She didn’t say anything immediately. There was a despair in her dark chocolate eyes he’d do anything to banish. He didn’t know how. He only knew he needed to keep her alive so she could decide what happiness was for her.
After a moment her gaze dropped to his lips and a different, darker blush colored her cheeks as she turned her face away. “I’ll get some work done updating my résumé in your office while you handle classes today.”
There she went, taking refuge in practical next steps. He didn’t argue.
“Can I ask a favor?” Her voice was soft, and she shifted her weight in her lap.
He did his best to keep his hands in safe places, but his response to her was becoming obvious even through his jeans. So he let his arms fall away so she could get to her feet. “Ask.”
“Can Haydn hang out with me while you’re teaching the classes?”
He chuckled and stood. “Yeah, I’ll bring him in for you.”
She and Haydn could rest together and keep each other company. He was glad she’d have the big dog’s presence through the day. In a way, she’d be safer with Haydn than she would be with him.
Because he shouldn’t want Sophie the way he did. But hell, he’d never listened to what he should and shouldn’t do.
Chapter Nine
Let me down!” Sophie’s whisper was actually pretty loud. “Brandon Forte, you let me down. What do you think my neighbors are going to tell my family when they get back? Because they are so going to see this.”
Good. Forte grinned. Okay, so maybe insisting on carrying Sophie up the stairs to her apartment wasn’t the most conventional way to do things. But he liked the feel of her in his arms, and this was one of the least dangerous ways he could indulge in having her close.
He pitched his voice a bit louder than conversational tone. “They’re going to say your apartment complex doesn’t have elevators and you live on the second floor. No one wants you putting more stress on your ankle trying to limp up the stairs, and you don’t want people to see you sit on the steps and slide your butt up one step at a time.”
That earned him a light thwack across the shoulder, but Sophie quit squirming.
It’d been a long afternoon, and Forte had been in a fairly good mood. Raul Sa had turned out to be a dog handler on par with some of the better men Forte had worked with in the past. The man had gotten along well with two of the dogs, though Forte had a feeling one was a better match than the other. They’d have Sa take each of the dogs out again tomorrow for separate working sessions to confirm.
Forte had found Sophie cooking dinner, on her feet again, though she’d sworn she’d been sitting just before he’d arrived. He was going to need to think about a supplemental grocery run if Sophie was going to be hanging out at the kennels more in the next few days. They usually did a lot of ordering out for delivery.
Of course, he wasn’t going to say no to homemade meals by Sophie more often. He just might need to increase his cardio. Portion control was harder with her cooking than it was with delivery.
Once he reached the landing, he set Sophie down slowly so she had time to establish her balance. She was light in his arms, supple. And the warmth of her lingered on his hands.
“We are going to need to come to an agreement as to when my ankle is healed enough to take the stairs myself.” Sophie pulled her keys out of her pocket. They were attached to a Revolution lanyard. One thing Gary and Greg taught in their self-defense classes was to make sure house keys were easily accessible. A person was vulnerable if their attention was centered on rooting around in a purse or backpack for keys. “You can’t keep picking me up whenever you feel I can’t make it on my own.”
“Oh, but I plan to anyway.” She’d done it for him, figuratively speaking, more times than he could count, and she might not even know it.
Color rushed into Sophie’s cheeks. It’d been happening more frequently recently, and he was ridiculously proud to have caused it most of those times.
She handed him her keys and stood aside. He gave her a smile, glad she was acknowledging his caution, even if she still wasn’t sold on the necessity. Then he turned his attention to her entryway and started the process of clearing her apartment. As soon as he opened the door, they both turned serious. Her apartment was freezing, and the opening of the front door created a cross breeze, meaning there was another aperture open somewhere in the apartment.