Page 66 of Trust My Bodyguard

Iris swoons and fans herself. “No, you’re not.” Her voice manages to sound controlled despite how badly she’s blushing. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Okay. One last time.” She gives me her side views. “I hope I’m not doing too much.”

“Go ahead. You look perfect.”

She beams and leans in to peck my cheek. “Thank you.”

With that, she leaves me all alone in the quiet apartment. Curiosity gets the best of me. I grab my bag of chips and head to the window. I wait until Iris comes down the building’s steps. Just then, a car door opens and Callum steps out. He’s dressed in a jacket and dark jeans. And he’s carrying flowers.Aww. My sister can’t hide her glee. She hops in excitement and collects them, then pecks him.

I choke on my snack and have to cough to dislodge it. When I can lift my watery eyes back to the scene, Callum is holding the door open for Iris to get in the front seat. He jogs over to his side of the car with a big smile on his face like he has won the lottery. Maybe he has. Iris is a gem.

The car pulls away from the curb and joins the traffic, making the end of my movie break.

I sigh and return to my computer. It’s been a week since we’ve been back and it’s been one hell of a week at work for me. There’s been a lot to catch up with, much more than I can do in a week. But don’t tell that to my supervisor. He believes I should have hit the ground running the moment I returned and any hint of a misstep has him breathing down my neck.

It doesn’t help that my overworked colleagues made shoddy work of the paperwork I left behind and I have to redo it all over again. Combine that with the couple of rough cases I had to cover this week and I’m not doing fine at all.

I miss Pine Peaks. I miss the boring, nothing-to-do days. I miss cooking around the tiny kitchen with Iris.

I miss Brody. There. I said it.

If the guys had just been a little worse at their jobs, maybe Iris and I would still be there now living in blissful oblivion of the real world. I wouldn’t be dealing with work and Brody and I would have had a real date.Maybe.

He was infuriating. I can’t imagine spending time with him without feeling like screaming my head off at least once. At the same time, I crave it now.

I can’t talk back to my bosses. That’s a quick a ticket to unemployment town. My colleagues aren’t good for it either. We all need to keep our heads down and work, work, work. The only person who can give me the spark I need is miles away, moving on with his life while I’m here, typing his name instead of a client’s. I quickly backspace his and input the correct name.

Every attempt to stay on task proves fruitless. Brody has taken over my mind.

I take a break from work and put away the clothes Iris threw about while she got ready. As I stash the blue dress in the closet, my eyes fall on the tights I wore the day Brody shoved his hand down between my legs and made me orgasm against the wall.

This is futile. I can’t stay alone for much longer. I might do something stupid like recreate the last night we spent together in my head and touch myself while calling out his name. Or even worse, call him.

I can’t forget how standoffish he was on the day we left. He’d snuck out of my bed and acted like what we did never happened. Maybe if I called him now, he’d ask who I was and what I wanted. Fuck him.

And fuck me for giving him center stage in my head.

Even though it’s not a date, eating a nice meal outside would make me feel far better than having something microwaved by myself in the quiet kitchen.

I put on a miniskirt over a pair of tights, a sweater, and some comfortable sandals. Then I fix my hair and apply just a bit ofmakeup. I look in the mirror expecting to be wowed but no, I look regular, with a touch of moroseness.

“It’ll pass,” I tell myself.

It’s only been a week. I won’t be able to snap back just like that. But in a few weeks, maybe a month, life would go back to normal. I’ll get a hold of my work and I might meet nice guys.

Barfon that last thought. If he doesn’t have mild control issues like a certain someone I know, he’d probably bore me to death.

No, wait. The whole point is not to think about Brody but there I go again.

I sigh and grab my purse.Don’t think of him. I keep the chant going on in my head as I pick up my keys and head for the front door. I’d probably be back before Iris, so I don’t worry about locking her out.

Speaking of, we need to get a second set of keys for her and maybe I’ll talk to the building manager so she’ll get her own keycard for the lobby door. As it is, she has to ring the doorman to get the door for her when she arrives.

I open the door and fish for my key in my purse. Brody’s ritual when leaving or entering the cabin plays back in my head. He was so religious about it. I can’t deny that it made me feel safe.

The key slips from my fingers and drops on the floor.Sheesh. Look at that. I’m thinking of him so much I lose control of my motor functions. I bend over to pick it up andboom.

I gasp and rise up. There’s a bullet-sized hole on the door. Right where my head would’ve been if I was standing.

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