Page 64 of The Au Pair Affair

“Nope,” he shouted, protectiveness sinking and twisting in his gut like a freshly sharpened blade. “Fuck that.”

“I can’t fuck that. And we’ll be in public, so there’s no reason I should be jumpy.”

“But youare.”

She squeezed her eyes closed. “I hate that I am. It makes me feel pathetic.”

“Hey. You arenotpathetic.” She needed more from him. He could see it. So he tried to put himself in her shoes, which was nearly impossible, because he’d never been scared of anotherhuman being in his life. He didn’t have to be. Why had he never thought about the unfairness of that before? He took his safety for granted. But what if he couldn’t? “Tallulah?”

“Yes?”

It took him a moment to locate the right words. “How do you feel about telling this clown that he’s making you uncomfortable and he needs to back the fuck off?”

She hissed a breath. “Oh, I don’t know. I’d rather just get through it.”

“Is getting through it working?” When she only blinked at him, he searched for a different tactic. “When someone encroaches on my territory on the ice, I let them know it’s not okay. And I guess it’s... I never thought about it, because it’s just my job, but I guess it’s empowering. To demand somebody backs off. You have that right, too.”

“I know I do. But enacting it is harder.”

He got that. “What if I’m there?”

Twin lights went on in her eyes. “You’re going to come on my study date with me?”

“Hold up. Why are you suddenly calling it a date? It was a fucking meeting before.”

“Fine. Meeting. Sheesh.” She searched his face, her chest dipping deeply, before rising. “You’ll really be there?”

“I’m your bodyguard, aren’t I?” He dropped a reassuring kiss onto her mouth. “And you won’t always need one.”

She puffed a humorless laugh. “Are you sure about that?”

“Positive.”

They looked at each other for long moments. The sound of traffic hummed outside the window, the ceiling fan whirred, and they just sort of melted together, chests meeting as his mouth worked hers from above, the kiss wet and breathless, boundaryless, her palms moving over his pecs and shoulders like a sculptor. Need accelerated into pain and his tongue went particularlydeep, Burgess tasting her hungry whimper, her hips beginning to rock restlessly on the edge of the bed—and he knew they had to stop. Because this was so much more than lust, as potent as it was. He was kissing her to comfort her, reassure her, bolster her courage... because he fucking liked her. A lot.

So he was trying to allow his heart and gut to make the decisions here. Not his dick.

He broke off with a curse, their panting breaths colliding. Could he realistically resist this woman who drew him in in ways he didn’t know were possible?

“Text me the place and time,” he said hoarsely, standing up and leaving the room, before his control deserted him completely. Thank God he’d have ample opportunity to blow off some steam before he saw her again. But even as the thought formed, he knew no amount of time would ever be enough. Could he convince her to take a chance on him before the steam finally blew his top off and he gave in?

Chapter Sixteen

To be fair, Burgess tried to be inconspicuous. He really did.

Tallulah was sitting across from Finn in the coffee shop, their notes spread out between them on the table, when her legendary boss walked in—and the air was promptly sucked out of the establishment.

“Holy fucking shit, that’s Sir Savage,” someone blurted at the table beside her.

Phones came out immediately and started snapping pictures of Burgess where he’d hunkered down in a booth, baseball cap pulled down low over his eyes. He’d chosen a spot in her line of vision, but not so close that he was hovering.

Gratitude pooled in her belly immediately, the glands in her throat starting to ache from the force of her gladness to see him. To have an ally. One who believed in her, even though she didn’t quite believe in herself yet or her ability to simply live normally again. But she’d had the day to think about what he’d said while kneeling in front of her in the bedroom with an erection the size of a tree trunk... and he was right. She needed to stop hiding and empower herself. If she was going to start being present in her own life again, she would encounter ugliness along the way, because ugly happened.

But how she handled it this time would determine how she handled it in the future.

Maybe she wouldn’t even have to put Finn in his place. Maybehe’d gotten the message when he’d seen her kissing Burgess outside of Down.

No matter what happened, though, Burgess would be there.

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