than his foot.
Jude shifted back to her brother, the action so swift, she got the impression that he was relieved not to have to interact with her any further.
She gritted her teeth. This was ridiculous—and in a different way than she’d expected.
“That is true,” Jude said. “But—”
“But what?” Even Maksim seemed insulted on her behalf.
“I can usually tell right away if I’ll be the right for the job or not. And in this case—I just think it wouldn’t be a good fit.”
“So you’ve said,” Ellina couldn’t help saying to his profile. “But you seem unable to explain why.”
Jo made a noise from beside her, but Ellina didn’t stop glaring at the once-perfect-now-lunkhead in front of her to see if her sister-in-law was laughing or just making a sound of agreement.
“Sometimes these things can’t be explained,” he said, turning to meet her gaze, although she couldn’t read his eyes. Just blank. “In my work, I’ve become pretty good at following my gut.”
Ellina made a face, letting him know exactly what she thought about his gut, then asked, “Well what could your gut possibly tell you about me? In less than two minutes?”
From the corner of her eye, she noted that Maksim’s reaction changed from irritation to bemused amusement. She had no doubt that he found her reaction quite humorous, given that she’d adamantly said she didn’t want a bodyguard and now she was fighting with the man to have him.
Well, not have him. But not be disregarded by him.
She paused. What was she doing? She had become far too careful to become agitated. She knew what could happen when she felt anxious. She’d spent years perfecting her ability to remain calm. But she could feel herself slipping. And how long before this lunkhead saw it too?
Who the hell cared if he did? She didn’t want him here anyway. She should be pushing the man right out the door. He was giving her a perfect out.
The only thing still perfect about the guy.
She started to open her mouth to say that he should probably go, then snapped her lips shut.
She couldn’t help it. She wanted an explanation as to why he didn’t want the job. Breathing in deeply, she calmed herself down. A method she’d mostly perfected over the years.
“Why can’t you work with me?” she asked again, this time keeping her voice steady.
“Well, I’m pretty certain you are difficult,” he said, his voice wry.
“She can be,” Maksim agreed.
Ellina glared at her brother. Breathe.
“But difficult clients can’t be that unusual to you,” Maksim added, oblivious to Ellina’s glower. “You know as well as I do that this isn’t the typical security position. Ellina needs some pretty special abilities to keep her safe. And you have those abilities. This is exactly the type of job you said you take.”
Jude didn’t say anything, but a muscle in his jaw jumped slightly as if he was clenching his teeth.
“Special abilities? What special abilities does he have?” Ellina asked Maksim, already aware that she wouldn’t get a direct answer out of the lunkhead.
Maksim frowned. “If you’d read his résumé, you’d know that he’s more than capable of handling any situation, whether it be from human causes or otherwise. And he knows what you are too.”
“Oh. Right.”
Of course he’d have to be paranormal. All bases had to be covered, didn’t they?
And, of course, Maksim would have disclosed that she was a freak. Half human/half demon. Not a part of either world. She could deal with that most of the time, but there were moments when she struggled with being okay in her own skin. This was beginning to feel like one of those times—even now that she’d gotten her agitation under control.
Still, did the half-breed thing bother him? She knew it was off-putting for some preternaturals. Maybe he was one of them. But Maksim told him all about that before he even agreed to come here. So…what was it?
She studied Jude. And if he could protect her, then clearly he wasn’t a normal guy either. So what kind of creature was he? What made him such a great candidate to protect her?
She couldn’t sense anything about him, because she didn’t have that ability. Her brothers could sense preternatural beings at fifty paces. Ellina couldn’t tell a demon from a human from a wererabbit—if there were such a thing.
To her, Jude was nothing more than an unusually good-looking—and irritating—guy. But he must be something pretty powerful. A demon too? A very old vampire? Except he was out in the daylight, so probably not.
Was he put off because he was such a strong preternatural and she wasn’t?
“Is it the half demon thing?” she heard herself asking, wondering why it mattered.
Jude clenched his teeth again. Did she have to look so wounded when she asked that? He didn’t like the way her frown and searching eyes made him feel. Like a real jerk. And he was pretty good at doing that to himself without any outside help.
Maybe because she’d hit on something that was true. He didn’t like preternaturals. Hypocritical, he knew. But that wouldn’t stop him from taking a job. Obviously. Money was the only thing that factored into why he took a job.
But his likes and dislikes aside, why did it matter why he didn’t want to work with her?
She still watched him, hints of hurt darkening her pale eyes to a steely gray. Clearly, it did matter. She was taking his refusal personally.
For a moment, he considered telling her it was the demon thing, but knew he couldn’t. He’d already assured Maksim that he was quite comfortable facing off with other preternaturals. Any kind. And the same went for protecting them. A job was a job.
Of course, he hadn’t expected his first face-off to come with the person he was supposed to be protecting.
He pulled in a deep breath, trying to decide how to get out of this without causing even more wounded looks from the stunningly beautiful woman in front of him.
Stunningly beautiful. And that thought right there was why he needed out of this job.
Then Jude managed to gather his scrambled, distracted thoughts. “I should have mentioned this on the phone,” he said quickly, “but I’m also considering another job.”
Which was a lie. This was the only job he had lined up. The only paying gig to get him closer to where he wanted to be. Done with violence, done with preternaturals. Free. And in charge of his own life for the first time in centuries.
“Listen,” Maksim said, “I’ve already told you I’m willing to pay you anything you ask.”
Maksim’s wife moaned softly,
