Page 23 of Protecting Hailey

“Not long. Almost three years.”

She snapped her head to look at me. “Really?”

I laughed. “I’m not sure if you’re impressed or concerned.”

“Impressed. You’ve been the most thorough bodyguard I’ve ever had.”

“Thanks.” Her compliment was bittersweet. I felt like the biggest fuck-up since my last assignment.

“What’s wrong?”

I shook my head. “It’s nothing.”

“I know we’ve only known each other a short time. But you can trust me.”

“It’s not that. It’s embarrassing actually, and it’s probably the last thing anyone would want to hear. Especially you.”

She stiffened next to me.

Shit.

“I see.”

She didn’t. She took that personally.

“I meant, especially you, as in my current client. The person I’m supposed to protect.”

Her brow furrowed, and I sighed. I was messing this up. With my eyes closed, I confessed, “My last client was kidnapped while under my protection.”

Her silence was deafening. I rubbed my sweaty palms over my pants and waited.

“That must have been difficult,” she said finally. “Is she all right now? Did you find her?”

“Yeah. My brothers pulled it together and located her kidnappers. I was drugged and couldn’t think straight for several hours.”

“That’s good.”

I arched my brow, and she smiled. “That you guys found her, I mean.”

“Yeah.” I dropped my head and looked down the shore to my right, turning away from her. Chewing the inside of my cheek, I fought a wave of humiliation that filled my body since the day it happened. How could I have been so stupid?

“How did they drug you?”

“It’s a long story.”

She shrugged. “I’ve got time.”

I doubted it. I hadn’t seen her rest since I started this assignment nearly a week ago.

“They laced the room service coffee.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I should have known better.”

She laughed. “Right. You should drug test every meal before a client eats it,” she said sardonically. “That’s not feasible.”

“Maybe. But I shouldn’t have had that coffee. If I’d been awake, those two would never have gotten past me.” The anger tasted bitter in my mouth.

She leaned forward, catching my gaze. “I don’t doubt that for a minute.”

She placed a hand on my thigh, and her brown eyes searched mine. “Hey. Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s not easy to get past our mistakes, but we get up and do it anyway.”

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