Page 14 of Protecting Talia

He huffed out a breath. “It means they have to go through me.”

She narrowed her gaze. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because, for some reason, you’ve crawled under my skin.”

“You’re acting like a cinnamon roll.”

His lips thinned, and she couldn’t stop the laughter from bubbling up. His expression softened, and she reached out, placing her hand on his chest.

“Thank you.”

He shrugged. “I’m just doing what anyone else would do.”

She shook her head almost violently. “Heck no. No one else would care. When people find out I did porn, they leave. And my sister always makes sure my friends know what happened.”

“I don’t care about that. It doesn’t define you.”

“I want you to remember that when your friends figure out that I was in some video they watched at some point in the past. What are you going to do then?”

“Not going to be soft on them. I’ll tell them to shut it or else.”

Honestly, she didn’t believe him. When guys started ragging him about it, he would fold. She knew from history that’s what guys did. For now, she would humor him but never get attached. Getting close only brought heartache, and she could feel it in her bones that she was one heartache away from a total breakdown.

8

Zip hated what he’d learned about Talia. Not that she’d done porn. That didn’t matter to him. He’d killed people, so who was he to judge? It was funny to him that he’d gone from trying to prove to her he wasn’t a good person to bending over backward to get her to trust him.

He’d wanted to stay and end up in bed with her, but he’d left, making sure she locked up behind him. He texted first thing in the morning, wanting her to know he was thinking of her.

When she responded, he decided he wanted to see her. He called, hoping she picked up.

“Hey, what’s up?” Talia’s voice sounded like she’d just woken. His stomach tightened as desire rose.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk on the beach?”

He could hear her yawning on the other end of the line. “Give me a few minutes to wake up.”

“Sure. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Gosh, you’re chipper in the morning. I bet it’s because of the Navy. They make you get up early and shit, right?”

“Sometimes they don’t even let us go to bed. I’ve got to say that living off base is nice. It’s quieter, that’s for sure.”

“I’ll try to be awake enough to talk, but I’m not one for the morning.”

“I’ll remember that. I’ll see you in a few.”

He was glad she wanted to hang out. He really wanted to get to know her. He pulled on his socks, worry striking hard. What was he doing? He’d gone from never wanting a relationship to tracking down a woman he hadn’t even had sex with to spend the morning with her. He must be out of his mind.

* * *

Talia finished dressingand stepped into the bathroom. She picked up her lipstick and held it up. Why was she even trying? No question, this guy would leave once he figured out exactly what her being in porn meant. A part of her wanted to run into someone who remembered her time on screen and show Zip exactly how awful it could be.

She heard a car door shut outside and figured it was Zip. Few people showed up this early on Sunday for the restaurant, and no one else should be looking for her.

The knock on her door made her heart rate pick up. She hoped it was Zip and not someone else. There was a small probability her sister would show up, but she doubted Cheryl would stop by. They usually left each other alone, except for when she thought warning her sister about danger was a good idea.

She opened the door, relieved to see Zip. “Ah, it is you.”

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