Page 22 of South Beach Bodyguards

“Sounds intriguing,” Alejandro said. “So are you single? Maybe we could hang out sometime.”

Was he for real? I realized I was grinding my teeth and my hands were in tight fists. Without saying a word to either of them, I went out the front door and to my car, wanting some fresh air and my coffee. It was going to be cold, but I didn’t care. The sun hit me in the eyes and I squinted, trying not to picture Alejandro and Isabel out on a date. They would make a good-looking couple, I had to admit. Alejandro was in great shape, and he smiled constantly. His features were proportionate and unlike me, he had never broken his nose. He laughed and teased women and they laughed with him and went home with him. If he and I went out to a club in South Beach, nine out of ten times he left with a woman, while I got disappointed looks from the best friends, who realized they had gotten paired off with me, the guy who didn’t know how to flirt.

I didn’t want to hear Isabel’s response to him, which would probably be positive. Maybe she would choose Alejandro to be the one who took her virginity. That thought made me want to punch something. I knew how many girls he had gone home with and whatever, I didn’t give a shit if he wanted to sample his way across South Beach. But Isabel deserved to be treated special. She deserved to have her first time be with someone who was going to take the time to make sure she felt cherished, and that she enjoyed it.

If it wasn’t me, I couldn’t trust that anyone else would do right by her.

Which meant that it was going to have to be me.

Damn. This was wrong. But it was the only option if I wanted to live with my own conscience. That made me scoff out loud at myself. So what, I was trying this to be noble? Yes, I was, but it was also guaranteed to be something I was going enjoy, so really, how much of a nice guy was I really?

Not much.

Coffee cup in hand, I went back into the house, determined.

Alejandro was showing Isabel something on his phone and she was laughing. He glanced up at me. “You okay, man?”

“Yeah.” I gave Isabel a smoldering look. I knew it was smoldering. I could feel it. It was intense and raw and intimate. Her eyes widened.

“Ryan?” she asked, tentatively. She shifted away from Alejandro. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking about something.” I knew she would know what I was referring too and she did. Her cheeks turned pink and she looked flustered, tucking her hair back behind her ears.

“What?” she asked.

“I’ll tell you later.” I would tell her later how I was going to be the one. How I was going to strip her naked again and touch every inch of her luscious body until she was ready and aching and open for me.

A smile danced over her face. She knew. Somehow she could read it on my face even though I was tense and scowling and being a complete bossy jerk. There was a connection between us already and it was growing by the minute.

“So I’ve never wanted to have a threesome with another dude before, but I’m pretty turned on right now watching you two,” Alejandro joked.

It would have been funny under any other circumstances. “Shut up,” I told him.

Isabel was watching me. I broke eye contact first. I pinned Alejandro with a stare. “Aren’t you supposed to be doing surveillance outside the house? Not inside?”

“Your dad said I could chill inside, no big deal. He gave me a key. I love this house. I won five hundred bucks in that poker game we had here last year. Remember that? You were on a winning streak that night too. You won a Glock from that guy, what was his name?”

I had completely forgotten about that. “Shit, that’s right. Damn, we had a lot of tequila that night. I was in no shape to be betting anything. It’s a freaking miracle I won.” The memory made me grin. It had been a bromance kind of night, with Alejandro and our co-worker Kellen and I chest thumping and shoulder clapping every time we won. We’ve been tossing back shots and egging each other on, and Kellen’s cousin Romeo had brought a couple of friends who were really horrible poker players. It hadn’t taken much to strip them of everything including the one guy’s Glock, which he had put on the table without hesitation. “What happened to that gun?”

Alejandro laughed. “You don’t know? If you don’t have the gun, who does?”

“Hell if I know.” That seemed like something I should look into, but then again, it wasn’t registered to me, so what did I care? “They probably just lifted it on their way out of the house. I was too lit to notice if they did.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Alejandro flopped down on the couch and kicked off his shoes. “Where are you two kids off to now?”

“You trying to get rid of us?”

“Just you.”

“Fuck off.” I eyed Isabel. “Is everything in your bag? I’ll go get it.” I didn’t want to leave her alone with Alejandro but it was the gentlemanly thing to do to go collect her stuff.

But she was already jogging back up the stairs. “I’ll get it,” she called over her shoulder. I was pretty sure I’d never seen her move that fast. She looked like a fire had been lit under her cute ass.

Alejandro was grinning at me. “So how come you never told me your stepsister is built like Barbie?”

“She’s not my stepsister.”

“Even better, because now it’s not weird.”

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