Swallowing hard as he reached the top of the stairs, he turned the corner into the hallway just in time to catch Rodriguez waiting for the elevator. The second Rodriguez saw him he turned to him, taking a few steps away from the closed elevator doors.
“Sir, I can explain.”
“Yes, you can and you will,” Brandon said, his tone hard and full of authority just as he’d been trained by the very best. “Only not here, not like this.” He got right in Rodriguez’s face. “I want a full report on my desk tomorrow morning, explaining why you ignored a direct order from your superior. I wanna know exactly what you were talking to her about when you’ve been instructed to stay away from her entirely. And also want you tell me why the hell I shouldn’t write you up.”
The elevator door opened, and Ms. Brady stepped out, staring at them almost in question. Brandon looked away, refusing to make eye contact, and Rodriguez did the right thing, not even acknowledging her. They waited silently until she was out of sight. “I don’t normally give second chances, so consider yourself lucky.”
“Sir, yes, sir.”
Brandon took two long steps into the still-open elevator and turned around to face Rodriguez, who wisely didn’t dare step in with him. “First thing in the morning, Rodriguez,” Brandon repeated the order through his teeth.
“Sir, yes, sir,” Rodriguez said just as Brandon hit the close button, and the elevator doors closed, leaving a very staggered-looking Rodriguez outside.
This was completely unacceptable. Brandon needed to get a grasp on what she was beginning to do to him. The fact that Rodriguez had ignored a direct order was reason enough to piss Brandon off, but he shouldn’t be getting this worked up over it.
The elevator doors opened, and he stepped out still feeling incredibly agitated as he walked out toward the front door of the building. Would he really write Rodriguez up if his report wasn’t satisfactory or worse if he stupidly admitted to having been flirting with her? The thought of Rodriguez’s remarks about what he’d do to her in the bathroom slammed into him.
Pushing the front doors open with a little more force than necessary, he concluded two things. Not only would Brandon write his ass up but he’d get the perverted ass**le transferred to another f**king base.
Second conclusion? As much as he was trying to deny it, what this girl was doing to him was getting way out of control.
~~~
The next morning, Rodriguez’s report was on Brandon’s desk when he arrived, though Rodriguez himself was not there. Brandon knew Rodriguez would be out doing evaluations of his own all week. He was glad for that. He’d spent too much time thinking about what might be in the report, what he might learn about Ms. Brady, the woman he wanted nothing to do with. Brandon knew he’d be scrutinizing the report a little closer than normal, and it was better if Rodriguez wasn’t there to witness it.
Along with the report was a letter of apology to Brandon for having disrespected him, though Rodriguez made it clear it was not his intention. The report stated that Ms. Brady had made the first contact as they stepped outside together. He went on to outline the conversation about the change in the weather and how Rodriguez felt it rude to just ignore her so he carried on with the harmless conversation.
Brandon rolled his eyes. He’d seen the playful smile Rodriguez wore as he’d driven close enough to see the exchange between him and Ms. Brady. From what little he already knew about Rodriguez, Ms. Brady had likely made a comment as simple as “It’s chilly tonight,” and he’d run with it.
Skimming through the rest of the report, Brandon stopped only at the parts that caught his eye such as Ms. Brady saying she’d take this weather any day over the weather back east where she’d just moved from.
He’d wondered about that. According to her phone conversation with her daddy, it appeared she had family out here, so he’d assumed she was on her way home. But Sergeant Carter had also mentioned not having seen her here before, so there was the possibility she was only here temporarily. Now this confirmed she’d be here for good.
Brandon frowned immediately at the next part. With his very fair skin and light eyes, if it weren’t for Rodriguez’s last name, you’d never know he was Hispanic. He’d even made mention that the kids in the mostly Hispanic community he grew up in teased him about being the whitest Mexican they knew. Brandon remembered him saying that he liked blowing people away or using it to his advantage when trying to pick up women by speaking to them in his perfect Spanish out of the blue.
Apparently, the idiot didn’t count on Brandon remembering that insignificant comment he’d made weeks ago, because in his report he included the part about answering one of her questions in Spanish. However, he wasn’t stupid enough to mention whether or not she’d been blown away.
Last night after calming down, Brandon had no doubt he’d overreacted. He was even mad at himself for doing so. This really was getting ridiculous. If he wanted nothing to do with Ms. Brady, then why the hell did he care about seeing her with someone else? After finishing the meticulously written report, Brandon was now glad he had reacted the way he had. If Rodriguez hadn’t blown Ms. Brady away yesterday, Brandon doubted that after his nearly explosive reaction Rodriguez would be looking for another chance to impress her again.
Cursing himself, Brandon set the report down, remembering how he’d actually looked up the name Brady to make sure it in no way had any Hispanic ties. She’d made it clear that she was a Ms., not a Mrs. That meant one thing. Either she was part Hispanic and her father had Irish roots, which seemed unlikely given her looks, or she’d previously been married to a Brady. If it was the latter, then unlike with Sofie and Eric, Rodriguez or any other Hispanic guy shouldn’t have a cultural advantage over Brandon about getting a girl like Ms. Brady, especially guys like Rodriguez using his Spanish to try and impress her. If she’d married out of her culture before, obviously it didn’t matter to her.