Sweet Temptation: A Players Rockstar Romance (Players, Book 3)

it was walled in windows on three sides, looking out into her dark backyard.
“He grabbed onto the wall, there,” she said, pointing at the side wall of the sunroom. “He started climbing the wall, holding onto the edges of the windows. He wasn’t all that quiet about it.” Her eyes met mine again. “I don’t know what he was thinking.”
Unfortunately… I had some idea what he was thinking.
I’d been working as a security professional for almost two decades. Not only as a bodyguard, but I’d managed security teams for a lot of high-profile clients, from rock stars to politicians. I’d worked alongside everyone from city police to the RCMP to CSIS, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. I’d worked private investigations and testified in court. And I could confidently say that I had at least some understanding of the criminal mind.
Anyway, it really didn’t take a degree in forensic psychology to know that a man climbing the wall of a woman’s house to break into her bedroom in the middle of the night wasn’t delivering roses.
But I was hardly gonna say that to her right now.
“While I was on the phone with 911,” she went on, “I watched him through the windows. He was climbing up onto the balcony. The one off my bedroom. That’s where they caught him.”
“The police got here fast?”
“It didn’t feel fast, but it was. I really need to make a donation to their dog unit.” She poured me some tea and slid the mug in front of me. “They were amazing.”
“I’m not surprised. One of the top priorities for the canine unit is responding to crimes in progress, like break and enters. I’ve seen them in action, too. They don’t mess around.”
“No kidding.” She’d poured herself a tea, and came to sit on a stool two over from mine. She glanced into the sunroom. “They scared the shit out of him. The dog attacked him, pinned him against the wall. I saw the whole thing.”
“God bless the police dogs of the world.”
She smiled for the first time, genuinely, and laughed uneasily. “It was pretty badass. I think I was still too terrified to fully appreciate it.” She studied me. “Do you see this kind of thing a lot?”
“Unfortunately, it’s pretty common. One of my partners is an ex-cop.”
She listened intently, and I wondered what I could say to put her at ease. She’d remained calm, collected while relaying the event, but I couldn’t be sure what she was feeling. I definitely didn’t want to add to her trauma in any way.
“There’s no reason to think he would’ve harmed you,” I told her carefully, “even if he found you in the house. More likely, he would’ve done exactly what he did when the cops arrived. Run like hell. He probably didn’t expect anyone to be home. What they do is smash the window and walk away, wait for a moment to see if anyone comes, and if no one appears, then they enter. Grab a laptop or jewelry… Usually they’re just looking for whatever they can trade in for quick cash.”
That was true enough. If all this was was a standard break and enter. I wasn’t so sure.
But until we knew more, there was no reason to alarm her.
My gaze drifted down to her lips. She was chewing a little on the bottom one.
“It likely wasn’t personal,” I added, gently. Maybe that wasn’t true. I really didn’t know yet. But right now, my main objective was to make sure she was safe, and making her feel safe was part of that.
I reached for the sugar bowl, and she watched as I stirred a shitload of it into my tea; I liked it sweet. When I set down my spoon, she was staring at me.
Since she held my gaze, I held hers.
“This is so rude of me,” she said, “but I’ve forgotten your name.”
“It’s Ronan.”
“So, this is what you do, Ronan? Drive around the city at night, waiting for calls from damsels in distress and rushing to the rescue?”
“Believe it or not, I’ve never rescued a damsel in my off hours before.”
“You got here pretty fast.”
“When Brody Mason calls, I answer.”
“Oh. Right,” she said, like she’d forgotten Brody had sent me. She was probably halfway in shock.
The adrenaline dump from fight, flight or faint would be fading off. Calling 911 and dealing with all the people in her house was her fight, and at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if all she really wanted was a glass of wine and to sleep for a couple of days.
I eased back in my seat, tearing my gaze away from her blue eyes. I took a sip of my tea and tried to focus. I realized I’d been staring at her a lot.
“Did he trip the alarm when he was climbing on the windows?” I asked her, wondering when Brody was getting here.
“You mean the house alarm? I don’t have one.”
Okay… That struck me as odd.
Brody said she was a musician, and she must’ve been a high-profile one, if she was one of his clients. Brody Mason only managed seriously famous rock stars. But she didn’t have a locked gate on her property, or a home alarm system?
“What about your personal security? Is Maddox your bodyguard?”
“Maddox?” she said, like she was confused by that. Or like she wasn’t even sure who I was talking about. Then she glanced off, down a hallway where I could faintly hear him moving around. “Oh. No. I just met him. I mean, I think I’ve met him at a few events. He works for Brody, and Jude Grayson. Do you know Jude?”
“I do. Brody and Jude often consult with me, and they contract my guys for Dirty events.”
“Right. You said you run a security firm? I’m sorry, I’m a little out of it tonight.”
“No apology necessary.”
I sipped my tea, trying to look unconcerned, to give her the feeling that everything was under control here. I wasn’t gonna drill her with questions right now, and