Page 34 of Ruthless Protector

“You think he caught this guy on camera?”

“Maybe.” I shoved my phone in my pocket. “There’s a camera covering the front and back of the apartment, so there’s a good chance.”

She started fidgeting, looking nervous. “Right.”

I stared at her, not missing the way her throat worked, or her fingers in tight fists at her sides. “You want to tell me what’s wrong, Willa?”

I was done trying to read her mind. If they were in some kind of trouble, I needed to know.

She crossed her arms. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“If there’s something you haven’t told me…”

“Jude!” Tilly called, racing into the living room. “You’re finally awake!”

I looked away from Willa, who looked more than a little relieved at the interruption, and down at her niece. “Hey, kiddo. How you doing this morning?”

Tilly smiled. “I’m okay now. Aunt Willa told me it was just some dumb teenagers who broke our window and that you’d make sure they didn’t come back.”

I glanced at Willa. She was biting her lip again. They were still slightly swollen from our out of control kisses last night. I tore my eyes from her. “That’s right, sweetheart. Nothing for you to worry about,”

“I know.” She smiled again. “No one will mess with us, not now. If it was that stupid Johnny Clayton across the street, he’ll pee his pants when he sees you leave our house and get on your bike.” She snorted. “He’s such an asshole.”

“Tilly!” Willa said. “You know better than to use language like that.”

“It true,” she protested. “You said it yourself just last week.”

Willa blushed. “I’m an adult. You don’t use that word and you know it.”

Jesus. Now I wanted to kiss her again. “What did Johnny Clayton do to deserve such language?” I asked, biting back a grin.

Tilly spun back to me, expression serious. “He kept walking by our house with his friends while Aunt Willa was cleaning the front windows.”

“Tilly…” Willa said in warning.

“He said she had a nice ass, then ran off. That’s when she said he was a little asshole.”

“Tilly!” Willa cried again.

“Well, you did,” Tilly said.

“Go brush your teeth. The bus will be here soon. We’ll talk about this after school.”

“Fine,” Tilly muttered, then raced off to the bathroom.

I had to press my lips together to keep from laughing.

“Not a damn word,” she said to me.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Good.”

We stared at each other, the silence stretching out. Christ, I wanted her. “You want me to have a word with Johnny Clayton?”

Her eyes widened. “What? No. Absolutely not.”

I wanted to push, get her tell me what was really going on, but I knew she wasn’t going to tell me, not yet. Not until she trusted me. “I guess, I better go then.”