Uh… Cash decided not to mention what he’d been doing before he’d been so rudely interrupted.

Instead, he tossed out another suggestion. “Jackson’s got an empty room too…”

“Yeah, and the second he gets my sister in it, he’ll turn up the Texan charm and have her out of her clothes in five seconds flat.” The lieutenant shrugged. “You’re the lesser of four evils, man. And I know you’re planning on going to Officer Candidate School first chance you get, so…”

So you’d be a fool to deflower my sweet virgin sister and risk a bad recommendation from me, was Carson’s unspoken warning.

Wow. He really wasn’t getting out of this, was he?

“It’ll only be for three weeks,” Carson said, clearly picking up on his hesitation. “You don’t have to entertain her or prepare home-cooked meals or any of that shit. Just tag along if she needs to go somewhere and make sure she’s safe. That’s all.”

That’s all? He wanted to point out that having a houseguest pretty much guaranteed he wouldn’t be getting laid for the next month but he suspected Carson valued his sister’s safety over Cash’s sex life.

And wow, didn’t that make him a total jackass, Cash realized as he registered where his thoughts had drifted. Was he really bitching about the lack of sex he’d get when some poor girl was being terrorized by a stalker?

As everything shifted into perspective, he let out a resigned breath, knowing he couldn’t refuse the request. Carson never asked him for anything, and the man had taken Cash under his wing once he’d joined the team. Invites to dinner, poker night, the mini-golf tourney Carson and his buddies held every month. Carson had done a helluva lot to welcome him to the fold.

“Okay,” he agreed. “I’ll keep an eye on your sister.”

Relief flooded the other man’s face. “Thanks, man. I’ll drop her off tomorrow morning.”

Cash took a swig of beer, then set the bottle on the coffee table and eyed the flat screen. “Wanna catch the NFL highlights?”

Carson reached for the remote. “Sure.” But rather than turn on the TV, he fixed Cash with a deadly look. “One more thing I forgot to mention.”

“Yeah?”

“Keep your hands off my sister.”

Cash frowned. “I wasn’t planning on—”

“I’m serious. You touch her, and I’ll drown you. Your building’s got a pool in the back, so I won’t have to go far.”

He had to laugh. “You’ll drown me? That’s the most creative death you can come up with?”

“I’m in the navy. I do my best work in the water.” Those blue eyes glittered with menace. “And don’t think I’m kidding, McCoy. Touch my little sister, and you’re a dead man. She’s off-limits.”

Brrr. The temperature in the room had dipped below the freezing mark, and from the look on his lieutenant’s face, Cash didn’t doubt the dude meant business.

With a pleasant smile, Carson clicked a button on the remote. “What’ll it be? ESPN or SportsCenter?”

Sitting in the passenger seat of Carson’s Range Rover, Jen resisted the urge to reach over the center console and strangle her brother to death. She was beyond furious, but he’d been pretending not to notice the steam rolling out of her ears as they’d driven in complete silence.

Up ahead, a low-rise apartment building came into view. Seven stories or so, it boasted a sleek gray exterior, balconies with wrought-iron railings, and colorful flowerbeds lining the lush lawn out front. It was much nicer than her building, but that didn’t make this situation any less annoying.

With an overly pleasant smile, Carson pulled over by the curb and killed the engine. “We’re here.”

She shot him a stony glare.

“Come on, Jenny, stop with the silent treatment already. You know this is a good idea.”

Right, because being blackmailed into staying with a complete stranger was a splendid idea. She couldn’t believe she was letting Carson call the shots like this, but the alternative he’d posed was even worse; he’d threatened to tell their parents that her life was in danger, which wasn’t only an exaggeration but also a surefire way to get her locked up in the family panic room for the next month. If the admiral believed his little girl was even in the slightest bit of danger, he’d throw her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and march her all the way back to the family homestead in Del Mar.

Jen loved her parents—she really, truly did—but the two of them drove her absolutely crazy. No way could she survive living under their roof again.

So Carson’s “solution”, as much as it aggravated her, was clearly the better option.

Didn’t mean she had to be happy about it, though.

“How do you know Brendan didn’t follow us here?” she asked in a last-ditch effort to derail her brother’s plan. “Maybe he’s been watching my apartment, tailed us and ruined your cunning scheme to keep me hidden. In that case, I might as well go back to my place.”

Carson smirked. “Do you honestly think I didn’t keep an eye out for a tail? Trust me, we weren’t followed.”

“Fine.” She pursed her lips. “But what if Brendan does show up, and this rookie you’re sticking me with drops the ball? What if he gets, uh, rookie freeze-up syndrome or something?”