Page 90 of Sweet Temptation

“I’ll add that to your file.”

I was pretty sure he was serious.

“I have a fabulous success rate,” I informed him, in case he doubted my skills.

“What kind of success rate are we talking?”

“I’d say, maybe fifty-fifty?” I eyed him. “Actually… that doesn’t sound so good. I sincerely hope your success rate is better than mine.”

“I’ve never lost a client, if that’s what you mean. And I’ve never had someone get seriously injured on my watch.”

Well, that was sobering. I noticed he said “seriously,” but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know exactly what he meant by that.

Would he tell me more, if I asked?

“Have you done this before?” I asked instead. “Helped someone get a restraining order?”

“I have.”

“Who?”

“A former client. Her ex-husband was violent.”

“You’ve seen some shit, haven’t you.”

“Yup.”

“You’re very honest.”

“No reason not to be.”

“You don’t like talking about yourself, though.”

That seemed to catch him off-guard. “Well… I guess I’m not so used to talking about myself,” he said carefully. “With clients.”

“Mmm. I have a dossier myself.” I tapped my head.

“You have every right to.” He slipped his hands into the pockets of his jeans, maybe in an effort to appear less intimidating. Just made him look more sexy when his arms flexed in his thin sweater. “I realize I’m a stranger in your house. I’ll do whatever I can to make it easy on you. If there’s anything you want to know, you can ask.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

I did, but I wasn’t so sure I wanted to ask him much more. Seemed like everything I learned about him just made me like him more.

All flirting aside, I’d realized after yesterday’s little freak-out that I wasn’t sure I could afford those kinds of feelings right now. I was already feeling off-kilter, and yes, the V-word.

I felt vulnerable as hell.

Getting the feels for my bodyguard—especially if they weren’t reciprocated—wasn’t gonna help.

Instead, I admitted, “I haven’t been sleeping so well since the break-in. That’s not normal for me. I guess I’d just like to keep doing what I do, as close to ‘normal’ as possible. What I really don’t want is to become crippled by fear.” I shrugged uncomfortably. “I feel… weakened. Does that make sense? I just want to feel strong again.”

Ronan was silent for a moment. Then he said, “You need security, Summer. And that in itself is not a weakness.”

“I don’t want to need you.”

“I know.”

I cleared my throat and frowned at the last bit of my joint, which had burned right down to nothing without me noticing.

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