Page 158 of Tangled Like Us

Jane twists a towel around her wet hair, and I watch as her blue eyes dart around the bedroom.

“It’s safe,” I assure.

“Thank you.” She shuts the door behind her. “I know it’s overkill to have you check again, but…I’m…” She lets out a tight breath and wafts her cotton top away from her chest. “Do you think it’s hot in here?”

Unsaid serious things are cranking up the fucking temperature. I go to the middle of the room and tug the cord to her ceiling fan. It whirls and circulates some cool air.

“It’s not overkill to check again,” I tell her deeply. “I wanted to.”

She starts to smile. “Do you think…could you check my closet, just once more while I’m here? I think seeing you do so…it makes me feel less apprehensive.”

I’m already there. Opening the mirrored closet door, I push through some of her skirts, and I use my phone’s flashlight to examine the darker spaces and clutter.

I sense Jane crawling onto the four-poster bed. Mattress squeaking. “Can I talk or will I distract you?” she questions.

“You won’t.” It’s not the first time she’s asked me this. I glance back at Jane. “I’d rather you talk.” I’m trained to listen to comms chatter and my client and scope out a room all at the same time.

She’s quiet for a full minute. Trying to figure out what question to ask or what to say first, and I squat and check the bottom of her closet.

“I’ve noticed that you mostly wear black and your brother is often in white. Is that a stylistic choice or so other people can tell you apart?”

I open some of her old shoeboxes. “Stylistic.” I adjust my earpiece as someone on Alpha yells at another bodyguard. Nailing my eardrum. My jaw hardens, and I continue without much falter, “But when we were young, our mom dressed us in certain colors so she wouldn’t confuse us.”

I explain briefly how Banks was blue.

I was red.

Now it’s harder to wear blue without feeling like I look like my brother. Same with white, which he gravitates towards as an adult. It’s not like I never wear those colors. I have plenty of white button-downs, but most of my clothes are black and red.

“I see.” Jane has a smile to her voice. “It’s not for other people. It’s for you.”

My chest rises in a stronger breath, but I don’t falter as I search her shoeboxes. My face is still stoic. Eyes still narrowed in focus. I like how I never have to say much for her to understand, I recognize.

I nod in reply and stand up. Shutting the closet door, I turn to face her. “It’s clear.” I skim Jane, who rests against the headboard, elbow on her bent knee and chin perched on her fist. She’s gorgeous. It’d be a sin to think she’s anything short of that.

And I’ve captured most of her attention. More importantly, she’s not as uneasy.This is good.

I let go of my radio. “Want me to check anything else?”

Her curious eyes brush over my biceps, carved against my black button-down, and then trace the gold horns against my chest. “The window, possibly?”

Her bed is tucked up against the only window. I come closer, and I watch her take a shallow breath. I cradle her gaze, then rest a knee on the pink comforter and stretch over to the window. Pushing aside the cheetah-print drapes and resetting the alarm.

I’ve done this before.

I’ve also been deep inside Jane every night on this bed.

But it’s too early for that routine. This isn’t the usual hour that I sneak into her room and fuck her senseless. We have to be careful with Farrow and Maximoff awake in this townhouse, and until I take off my radio, I’m still on-duty.

Her safety comes first.

I never forget that.

Jane relaxes more. “What was your favorite class in high school?”

“P.E.”

“No hesitation,” she notes like she’s still constructing a PowerPoint about me. It’s one of the cutest things she does. “You’re scoring very high on thejockcharts.” She already knows I played football all four years at a Catholic high school. The church gave Banks and me financial assistance so we could afford tuition, and in return we had to do community service hours.