He always finds a way to rile me up."

  "That's interesting."

  Realizing far too late that she'd said far too much, she quickly changed the subject. "Any word from Dad?"

  Instead of answering, her brother gently put his hands on her shoulders and moved her back toward the table. "I know how busy your days are here. Sit and eat before someone comes knocking on the door needing you to solve all their problems." After she'd sat and picked up her burger, he said, "It sounds like Dad's been really busy lately on a last-second project that popped up."

  "A new house for someone on the lake?" She took a bite of her burger, and it was so delicious she immediately took another bite before even finishing the first.

  "He said he'd be able to tell us more about it soon."

  "Sounds mysterious."

  "Dad always is."

  When Suzanne's mother took her own life three decades ago, William Sullivan had pulled back from his four children. Very recently, Suzanne and her brothers had learned that lingering grief over losing his beloved wife wasn't the only reason their father had become so remote. It turned out that he blamed himself--and his obsessive love that had manifested itself as hundreds of paintings of her--for Lynn Sullivan's death.

  Suzanne had made sure to tell him that she would never in a million years blame him for her mother's suicide. But while she wasn't sure he believed she meant it, or if he would ever be able to absolve himself of the guilt he felt, at least they were slowly inching closer to the father-daughter relationship she had always longed for.

  "What about you?" Since she had just divulged the most embarrassing thing in the world to her brother, she wanted something from him too. "Seeing anyone lately?" Women threw themselves at her good-looking
academic brother, but none of them had ever managed to make inroads into Harry's heart.

  When he shook his head, she asked, "Surely there's someone you've got your eye on?"

  "No, there isn't."

  She would have taken his denial at face value had it not been for how fast and how firm it was. As if he wasn't only trying to convince her that he wasn't interested in a specific person--he was trying to convince himself too.

  Lord knew she understood that situation all too well right about now...

  Harry was saved by a knock at her door. "Come in," Suzanne called. She'd just have to keep working to get the dirt on whatever her brother was hiding from her.

  "I'm sorry to disturb the two of you," Jeannie said, "but I've got Cinthia from Brazil on line one. I know you've been trying to reach her for a while."

  Harry sat on the couch and reached for one of the pads of paper on the table in front of him. "Go ahead and take the call, Suz. I want to write down some thoughts I've just had about an upcoming talk I'm giving. And then once you're off, I'd still like your feedback about how to best approach that new research I mentioned earlier."

  She had a feeling there wasn't really any big problem he needed her help with--and they both knew he could make his notes anywhere else than her office couch. But since he'd given his word to Roman to keep watch over her until he returned, Harry wasn't going anywhere for the time being.

  "Sure," she said, eating one last French fry before she picked up the phone and pushed Roman into the very back of her brain.

  Unfortunately, even without him standing in the corner of her office taking everything in with his dark, intense eyes--and even while dealing with business matters that demanded every ounce of her focus--she still couldn't stop thinking about him.

  No matter how hard she tried.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Roman covered the handful of city blocks to Craig Boylan's corporate headquarters in record time. He knew better than to let emotion get the best of him. Battles were always better fought with cool and calm.

  But just thinking about Suzanne sleeping with this guy made Roman's blood boil. It had been a long time since he had used his fists for sport, but his hands were clenched tight as he shoved through the glossy black doors of the CP Systems building.