Ultimate Courage (True Heroes #2)(42)

After another minute, she crossed over to him. “Let me at least take off the leash so you don’t drag it around behind you.”

Souze watched her as she approached, and she decided it’d be prudent to move slowly as she reached for his collar and unclipped the leash. There was a tension. Not something she saw in his body language, but she felt it, and it eased once she backed away again. Casual petting was probably not going to be a thing.

“I should have listened more closely to the commands Alex used.” Even if she wasn’t using them, she decided to speak directly to Souze. It was what came naturally, and, at the very least, the dog would go along with natural. Right?

It was still better than being alone.

“Having you here is a hundred times better than the first night I was out on my own,” she told Souze.

Or the nights after.

She grabbed up her big purse and set it at the foot of the bed. Then she unzipped her overnight bag and pulled out a few toiletries.

“I didn’t unpack last night.” Talking to Souze as she went about her business was actually a lot more relaxing than the silence she’d moved through the night before. At least then, though, she’d been tired enough to have fallen asleep listening to the late night class below. She hadn’t heard Gary and Greg lock up for the night. Hadn’t realized when she’d been left alone.

A cold, wet touch at her wrist made her jump. Souze backed away and sat again. She stood there, mouth open. “You can’t pretend you didn’t move. You’re about five feet from where you were sitting before.”

He sat there, ears up, looking about as innocent as a really big dog could. So?

“Did you want to sniff?” She held out her hand in a loose fist the way Alex had instructed her the first time.

Souze didn’t move.

She stared at him.

Nope. Still not moving.

Then she realized she was trying to get into a staring match with a dog as if some sort of telepathic communication was going to occur. And Alex had told her not to make eye contact.

Following her line of thought, she continued to hold out her hand but awkwardly turned the rest of her body back toward her bag and resumed fishing around in there for her sleep shirt and sweat pants. She froze as a cool, wet touch brushed over her knuckles.

Souze sniffed her hand, her wrist, and a warm tongue briefly licked her fingertips before the air around her hands turned cold with his retreat.

“Did I pass inspection?” She used both her hands to gather her stuff and faced him again.

He was back to sitting, ears up, but now his head was cocked at an angle, giving him an inquisitive expression.

“I’m going to take a quick shower.” She walked past him to the bathroom and stopped in the doorway. Just as she spun to face him, there he was again. Sitting. Facing her. Definitely closer to the bathroom than he had been before. Apparently, the wonderfully cushy carpet allowed the dog super stealth. “You do not need to accompany me into the shower.”

She stepped backward into the bathroom and closed the door in his face.

Briefly, she leaned her forehead against the door and laughed. Quietly. This had been a day of ups and downs, and her heart might not survive the crazy flip-flop moments interspersed with bad scares. But this taste of the ridiculous was kind of fun.

Alex had done her a big favor leaving Souze with her. Beyond the security he provided, the company was invaluable. And she could not thank Alex enough for the amount of consideration he’d given her since the moment she’d met him. If she thought back, so many of his actions had been kind and generous, even when he hadn’t any idea of who she was or if he’d ever see her again. There’d been no good reason for him to invest the effort.

Despite his intimidating exterior, he was a good man. Maybe that was why her gut told her she could accept Alex’s help while her logical thought process repeatedly reminded her how much trouble it could get her into.

There was a lot of anger in him. She’d seen it a couple of times. And she absolutely could see it a mile away. That ability had developed over the last few years with her ex as a survival skill. But Alex kept it on a tight leash, controlled, and never directed it at his daughter as far as she could tell. Boom didn’t show even the slightest fear of her father. If anything, Boom was the kind of bright and energetic child who might be allowed somewhat more license to go wild than she should be. So far, Alex hadn’t directed his temper at Elisa, either. He’d stopped himself a couple of times, even. Visibly struggled. But hadn’t exploded.

If anything, knowing it was there made him more trustable in her eyes. She’d rather see it there, below the surface, than completely hidden and likely to burst out without any warning.

Besides, his anger wasn’t the only way Alex Rojas burned hot.

The memory of his kisses was enough to send her into the shower. As the water ran over her, she remembered how much she’d enjoyed his mouth on hers, and it wasn’t quite as embarrassing. No idea why, but there it was. The only issue was the way her imagination ran away with the remembered feel of his hands on her shoulders, her back, and took it further. She wanted him to hold her, slide his hands over her, and use his mouth all over.

Reaching out, she turned the taps to a cooler temperature. She could keep imagining things and maybe even give herself some relief. Nothing wrong with that. But then she’d be wobbly getting out of the shower and there was also a really big dog between her and the bed.