Page 62 of Stripping Bare

Still, she reached for his hand and he let her lace her fingers with his. “What happened wasn’t yourfault.”

“Tell Mrs. Vanderwinklethat.”

“You’re going to see her, aren’t you? I could gowith—”

“No, I need to do thisalone.”

“Iunderstand.”

She couldn’t. Not really. No one in Jonah’s life had ever completely understood him, not even Micki. The youngest of four brothers, he’d just wanted to be a protector likethem.

Yet the first time he’d had the chance to truly help someone, he’d done a completely half-assed job. A real hero would’ve stayed with Tessa, protected her from that last son-of-a-bitch who used her. A real hero wouldn’t have left her—alone and bleeding—on her front porch because he was too damn afraid of getting intotrouble.

He was still doing a half-assed job at protecting people he cared about. When they drove up to his house, he pulled the door key off his ring and held it out toher.

“Maybe…maybe I should just go back toAsheville.”

Anger tried to boil up in Jonah again, but he wouldn’t let it. Tessa didn’t deserve that. “No.” He pressed the key into her palm. “This guy is still out there somewhere. You’re safer here than you’d be in yourcondo.”

Indecision flickered in her eyes, stirring up all Jonah’s feelings of lack of control. So he took her hand and looked at her, really met her gaze the way he’d been avoiding since he’d ripped off the goggles to find he’d almost killed Mrs. Vanderwinkle. “Do this for me, please. I don’t know what’s going on here, not completely. But this guy is playing a dangerous game, and it’s obvious he’s not above using the weak to get what hewants.”

“I’m notweak.”

Hell.“I didn’t meanthat.”

“I can’t just sit around and play the damsel in distress. This all started with me, and I won’t cower away while you’re trying to find whoever isresponsible.”

Jonah dug the heels of his palms into his eye sockets. Damn, it felt as if he hadn’t showered or shaved in a decade. “I think he’s using you to get tome.”

“Even if that’s the case, he compromised my files, spray-painted my home, and made threats that may have caused Davey to kill himself. I can’t let that go. I’ve been thinking about who could be behindthis.”

He had,too.

“We know it’s someone with a certain amount of technical skill. Would Carson really be able to do something likethis?”

Part of him wanted to believe Carson was their guy, but that martini dude at Tucci’s the other night had stuck in Jonah’s mind. Who the hell was he and why had he been staring atTessa?

“I’ll call Steele Trap’s HR director and see if I can get a line onhim.”

“We. It has to bewe,Jonah, or Iwalk.”

“If you’ll stay here while I’m gone, I promise I won’t cut you out. But I need to go apologize to Mrs. Vanderwinkle on my own.” He shoved out of the car and went around to open herdoor.

“I want to talk this entire situation through when you get home,” she said, steppingout.

Home. As if she considered his house her home, too. Ifonly.

If only he could stop blocking every attempt she made to get close tohim.

He took her hand, walked her to the front door, and unlocked it. He handed her the loose key, then framed her face in hispalms.

She was so precious to him. All he wanted was to protect her from ever being hurtagain.

“Don’t wait up, but I promise we’ll talk this out.” He pressed his lips to hers, breathing in her scent, letting it wash over him, surround him. If he could just draw her into his lungs, into his body, he could be a betterman.

Although he hated to, he ended the kiss, and her lips clung to his. “I’ll set the house security system from my phone. If you need to go outside, you can hit pause, then reactivate it with this code.” He gave her a random jumble of numbers and letters, expecting to have to repeat them severaltimes.

But Tessa closed her eyes, silently recited the sequence, and said, “Gotit.”