Page 40 of Control

“I would want to spend time with him, doing things to have fun or going on a date every so often. He’d never want to go out. It got to the point where I became sick of always being stuck inside, so I’d decide to call a friend to do something instead. Then he tried to tell me I wasn’t allowed to go out, not even for lunch or dinner with Yasmine. I wasn’t going to allow him to control me, so I ended things between us. Ever since, I’ve tried dating, but nothing more than a handful of dates with people who were nice enough. Those dates never amounted to anything more because there was no chemistry. So, it’s been years since I’ve been in a relationship and at least eight months since I’ve been out on a romantic date.”

It wasn’t until I took in the look on Ty’s face that I realized how much rambling I’d done. Gosh, what was wrong with me?

Just as I wished the ground would open up and swallow me whole, Ty placed his hand on my leg just above my ankle and said, “We’re going to have to see about changing that for you sometime very soon.”

I raised a questioning brow, but Ty didn’t elaborate.

There was a moment of silence before he said, “Alright. What’s your next question for me?”

I shook my head. “Oh, no. No, I’m zero for two on the questions. Maybe you should start the next round.”

Laughter spilled out of him. “Fair enough. How about you tell me what made you want to become a reporter?”

Now, it was my turn to laugh. “I wish I could give you some glamorous reason or tell you it was always my dream, but that’s not the case. It was during my junior year in high school when my first real boyfriend, my first love, decided to cheat on me.That became the year I learned just how much I hated secrets and the importance of the truth.”

“And here I thought we might have to go a few rounds before finding something we can connect on,” Ty declared. “I’m sorry to hear about your first boyfriend. He sounds just as awful as my most recent girlfriend.”

I smiled. “He truly was the worst. I think you and I need lessons in picking better partners.”

He shot a knowing smile my way, a gleam in his eyes. The prolonged eye contact was almost too much, forcing flutters to form in my belly.

We were barely an hour into this two-day break. If this continued like this between us, I thought it might mean trouble. He was mere weeks out of a relationship. I didn’t want to be the girl who helped him get over it before he moved on.

“Okay, Ty. Stop looking at me like that and tell me about you. Why did you become a bodyguard?”

His lips curved into a smile.

Then he told me all about his career choices.

“Well, believe it or not, when I got out of the military, I considered a different career field,” he confessed.

I cocked a brow, feeling intrigued. “Oh? What was it?”

“Secret service.”

My eyes nearly fell out of my head.“What?!”

His lips twitched. “Does that surprise you?”

“Uh, kind of. I mean, with the military background, I guess it fits. And you’re obviously capable, considering you’re a bodyguard now, but you don’t seem that uptight. Is that why you decided against it?”

Laughter spilled out of him. “I decided against it because I realized there’d be no choices or freedom. I’d run the risk of being given an assignment, the job of protecting someone who I didn’t necessarily agree with, and I’d have no option but to stilldo the job. I didn’t want to spend my entire working life having no control over the work that I was going to be a part of.”

I tipped my head to one side and assessed him. We had this in common. Sure, I hadn’t realized until more recently that I didn’t like not having the option to choose what stories I covered, but now that I’d been doing this on my own, I felt undeniably fulfilled. Ty had the foresight years before me, but we both appreciated the same thing when it came to our careers.

I sent a mischievous look his way. “But what about the suits?”

“What?”

My tongue darted out and licked my lips. “If you’d joined the secret service, you’d be wearing a suit every day.”

“And there’s just one more reason I’m glad I decided to be a bodyguard at Harper Security Ops.”

“Bummer,” I mumbled.

“What?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I think it’d be nice to see what you look like in a suit. I’m convinced there aren’t many guys who can pull it off the way you could.”

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