Page 40 of Protecting Christina

“Um… as in, no, I won’t accept your money.”

“Oh.” So, this was a conflict with his conscience. He would get over it. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re a bodyguard and apparently trained to rescue people. I need someone to free my sister from a potentially dangerous situation. There’s no problem here.”

“Yes, there is,” he said slowly. “We slept together last night. This is no longer a business transaction.”

I shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

“You don’t?”

“Not at all.”

He shook his head and smiled, but he didn’t look very happy.

“If I don’t have a problem with it, then you shouldn’t either. Don’t make this more complicated than it needs to be.”

He looked around the room, apparently thinking about my proposal.

He let out a frustrated sigh.

“Fine,” he said, finally.

“Great.” I folded my hands around the warm coffee cup. “What is your fee? And do you take credit card payments?”

He looked down at my hands, as though he was considering taking the coffee back. “No. I don’t.”

“That’s not a problem. I just like to collect points. Cash then?”

“No.”

“Well, how the hell do you want me to pay you?”

He smiled. “I’ll let you know when the job is complete.”

“How do I know you’re not ripping me off?”

“I would never do that.”

“How do you know I can even pay the amount if I don’t agree to it?”

“I won’t ask you for anything I know you can’t give.”

He stared at me, his eyes roaming down my neck, to the throbbing artery in my neck and heat rushed up my body. He wasn’t talking about money, was he? The thought made me wild, but I pushed it down.

“Fine. Agreed.”

He nodded but didn’t smile. “Let’s get to work, then.” He pushed his coffee cup aside and stared at me intently. “Tell me everything you know about Simon Graff.”

My chest tightened, and I hesitated. An image of Simon on top of me immediately came to mind, but I swatted it away. “He’s an asshole.”

“I figured that. What does he do for a living?”

“I don’t know. Nothing legit, I’m sure. I just can’t prove it.”

“Where does he live?”

I gave him the address, and he punched it into his phone. He pulled up an aerial map of the place and sent it to someone by text.

“Does he live alone?”

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