Bodyguard: A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance (Snake Eyes Book 1) by Tabatha Kiss Page A

happened between them?”
    “Caleb and I met Boxcar in Afghanistan during my second tour.” I start the car and the engine roars with life. “We received intel that an American journalist with knowledge of a secret weapons cache was being held captive in a warehouse in Kabul. We go in but find nothing. No enemy combatants, no weapons, no journalist. Just Boxcar and his laptop. The roof collapsed on the building, trapping him inside. Turns out, he hacked our equipment with a distress signal so we’d come dig him out.”
    Her eyes narrow. “Why make up a story about a weapons cache?”
    “Because he thought we wouldn’t come otherwise.” I shrug. “Honestly, he was right.”
    “I can’t imagine the top brass being happy about him wasting their time.”
    “Oh, they weren’t. Boxcar was a good hacker but hacking government equipment is generally considered a no-no. Instead of shipping him back to the States to do jail time, they assigned him to our unit as a civilian intelligence freelancer .”
    “And he and Caleb hit it off?”
    “Not at first,” I chuckle. “Box is a bit of a card but by far the smartest person I’ve ever met. And Caleb… she doesn’t fuck around.”
    Dani smiles. “I got that vibe.”
    “Last I heard they were done but if you talk to them separately you can just see it. They aren’t really done.”
    “Sounds romantic.”
    “Try telling them that.”
    We take off down the road, passing through early-morning traffic at a snail’s pace. Dani leans back in her seat, her eyes flush with deep, silent thoughts until we make it out of Los Angeles. Every so often, her eyelids flutter closed and she leans her head against the window. She didn’t sleep much last night. Neither did I.
    Even now, in the most innocent and vulnerable of poses, I can’t keep my eyes off of her. I’m not sure why I lied to her last night. Here we are, closer in proximity than we’ve ever been in our lives and there’s no one around to intervene. We could have picked up where we left off five years ago and part of me thinks she wanted to. Maybe it was just the booze in her or the adrenaline from getting attacked but there was something in her eyes. I don’t want to act on it in case I have it all wrong.
    I can’t imagine losing her twice in one lifetime.
     
    ***
     
    “Can I drive?”
    My eyes drift left to look inside the window of a passing truck. “No,” I answer. There’s a man driving it with a small girl in the passenger seat. No real threat there.
    “Why not?”
    I look at Dani. Her sunglasses sit on top of her head, buried inside the short, black bob. She was passed out asleep just ten minutes ago, but her eyes show a fresh, wakeful enthusiasm now. “Because no.”
    “That’s not a reason.”
    “You’ve never heard Bennett say because I said so before?” I joke.
    “Of course. It’s his catchphrase.”
    “Do you even have a driver’s license?”
    “I do, actually!” she says, chuckling softly.
    “Have you ever used it?” Fast movement brings my eyes to the rearview mirror. A black car makes a dangerous pass around a vehicle a few hundred yards behind us. I grip the wheel, preparing for the worst.
    “A few times,” Dani answers. “Although, come to think of it, I’m not exactly sure where it is…”
    I laugh. “All the more reason to let me drive, Dani.” The same black car revs its engine and weaves around us. The driver is young. Male. Red, puffy eyes. Not an assassin. Just an idiot. I loosen my grip on the wheel.
    Dani lays her head back in defeat. “Can I listen to the radio then?”
    “I’d prefer silence.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I need to concentrate.” I glance over at her again. She bends forward to slip her shoes and socks off. “You should leave those on, just in case.”
    “Fox, it’s been almost eight hours,” she points out. She stretches out her tiny toes, wiggling them free. I force myself not to stare at the ballerina-like arches of her feet. “If