Page 80 of South Beach Bodyguards

Getting an Uber proved to be a huge pain in the ass but I was not asking Ricardo for one of his drivers to take me anywhere. I wanted to owe him absolutely nothing. After walking all the way to the guard gate, I convinced the guy in the booth to let me wait there for my ride. I sat and waited and tried to ignore his curious stares. He clearly thought I was Eva leaving her husband. I didn’t want that to be anyone’s perception because I knew it would hurt my sister so I said in a conversational voice, “My sister, Ricardo’s wife, had to go to New York. I’m going back to my own apartment. We’re identical twins, you know.”

“I did not know that. Mrs. Davis is very sweet. Everyone here likes her.”

“I’m not as sweet, but I try.” I wondered not for the first time what it would be like to be a single birth. No twin to be compared to. Would people think I was nicer because they wouldn’t hold me up against Eva and find me abrasive? Would I even be abrasive if I didn’t have a twin I had to protect?

Impossible to know. Irrelevant, really. But sometimes I felt like sighing. I was no ax murderer, yet apparently not very likable, either. College had been different. I had been on my own, without Eva, who had stayed behind in Jacksonville and gone to community college for a year before dropping out and getting a coffeehouse job. It had been a good fit for her. She liked people and they liked her. But on my own, I’d made friends, joined a sorority. Gone to Hurricane football games and generally had the standard undergrad experience. Two of my sorority sisters were still my best friends, though since graduation, one had moved to Atlanta.

Waiting for Wester, I stared at the bay and marveled at what the hell had happened to our lives, mine and Eva’s. It had been a fluke that she had met Ricardo. She had come down to visit me my senior year and we had gone to South Beach to a trendy nightclub that I kept telling her we’d be turned away from. But while on my own I might not have gotten in, as twin blondes, we’ve been given the green light.

Within five minutes Ricardo had bought Eva a drink. She had been sweet and demure and clearly wasn’t interested in his money. She had also refused to go home with him, which I think he’d seen as a challenge. I’d been leery, but I was happy she was happy. Now I just wanted to get as far away from his house of over-indulgence as possible.

Though when Wester pulled up I wasn’t sure this was a smart move. I didn’t trust myself with him. He made me forget reality. He got out of his car and said hello to the guard, who recognized him.

“I’m taking Olivia home,” he told him.

The guy nodded and smiled at me. “Nice to meet you. I hope you enjoyed your visit.”

“It was interesting. Nice to meet you, too.” I studied Wester as he went around the car and opened the door for me. He was favoring his right arm and moving stiffly but beyond that, it still amazed me how gorgeous he was. His features had all the beauty of chiseled lines and thick eyelashes, with a strong jaw and nose. His skin was flawless, his lips just the right form of temptation. As always though, it was the eyes that arrested me. When he peeled off his sunglasses and tucked them in his suit to lean in close and take my backpack from me, I swallowed hard.

It reminded me of the night before, when he had been propped on his hands, thrusting his cock inside me, staring intently down at me. I had had sex with this man. I had been naked with this man. And I’d been too afraid to actually touch him back or fully enjoy the beauty of his face and body. The beauty of what he could do to me.

I jumped in the car, unable to look at him. It was embarrassing. I was no virgin, but this wasn’t like facing a hook up the morning after too much tequila. I needed to focus on practical issues at hand. “You need to take off that jacket,” I said as soon as he got in the car, determined to leave no time for seductive glances. I had found myself flirting with him on the phone and that was just a bad idea.

“It needs to be cut off at this point. I just haven’t had a chance.”

“Should we stop at the store and get you a T-shirt and some bandages?” I had nothing in my apartment that would fit him unless he was partial to cap sleeves and v necks and slogans like “I run on lipstick and coffee.”

“We’re stopping at my place first.”

Anxiety crept over me. While I was curious to see what his apartment looked like, and see a glimpse of who he was as a person, I was afraid to be alone with him. Which was stupid because I would be alone with him at my apartment but at least there, I felt comfortable and safe in my own space. Not that I was scared of Wester. I was just scared of the way I felt. “Okay.”

“I need some clothes if I’m going to be staying with you.”

Wait. What the hell? I stared at him. “That is not what we agreed on. We agreed that I would bandage your arm and you would drive me home.” My heart rate kicked up several notches. I could not have Wester staying in my apartment for days. There was no way. I would self-combust from sexual frustration.

“We agreed I would keep you safe. This is how I plan to keep you safe.”

“By infringing on my privacy? Sleeping on my couch? No way. I’ll go to a hotel then. Ricardo can pay for it. I’ll be perfectly safe in a hotel.”

Wester glanced over at me, and his smile was naughty, confident. Arrogant. Alpha-male alert. “Do I make you nervous?”

Yes. “No, you make me annoyed.”

“Liar.” But he shrugged. “I won’t force you to do anything, Olivia. You’re an adult. If you want me to leave after I check your apartment, I will.”

That made me relieved he wasn’t going to be bossy and invasive but at the same time, I was deflated that he wasn’t going to push harder. Which was stupid. A small part of me, namely my vagina, wanted him to stick around for days on end until I had filled my sexual well for the next six months of celibacy. But we couldn’t have sex now again, anyway. It was too complicated, too awkward. Too loaded.

“Thanks, Wester. You’re an all right guy.”

He gave a small laugh. “That’s probably the most ringing endorsement I’ve gotten in a long time.”

“You did risk your life for me. I do appreciate that.” I tried to imagine how I would have felt locked in that room in Benito’s if Wester hadn’t shown up. I would have spent the entire night terrified, not knowing my fate or what was going on. “I was really scared and you were there for me.”

For a second he didn’t say anything. Then he just said gruffly, “You’re welcome.”

So Wester didn’t like compliments. Duly noted. I realized it might also just be the perfect way to level the playing field. He drove me crazy with his touch. I could knock him off balance by saying nice things to him. The thought amused me.

“What are you smiling about?”

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