Page 48 of The Bodyguard and the Bombshell

“I don’t know,” Avery said quietly. “I don’t like this. He was in Aussie Special Forces. How much should he have to prove?”

“I think it’s kind of exciting.” Brianna had a water bottle in her hand and looked like she’d come from a yoga class. Or was going to one. She stood beside one of the tables which was covered in bags, some luggage-like and others from a local grocery store. “Also, do you think they’ll drag him out here naked?” Bri gasped as Devi punched her arm. “Sorry. I can look, right? I mean the dude is hot. Do you think Daisy’s sleeping with him?”

“From what I can see, there’s probably not a lot of sleeping,” Avery said with a sigh. “I’m pretty sure that’s Daisy’s skirt on the dungeon floor. I wish they’d picked up after themselves.”

Well, he’d meant to tidy up this morning.

“Good for Dais because Bri’s right. I got a closeup look at him and he’s hot,” Devi announced.

He moved down the stairs. It was good to know he still had it. They weren’t looking his way, so it was easy to maneuver around them. The apartment was on the other side of the building, over the locker rooms and the security office. It was where they would look because they were supposed to stay in those apartments. Like the good boy and girl they were. In two separate rooms.

It was exactly what he would have done had the client been anyone but Daisy O’Donnell. He could be attracted to a woman and stay professional. Hell, he’d worked with women he would have been more than happy to sleep with and never once made a move on one.

He couldn’t keep his hands off that gorgeous ball of trouble. Not for anything.

He caught sight of a big guy slipping down the stairs, moving toward the first floor. It was obvious he’d already checked the dungeon and was moving through a predetermined sweep.

“What do you mean the apartment is empty?” the man questioned quietly over the comm he was using. They’d brought in actual comms. Like this was a real op. Nate wasn’t sure if he was flattered or offended. It wasn’t like these men hadn’t known him his whole bloody life. “No. I don’t know where the fuck they are. Well, I know where they’ve been. There’s a trail of clothes all over the dungeon. Li’s going to lose his shit. I told you this was a bad idea.”

Alex McKay was almost to the stairs. Nate put his back to the wall and shuffled against it, keeping to the shadows. Fuckers had turned on some of the lights. Guess night vision degraded with age. The club didn’t have windows for obvious reasons, so the fact that it was morning didn’t change the situation. It stayed pretty dark, with only ambient lighting on.

“I don’t know. They’re young and clearly into each other. You put them in a freaking sex club and you’re surprised they played?” Alex asked. “I’m checking downstairs. Someone go check the privacy rooms, but I have to assume he’s asleep. Probably because he was awake most of the night. And no, I’m not telling Liam. I’ll contact you when I get down to security.”

Nate rounded the corner and put his SIG to the back of Alex’s head. “Or I’m awake because I’m also on a job. Do I need to incapacitate you or is it enough that I could have killed you?”

“Fuck.” Alex’s hands came up. “Nope. I’m out. I’ll go join the ladies if you’ll let me. And no, I won’t be informing anyone. I’d like to see how you handle them.”

Hopefully the same way he’d handled Alex. “Yeah, I’ll take the comm unit. You go tell Avery that Daisy is perfectly safe but her husband might not be.”

Alex handed over the comm unit. “Good luck, man. And dude, couldn’t you have put on some clothes?”

He would have if they’d given him time, but this was exactly what they’d wanted. Him with his pants down. So they could deal with his dick barely encased in his boxers. Nate settled the comm unit into his left ear.

“Alex, I asked you a question.” Ian’s voice came over the line.

Nate kept quiet. He glanced up. He’d made a pretty thorough inspection of the place when they’d first gotten here. The apartment could be accessed only by the stairs at the west side of the dungeon floor. Luckily that part was still pretty dark and there was only one sniper position, and he’d just come from it. He moved through the shadows to the edge of the stairs, kneeling down.

“Fuck, Li. Alex isn’t answering which means Nate got him. Can we call this off now? I told you he’s solid, and I hope he didn’t think we were actually here to kill his sweetheart.” Ian sounded irritated as hell.

“Solid? The fucker apparently spent the whole night ripping off my poor Daisy’s clothes.” Liam sounded way more irritated.

The ripping off portion had been a small part of the night, and she’d done her fair share of damage, too. He was pretty sure he had some nail marks on his back. His baby could get wild.

Wild was exactly how he liked her.

Ian jogged down the steps and moved right where Nate needed him to be.

“Hold on. Charlie’s calling.” Ian put his cell to his ears. “Hey, baby…wait…what? No. No one is dead. Don’t call the police. Don’t…”

His baby had given him the chaos he needed. He put the SIG to the back of Ian’s head.

“Fuck me,” Ian said, dropping his cell and holding his hands up. “Nate, this was not my idea.”

“No, it was mine,” Liam said.

And that was when he realized Li was behind him. Damn it. “Ian, I need some advice.”

A low chuckle came from the big boss. “Well, Nate, my advice is to not shoot me in the back of the head. Are we in some weird standoff? I can’t see, and honestly, I’m too old for this shit. Are you sure you don’t want one of the twins? I’ll hand either one off no problem. I’ll even throw in a new truck. Don’t discount that. One of the reasons we’re here is I picked up your rental. It’s a Fiat. I had to get Bri and Devi to drive it over because none of the rest of us fit.”

---