strands, and I realized I was actually jealous of his own hands. Shaking off the feeling, I returned to pacing.
“He was that close…” he repeated. But there was something in his voice that had me turning to glance at him again, only to find his tormented eyes watching me intently. With a curse, he pulled his phone from his pants pocket. “I’m calling Mia. You’re getting a full detail of security right now.”
Of course, he would call Mia. Rolling my eyes, I stomped over to him and snatched his phone out of his hands. The call hadn’t gone through yet, and I quickly disconnected before she could answer. Two seconds later, a text came in.
Mia: You okay?
I shot back a quick “Fine, talk later” reply and shoved the phone against his chest. “If I wanted an entourage of security, I would have told my sister, and Braxton would have taken care of it for me.”
“Then why the fuck haven’t you?” he demanded angrily.
“Because I don’t want my parents to stress over this!” I exploded. “It’s just some dumbass trying to freak me out. Which, I admit, I was. But now, I’m just pissed off.”
His phone rang, but he tossed it onto the couch across the room and cupped my face in his hands. “Baby, you are getting security.”
“No, I’m not.” I pushed his hands away and focused on Cathryn, who was watching us like we were her new favorite soap opera. “When will Detective Kirtner get here?”
“He’s on his way, doll. Shouldn’t be too long.” She got a text and picked up her phone to answer it.
“Arella, listen to me,” Jordan caught my wrist in his hand and tugged me around to face him once again. His eyes looked wild, his chest heaving, and I hated how much it affected me. How much I wanted to press up against him and feel his hardness as I gave him another reason to look so exerted. “If this guy gets within a mile of you again, I’m going to kill him. You need security, if for no other reason than so I don’t lose my fucking mind.”
“I said no.”
“Your parents don’t have to know. I’ll talk to Mia. We’ll do it all discreetly. No one but us, her, and Barrick have to know.” When I just shook my head, he jerked me against him. My free hand pressed against his chest to steady myself, and I felt how hard his heart was pounding. “Please, baby. I’ll take care of everything. Drake and Lana won’t be aware of anything.”
“No,” I repeated. “And if you can’t respect that, there’s the door.”
“You goddamn stubborn girl,” he growled. Releasing me, he took two steps back before raking his fingers through his hair once again. He inhaled deeply and slowly released it, as if trying to calm himself down, but it didn’t seem to work, so he did it again. “Fine. You don’t want security, then be prepared to have me shadowing you day and night. Twenty-four seven.”
I snorted out a laugh. “Yeah, okay.”
His dark eyes narrowed. “Why the skepticism?”
“You’ll be back in Italy no later than next week,” I reminded him.
Jordan shook his head. “I’m home full time now.”
“Really?” I felt my cheeks begin to warm at how happy his affirmative nod made me, and I quickly came up with another reason why the thought of this guy spouting nonsense about being my constant shadow was ridiculous. Really, there were hundreds, but as I stood there staring up at him, not a single one of them came to mind.
“So, you’re going to stay at my apartment with me?” I threw at him instead. “I don’t have a spare bedroom, and my couch is too hard to sleep on.” He’d complained about how uncomfortable it was every time he’d come to my place. Which, admittedly, wasn’t all that many times, but every single time, he’d had some wisecrack to make about my adorable—albeit more for decoration than comfort—couch.
He cocked his head to the side, gazing at me long and hard before grinning. The wicked hunger I saw deep in his eyes made me burn as his voice caressed my entire body. “Baby, if you think I’m not sleeping right beside you so I know you’re safe, you’re out of your mind.”
Nine
Jordan
My girl stared up at me with shock and need in her pretty blue-gray eyes for a long moment before smirking. “Sorry, I only sleep with guys who introduce me to their mothers.”
Jealousy struck me in the