Page 29 of Guarded By the Phantom

I jerked away from the bookcase, just in time to see a scale-covered woman give us a suspicious look before she walked away with a huff.

“Book yoga?” I hissed under my breath, patting down my clothes to make sure they weren’t all rumpled.

Even though my clothes were fine, I felt disheveled and frazzled.

“It was the only thing I could think of,” he said with a shrug, watching me. “You all right?”

I stared at him, incredulous. “No, I am not all right,” I whispered hotly, straining to stay calm. “You assaulted me! What the hell was that? And why…”

I broke off, realizing what I was about to say.Why did I like it?

“Could we just forget it?” Phantom asked, scratching the back of his head. “It was just a glitch. Kind of. I didn’t mean to do it.”

I shook my head, appalled by his audacity.

“No, I can’t forget it!” I hissed, clutching the book to my chest. “How am I supposed to trust you when you… When you keep doing things like this! It’s one thing to make stupid jokes, but this was…”

Intimate. Forceful. Forbidden.

“It was too much,” I finished lamely, looking away. “You… You can’t be my bodyguard anymore.”

I was sure if I kept looking at him, he would read the truth in my face. Oh, how he would joke at my expense if he realized how much he affected me. I would never live it down.

“Oh, well,” he murmured after a taut moment. His body was tense, his hand on his hip, gripping a holster. “You’re forcing me to do something I’ll regret very much, doll. I’d rather do anything but this.”

I looked up, alarmed. He exuded a menacing aura, and when he took a step closer, I stumbled back, a scream of fear building in my throat. God, he was unhinged. He could doanythingto me. And if he decided to hurt me, I stood no chance. None. He’d slice me into pieces.

“Please, don’t…”

I broke off when Phantom fell to his knees in front of me, looking up with a comically serious expression.

“I’m sorry. Please, forgive me. I will never do it again.” He frowned, cocking his head to the side, and then grinned. “Unless you ask me to.”

“W-what?”

My heart was in my throat, my entire body locked in a state of the highest emergency, and he… Was he…

“Did you just apologize?” I whispered, staring at his upturned face like it was a bomb. “You… I can’t believe this.”

“Me, neither,” he said, lifting his arms wide in an exaggerated shrug. “It’s my first time, by the way. Please, be gentle with me.”

“Your first time… apologizing.”

At that moment, I wished I was the kind of person who facepalmed themselves, because the situation called for a facepalm. He was down on his knees at my feet, looking at me with a grin that was a bit less unhinged than his usualexpression, his eyes glowing softly, and he looked… cute. Like a puppy.

Okay, a murder puppy, but still.

“Yup,” he said, nodding. “You just popped my sorry-cherry.”

I closed my eyes and inhaled slowly. It didn’t help with my urge to laugh and didn’t bring back the anger that I desperately needed. If anything, I wanted to pat Phantom on the head. If he told me the truth and it really was his first time, that deserved encouragement.

“Um… Excuse me?”

Another young woman, probably a student, stood in the aisle entrance, looking at us uncertainly.

“He’s doing book yoga. Don’t mind him,” I said at once.

She laughed uncomfortably and left. I looked at Phantom, who was grinning full-on now.

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