Page 40 of The Bodyguard and the Bombshell

He had to find a way to wipe the afternoon out of her head for a little while.

She looked up. “Oh, good. I’ll go see what Mom sent for dinner.”

“I think we should talk first.”

She sighed. “What is there to talk about, Nate? I’ve done everything that’s been asked of me. I’m putting my life on hold so no one has to worry. If you’ve changed your mind, I can handle that. My family was a lot today.”

She didn’t understand him at all, but maybe he hadn’t made himself clear. “I don’t want to talk, Daisy. I want to chase you through this club. I want to rip your clothes off and fuck you on every possible surface.”

Her eyes flared. “So we’re going to do that thing where we’re together in the club?”

“The club is simply where we are right now. If I’d thought for a second you would have been up for it, I would have hauled you into a closet at the office and fucked you there, but you were going through some things,” he admitted. “And I don’t have an actual office. It’s a cubicle, and I’m too big to hide behind those walls. Besides, I want to hear you when you come.”

“Nate,” she began. “Maybe you should think about this. There’s a reason my brother warned his friends off me, and no matter what he said, I have to think it was at least partially about protecting them.”

“From how gorgeous you are? From how you could rock their whole fucking worlds?”

She stood, her hands going to her hips. Her fighting stance. “From how much trouble I can be.”

He needed her to understand he could handle a fight. But he was also open to negotiations. “How about we make a deal, love? You get into trouble and you call me. When I get shot for you, you owe me some submission time.”

Her expression softened, and she moved into his space. “I forgot. Nate, I should look at your arm.”

He shook his head. “I don’t need a nurse. It’s fine. I don’t even feel it. It was more like a graze. Now what happened to my truck is another story entirely. I’m going to need quite a bit of time for that. We were lucky to have Alex drive us here. Tomorrow they’re going to give me a rental, and it won’t be big enough.”

She stepped back, putting space between them. “I’m sorry. I certainly didn’t intend to wreck your truck. You know I didn’t plan any of this. I didn’t exactly go into the week thinking Hey, I’d like to witness a bunch of crimes and lose another job and get shot at.”

At least the hollow look was out of her eyes. How often had she felt weary and no one else saw through her pretty mask? All he’d heard was about how crazy Daisy’s life could be. Did anyone think about the toll it might take on her? How it affected her view of herself? “And yet it happened, and in the middle of a firefight, you wanted to make sure your da had breakfast.”

“I told you, he’s cranky when he doesn’t eat.” Daisy’s arms crossed over those gorgeous breasts. “See, I’m trouble. I also don’t behave the way people think I should. And you know what, it wasn’t much of a firefight. I could have helped if you’d given me a gun.”

The thought damn near gave him a heart attack, so why did the idea of an armed Daisy also get him a little hot? Not that he wasn’t hot enough for her already. “If you don’t like how I protect you, we can discuss it.”

She stopped, her expression going blank again. “I know what you’re doing, but it can’t work. Nate, I know this whole sex thing is hot, but it wears off.”

He didn’t like the space between them, but he had to be careful. He moved toward her. “It won’t with me. It’s more than sex.”

Sure enough she stepped back, but her eyes were on him, and he could see the longing plain in her gaze. “You can’t know that.”

He wasn’t even sure she realized he was herding her to the back of the lounge, where there would be nowhere for her to go. He could feel his body heating up. This sensation was completely new for him. He’d certainly wanted sex before, but it had never been this crazed need for one woman. “Is it all about sex for you? Was that the only connection?”

“How would I even know? The truth is it was the best sex I’ve ever had. If you want me to stroke your ego, I can certainly do that.”

His ego wasn’t what he wanted her to stroke, but he had a point to make. “It was the best sex of my life, too.”

“It’s not enough to build something real on.”

She was forgetting they had a past. “Daisy, we were friends once. It’s not like we don’t know each other and this is all coming out of nowhere.”

She’d left her phone behind, and all her attention was now where he wanted it. On him. “I was Aidan’s sister.”

“Then how do I remember what soda you like? How would I know that when you were ten, your greatest ambition in life was to be a teacher? Back then you were afraid of the dark because your cousins once played a prank where they hid in your closet and pretended to be monsters.” He wasn’t going to let her be afraid of what they felt for each other. Another step and he had her where he wanted her. “Here’s what you don’t know. Before I came here, I think I was in some kind of depression. Not clinical, but I was definitely at a low place in my life because I was numb. I got out of the military because it wasn’t filling my soul the way I thought it would. I thought since my father served, following in his footsteps would be the right thing to do, but I really went in because I didn’t have any other plans. Funny thing is, I think I am going to follow in his footsteps. My father didn’t have some grand career. His job was loving my mum. That was his place in the world, and last night I found mine.”

She was backed up against the bar. “Nate, you can’t know that.”

“I can, and I think you know it, too.” He wanted to kiss her and blow past all her walls, but she was in a delicate state. Still, he could feel the heat building between them. “One of the reasons I came here was because most of my favorite memories revolve around you and Aidan. I was going to meet with you, and a part of me hoped you would still be that girl following me around, looking up to me.”

“You knew I had a crush on you?” The question came out breathy, as though she was trying to force herself to concentrate.

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