Page 47 of Sweet Temptation

“And what are you looking for?”

“Anything that might cause a security vulnerability,” he said, meeting my eyes. His were this gorgeous light-brown color that sometimes looked darker and sometimes reflected the light. “Maddox and his guy will be here later this afternoon. You can just go about your day.” I watched him pick up his fork and his salad bowl. He nodded at me. “Thank you, really. This is generous.”

“You’re welcome.” Why was he picking it up, though?

“Enjoy your lunch,” he said. Then he turned and disappeared up the hall to the guest room. I heard the door close.

My jaw had tumbled open somewhere around the moment he walked out of the room.

I put my hands on my hips, though no one was here to see it. “Well, fuck,” I muttered to myself.

That was… strange.

Not that he’d walked out. That I was so… disappointed about it.

Stop drooling all over him.

He’s your bodyguard.

Yes. Yes, he was. And he said he had work to do.

But to be fair to me, I’d never had a bodyguard before. Maybe I just had to get used to the routine.

And the rules?

Fuck, I hated rules, though.

* * *

I took my salad down the other hall, to my music room, and chilled out to Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets,” one of my favorite songs of all time. And when I “chilled out” to music, I cranked it. Loud.

The music room wasn’t soundproofed like my studio downstairs was, but oh well.

Just another thing my new live-in bodyguard was gonna have to get used to.

And speaking of bodyguards…

When I was finished eating, I turned the music down and called Flynn. It rang a few times, and I mentally weighed the likelihood he’d pick up. No, because it was easier to awkwardly avoid me if he let it go to voicemail. Yes, because he’d feel duty bound to answer in case my hair was on fire and I needed him.

Duty won out.

“Hello, Summer,” he answered, stiffly. “Everything okay?”

I could just imagine the shit running through his head right now. Sure, I had his number. But I’d never actually called it before, out of the blue.

I had two reasons for calling him now, though.

One, to do some digging on Ronan, obviously.

And two… well, two was a little less fun, so I decided to get it over with.

“Hi, Flynn. Before you get any ideas, I’m not calling to stalk you like some crazy man-eater.”

“Oh…”

I rolled my eyes. “But let’s not make this weird, okay?”

He went silent, for way too long—like he was actually considering pretending not to know what I was talking about.

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