Page 89 of Protecting Christina

She stared at me and rested her chin on her clasped hands. “So, what are you going to do about it?”

“I have no fucking idea.” I exhaled harshly.

“Well, you can start by talking to Will.”

What would I even say to him?

I’m fucked up. I have trust issues. You really should run and leave me behind.

“That you like him.”

“I’ll think about it,” I said and checked the time. “I should get back to the office.”

“I’ve never seen you like this, Chrissy.”

“Like what?”

She shrugged. “Unsure. Uncomfortable. You always know what to do and how to do it.”

“Yeah. Well, I guess I’m not used to dealing with people who want to be a part of my life.”

“It’s time you figured that out.”

Yes, it was. I just had no clue how to do it.

Will

I started a new bodyguard assignment today. I was asked to drive a Hollywood celebrity around New York. He wasn’t exactly drawing the sort of attention that would require a bodyguard, but he’d become a recluse over the past several years and now wanted someone to watch his back anytime he visited a big city. The job was a bit brain-draining if I was honest. No one paid attention to the guy and my presence was the only thing that alerted people to the fact that he was famous at all. In my experience, some celebs believed they were more famous than they really were. Especially in a big city. No one cared.

So, I sat in the waiting room inside some movie producer’s office for my client to leave. It had been more than an hour.

The secretary kept glancing my way. She was pretty. But she smiled too much.

I immediately thought of Christina and how she rarely smiled, but when she did, it made my heart stop.

I didn’t call today. She needed space and maybe I’d been coming across a little too strong. But damn it. I liked her. She was stronger than anyone else I’d ever met, and the way she walked and talked—it was the whole damn package that drove me crazy.

But unlike other women I’d dated, she never wanted to stay. She kept me at a distance. Yes, the sex was phenomenal, but something was missing. There was a depth to her she wouldn’t allow me to reach, and I felt the distance as though it were a football field between us.

And I had no idea how to close it.

I was rubbing the back of my neck when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and checked the message.

“Do you have plans tonight?”

It was Christina. I smirked.

“Yes. I do.”

I waited for the three dots, telling me that she was texting me back, but there was nothing. I shook my head. I shouldn’t tease her. Not unless we were in bed.

I typed another message. “I have plans with you.”

The three dots instantly appeared.

“Asshole.”

I laughed out loud, and the secretary looked up. She saw me with my phone in hand and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, getting back to her computer.

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