her hand and she stared at it as if it were a foreign object.
“What are you doing?”
Renny smiled, reached in and grabbed her hand, pulling her resistant body out of the car. “You sure do keep your guard up. I’m helping you out of the car. That’s what a man is supposed to do.”
He closed the door behind her and dropped her hand. She was glad of that because the heat that soared up her arm at his touch was disconcerting to say the least. “Being alert is part of my training,” she said to his now-retreating back.
Renny looked over his shoulder to see her following him. “You actually trained to become a bodyguard?”
Was that humor she heard in his voice? She frowned. “No. I actually trained to become a marine.”
Renny stopped abruptly. Bree had been looking at her surroundings and didn’t realize he wasn’t moving anymore until she collided with him and that alluring chest again. He grabbed her shoulders.
“Sorry. I keep doing that,” she mumbled, then tried to move around him, but he wouldn’t let her go.
“You’re a marine?”
He looked absolutely flabbergasted. It was kind of funny, this look men got when they were confronted with a female soldier, especially a marine. There were men who hadn’t made it through the Marine Corps, so a woman was definitely a shock. Bree kind of liked the effect. “For sixteen years.”
She was so tiny he would never have imagined her climbing over walls and dodging bullets, yet the thought was a definite turn-on. He was quickly realizing that there was a lot about his bodyguard that turned him on.
“Do you have a problem with that?” He was staring at her and it made her uncomfortable. His dark eyes raked over her body as if he were searching for something…and amazingly enough had found it. She battled with whether she liked it or not. Then he smiled and she wanted to melt into his arms.
“No problem at all. I guess I’m really protected now.” He should stop touching her. She was steady now; there was no need to have his hands on her. Except the need deep inside him that wanted to get closer. The light blue outfit she wore today was refreshing from her normal denim and white attire. It gave her a softer look that he really liked. A slight breeze mussed her hair, the back of the ponytail swayed gently.
“Are we going into this foundry or what?” She managed to move away from his touch this time and walked around him. Her stomach was doing somersaults and they were standing out in the open where he was a clear shot.
Renny dropped his arms to his side and led her into the building. He was tall and didn’t walk slowly. Usually he’d have to slow down to almost baby steps when walking with a woman, but Sabrina, even with her shorter legs, kept up with him without a problem. She didn’t carry a purse, just a small pouch at her waist. She didn’t wear long flourishing earrings, just simple studs. Her watch was the only jewelry that adorned her arms, and today he couldn’t even see her ankle bracelet. She looked around, taking in everything and seemingly recording it for future use.
“You ever been to a foundry before?”
“No.”
“Then let me give you the grand tour,” a familiar male voice interrupted. This was Walt. He worked on all of Renny’s projects. In fact, Renny didn’t trust anyone else with his pieces.
Renny extended his hand, and Walt clasped it quickly and with a generous smile. “Hey, Walt. What’s going on?”
“Nothing much. I’ve got this dude working me like crazy, that’s all.” Walt was a tall man, wire thin, with a long face and a big, warm smile. “I see you’ve brought me a little bit of sunshine this morning. You tryin’ to bribe me?” Walt was looking at Sabrina.
Renny didn’t miss the implications in Walt’s words, nor did he miss the salacious look he was giving Sabrina. What was even harder to miss was the swirling heat in the pit of his stomach—something he wasn’t even going to qualify as jealousy. “This is a friend of the family, Sabrina Desdune. She’s helping out with the opening, so I thought I’d let her get a look at how the background work is done. Sabrina, this is Walter Hemler, foundry worker extraordinaire.”
Bree gave the man a cordial smile and extended her hand. He eagerly took it between both his hands and rubbed her skin gently. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hemler.”
“Oh, no, you don’t.” Walt shook his head. “You’ll call me Walt just like everybody else. You sure are a pretty little thing.”
Bree blushed at his words. Why was it that older men always flirted with younger women, embarrassing them both immensely? “Thank you, Walt. I’m a bit curious. Do you think you can explain all this to me?” She looked around them again, ignoring the heated glare she was receiving from Renny.
“Sure thing, little missy. You just follow me and I’ll answer all your questions.”
Walt hooked Bree’s arm in his and began walking. Each of them seemed to forget Renny was even standing there.
With his lips drawn tightly Renny followed them, not liking the exclusion one bit. He was supposed to be showing her around. It didn’t really matter. He was here to check on his pieces; showing Sabrina around would only distract him. Sort of like the sway of her hips was doing right now.
“We mostly do artwork here. You know, sculptures and statues. Over there’s the oven. That’s where we melt the metal and fire the castings. It’s hot as Satan’s den over there, so I won’t take you too close.” Walt was busily talking and guiding Sabrina.
Bree looked around, watching as workers poured a glistening liquid into small molds and large molds, her inquisitive mind working overtime. “So, do you just come up with the ideas and pour the metal inside and then you have a statue?”
“Naw, all this starts with the artist. He dreams up the idea and then brings us a smaller model. We take it from there.”
“This is really interesting. I never gave much thought to how these things were actually created.”
“It’s a daunting process,” Renny spoke up from his spot behind them. When she turned her eyes to him he felt like sitting her down and answering any question she asked. She looked suddenly vulnerable and very childlike in this big warehouse with all this heavy machinery. A marine, no, you would never guess it of this petite woman. Not until you looked deep into her eyes. They were such expression-filled eyes that Renny found himself getting lost in them once again. She was passionate, with a strength and determination to rival any man’s; he could see that clearly. An artist had an eye for detail, and ever since meeting Sabrina he’d stored away loads of details about her.
“Really?” She’d known he was close, had felt his dominating presence behind her as if he were her entire world. There was an unknown element about Renny Bennett, something she assumed other people didn’t see often when they looked at him. “How do you get your inspiration?”
He couldn’t tell her his latest source of inspiration and didn’t quite know how to explain his pieces, so he thought an example would suit this conversation better. “Walt can show you a couple of my finished pieces and then I’ll let you answer that yourself.”
“Sure. Right this way. He’s real protective of his
