Page 44 of Close Protection

‘My arms are still free, Miss Green. Do something about it.’

I push his arms up over his head and press them into the ground, pinning him by his wrists. My body is now completely flush to his, once again, only this time his mouth is just centimetres away from mine.

‘Yeah…’ he breathes, looking from my eyes to my mouth, his jaw clenching. ‘Don’t do that.’

Feeling bold, I lower my lips to graze his earlobe. ‘You told me to do something about it, Mr Petrov, and I did just that.’ I release my tight hold on his wrists and trace my fingers down his arms languidly, but I don’t make it very far because he abruptly sits up, causing me to fall into his lap. His strong arm clasps my waist to steady me.

‘Looks like we’re gonna have to go over how to restrict the arms again,’ he bites out as I roll off him and stand up, trying and failing to contain my laugh. He stands up and walks to retrieve the knife.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I blink up innocently. ‘I feel like I did a very good job.’

He turns around to look at me, his gaze darkening. ‘Oh, you did a good job, Miss Green.’ He closes the distancebetween us and lifts my chin up with one finger to look me dead in the eye.

I blink up again, flustered, as I feel my heart rate increase when he dips his mouth to my ear, his lip grazing the sensitive skin. ‘You did a great job, in fact. But don’t be so light with your fingers.’ His hand starts travelling up the length of my arm with the lightest touch. ‘That’s too nice. Too cute. Too kind.’ His touch starts to roughen, getting firmer, travelling back down my arm, stopping at my wrist as he places it behind my back with one hand. Firm and in control. ‘I need you to be more certain. More demanding,’ he murmurs. ‘More rough.’ My other hand flies to his chest for stability as he pushes me so we’re once again flush against each other. He lifts his head away from my ear to bore those green irises into mine. ‘Can you do that for me, Miss Green?’

All I can do is nod, as he smirks. ‘Good.’ He instantly drops my hands and moves away, walking back to the top of the garden where the table of weapons stands. ‘Let’s move on to the next scenario.’

I open the door to my dressing room, ready to get my things for a shower, only to be greeted by two women and a rack of pink, white and cream dresses that I do not recognize.

‘You must be Daphne!’ the blond girl on the right determines in a perky American accent.

‘Yes… can I help you?’

‘We’re here for the dress fitting,’ responds the beautiful Asian woman standing next to the dress rack. She’s definitely American too, but her accent sounds a lot more refined.

‘I’m sorry, what dress fitting?’ I didn’t organize a dress fitting.

‘You weren’t able to shop for a dress, so I brought the dresses to you.’ I turn around at the sound of Milosh’s voice behind me. He’s leaning against the door frame looking irritatingly unperturbed.

‘You organized this for me?’ I walk towards him, the ladies in the back completely forgotten.

‘Mm hmm,’ is his simple response before he looks over to the two girls behind me. ‘Daphne, this is Averie Lee and Hallie Valentine. Hallie was in the same children’s home as me. She and Averie run a personal styling business in Connecticut, but they’re over here visiting an international client so I asked if they could stop by.’

‘Oh, wow.’ I turn back to Averie and Hallie, a genuine smile blooming. ‘That’s amazing, thank you so much!’

‘Of course,’ Hallie replies. ‘Anything for Milosh!’ I look between them as a sour taste enters my mouth. Hallie is stunning, with long sandy-blond hair cascading down herback in messy but sexy waves. She’s wearing a simple black tank top and some matching black slim-cut jeans but she somehow makes it look like the most fashionable outfit I’ve ever seen. Her tan, short red nails and minimal make-up help her look effortlessly sexy and cool, but still professional.

If I had to pick out a girl who would pair nicely with Milosh, it would be her. They would lookgreattogether.

Therefore, I’m not a fan. Especially with the way she’s currently looking at him.

‘You ready to get started, Daphne?’ Averie chirps, dragging my attention back to the present.

‘Um… yeah, sure.’ I look back over to Milosh, who’s already looking at me. ‘Did you want to stay, so you can give me your opinions on the dresses?’

‘You want me to stay?’ He frowns and I suddenly feel I may have crossed an invisible line I didn’t know was there, but, hey, it’s a bit too late to backtrack now.

‘Mm hmm,’ I hum. ‘Oh, and could you call Amelia in? I feel like she may want to see them too.’

‘I’ll go get her.’

‘Thank you.’ I give him a soft smile as I place my hand on his forearm, giving it a little squeeze before he nods curtly and heads out of the room, closing the door softly behind him. I turn back to Averie and Hallie only to find them grinning hugely.

‘Oh, I soooo get it now.’ Hallie smirks at me.

Letting out an extremely forced laugh I ask, ‘What are you talking about?’

‘You and Milosh! You’re literally the cutest couple ever!’

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