Free JOSS: A Standalone Romance (Gray Wolf Security) by Glenna Sinclair

looked me in the eye, and she hid in her room all evening. I knew the last part was my fault because of my speech on the first day about how I preferred to spend my evenings with McKelty, but I wished she would realize that it was just the newness of the situation and not a hard and fast rule.
    McKelty and I shared a quiet dinner in the kitchen, then I took her upstairs and made sure she had her bath before I got her settled for the night. My head was so full that lying in bed seemed like a bad idea. I went downstairs, poured myself a glass of brandy, and went to sit on the deck. It was a quiet night, and I thought a little quiet might be just what the doctor ordered.
    I hadn’t been out there for more than ten minutes when I caught sight of Joss crossing in front of the sitting room doors. She was wearing those damn shorts again—those shorts that I’d been unable to stop thinking about all night—and a long t-shirt that covered that perfectly round ass of hers. I could remember the feel of that ass in my hands, and it made them itch to feel it again.
    What the hell was wrong with me? Was I really looking to get my ass kicked or something?
    The confrontation this morning was jolting. I was not a man who went looking for trouble. I avoided it. My brother was the one who liked confrontation, who got himself kicked out of more than one boarding school because of the fights he was always getting into. Therefore, it was a no-brainer when he joined the military and I went into the family business. What was surprising was that he came home in a body bag a week before our father suffered a fatal heart attack.
    I took a long swallow of the brandy, trying not to remember the sound of my mother’s sobs. The only thing worse than that was the silence that followed.
    She tried, my mother. But she’d never been a strong woman. Father always took care of things, always made sure she was never bothered with the realities of this world. She lived in a bubble where the worst thing that could happen was a stain on a favorite tie or the wrong color dress for a spring garden party. Father saw no point in telling her about the three-year stretch in which the company ran in the red, or the mortgage crisis that took out half the family investments. She never knew about the stresses he carried alone on his shoulders, the stresses I only knew about because I made it my business from the moment I was old enough to understand the ins and outs of Matthews Shipping.
    Just like Andrea. She never handled reality well. At least my mother simply moved away. She didn’t allow things to grow and engulf her. She didn’t allow life to become overwhelming.
    I should have seen it coming, should have…
    I sighed and took another long swallow of my brandy. There was no point in regrets. It’s only possible to change what’s coming, not what’s past.
    My glass was empty. I got up and went back into the sitting room for a refill. She was standing in the archway when I turned to return to my seat.
    “I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to be alone together,” I said.
    She nodded a little too quickly.
    It drove me nuts that she wouldn’t speak. I so desperately wanted to hear the sound of her voice, to hear her thoughts as they rushed through her mind. I wanted her to tell me what she felt. I wanted her to tell me whatever happened to be on her mind—even if it was vulgar, even if it was that she would be glad when this job was over, that she wanted nothing more than to leave me behind.
    What that man said this morning kept ringing over and over in my mind.
    You are just a client. In a week or two, when she’s saved your ass from whoever’s harassing you, she’ll be gone from your life, but she’ll always be a part of my life.
    He was right. I had no fucking clue who he was, but he was right.
    I turned to leave the room, but then I spun on her again.
    “Who the hell gave you the right to walk into my life and turn it upside down? I had