Page 143 of South Beach Bodyguards

Turmoil swirled inside me. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

“What are you talking about, baby?”

Nothing that mattered, I realized. I wasn’t planning to have a relationship with Alejandro. He wasn’t going to be my boyfriend, or an active father to my child. So it was irrelevant.

I settled on something that did matter. “Don’t put me on a pedestal. That’s all. I don’t want you doing this because you think I’m perfect, because I’m not.”

But he just ran his thumb down my cheek. “To me, you are perfect.”

“And you’re the one who is sweet.” He was. I could see in his eyes the sweet teen boy I had known. But it was more than that.

Alejandro was looking at me in a way that I hadn’t experienced in years. If I were honest, maybe ever. It was like he thought I was the moon and the stars and every sunset ever. Like it was a privilege to touch me. He had never been a man with a shortage of words but now he was doing his talking with his eyes. With his touch. It was the sexiest thing I had ever experienced.

He smoothed my hair back off my cheeks, cupping my flesh, and studying my face. His gaze swept over me and his eyes were lit with the fire of passion. He looked like I was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

“What I am is the luckiest fucking guy on the planet.”

What woman could resist that? Not me. “Sweet talk will get you everywhere.”

He gave me a soft kiss. “Good.” His lips brushed over mine, as he invaded my space. This kiss was deeper, hotter.

I wrapped my arms around his neck so I could meet him halfway. His touch was electrifying. Each kiss grew more intense, and I was gripping him harder, wanting more, when he bit my bottom lip and pulled back entirely.

Disappointed, I wiped my lip, breathing hard.

“Show me this pool,” he said casually. “I think I need to cool off.”

I glanced down at his cock. That thing wasn’t going anywhere. It seemed crazy to me that he didn’t want to just have me go at it. I was personally on board with a kitchen countertop moment. But what I was finding about Alejandro was he always had a plan.

“This way.” I grabbed my wine glass and headed through the living room toward the sliders that led to the back patio. The pool was small but it had beautiful lighting and a dense row of foliage on either side of the property to prevent a view of the neighbors’ houses.

Given that it was April, it was almost a guarantee to be a beautiful night and it didn’t disappoint. We hadn’t seen rain in days and it was warm, with a balmy breeze off the water. I breathed in the smell of the water. “Best thing about being home is definitely the water.”

“And here I thought the best thing about being home was us.”

Warning bells clamored in the back of my head. “There isn’t an us,” I said, gently, wanting to remind him of the reality of what I was asking.

He didn’t look offended or mulish. He just looked amused, like he thought I was naïve as hell. He peeled his T-shirt off, revealing all those glorious muscles. He had a scar on his shoulder I hadn’t noticed earlier. He sat down in a chaise and I dropped into the one beside him. “Where did you get that scar?” I asked, reaching out and tracing it with the tip of my finger.

“Believe it or not, tailgating at a Dolphins game. The wind blew our tent over and the metal support sliced me open like a fillet. It was a freak accident. Bled like crazy.” He gave me a grin. “I usually say I got it in a knife fight. It sounds cooler.”

That made me roll my eyes. “It’s not like you tripped over your own feet and cut yourself on a palm tree or something. That would be embarrassing.” I took another sip of the wine, then handed him the glass. “Here. You can finish this.” I felt nervous again for some reason.

Which was ludicrous. But I forged ahead. “So what’s the craziest assignment you’ve ever had as a bodyguard?”

“Crazy?” He shrugged, raising his knee and tapping it with his thumb. He drained my glass and set it down on the tile next to his glass. “This is Miami and I oversee the rich and famous. Everyone is crazy. Though I had one guy in particular who was about eighty years old and spent all day walking around his house completely naked. There was something both horrifying and awesome about that. I had to give the guy credit. He had no fucks to give, you know?”

“I never thought of myself as someone who cared what other people thought, but I am old enough now and introspective enough to realize that’s not true. I do care what people think. Is that bad?”

But Alejandro shook his head slowly. “No, that’s not bad. Being a person who thinks about how their actions will affect others is a good thing, Miranda. In a world of selfish human beings, you’re a rare and beautiful soul.”

There it was again. That look. Like I was something special and awe-inspiring. I couldn’t live up to that adoration, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy it. I leaned toward him. “Will you please kiss me?” I whispered, my body aching with want that went far beyond arousal. He was digging in, creeping into my heart, and it was scary, but at the same time so compelling.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

His hand snaked out and buried in my hair and he moved closer, closer, eyes locked on me. I sighed without meaning to, but wanting to remember this moment. Then his mouth covered mine and I closed my eyes, needing to hide from the enormity of what I was feeling. I focused on the feel of him. The soft brush of our lips, the smell of his cologne, the hard plane of his chest. I ran my fingers over his bare flesh, greedy.

When his tongue coaxed my lips open I gave in willingly, wanting him to sweep inside me, dominate me. He didn’t disappoint. While his mouth did delicious things to me, his hand lowered, caressing my skin from my neck down to the swell of my breast. He cupped the tender flesh, like he was testing the weight of my breast. Then his thumb brushed over my nipple through the fabric of my cotton shirt.

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