Page 42 of Guarding Bristol

But more than that, he wouldn’t let anything happen to her because he cared about her on a deeply personal level that came with its own dangers.

He signaled at her to wrap it up.If Mark had reported her presence to his cartel contacts, it was possible they might track her phone to try and get a location.

“I gotta go now, Cass.I’ll call you again as soon as I can.Love you.”She ended the call, blew out a hard breath and handed over her phone.

TJ took it, shut it down and removed the battery before setting it on the coffee table with a quiet thud that sounded loud in the stillness, then looked back up at her.“You all right?”

She was still pale.Yet still so ridiculously hot, even in her scrubs.The naughty librarian vibe of those glasses was crazy sexy on her.

“I mean...”She gave a humorless chuckle and shrugged.“I guess?”

The urge to protect her beat at him, to protect her even from her fear.“You’ll be fine.I’m here, and this’ll be over before you know it.”He hoped.

She shook her head slowly, staring at him like she’d never seen him before.

“What?”

“Wow, you’re like,reallygood at the whole undercover thing.”

He would not laugh.Would not.But his lips quirked in spite of himself.She was so damned witty and sweet and unexpected.

He stood, heading for the kitchen.“You must be hungry after working so late.I’ll see what I can make us to eat.Any allergies or aversions?”

“Organ meat, but unless you love liver and onions, that’s probably one thing I can remove from my list of things to worry about.”

He enjoyed her dry humor, especially in the face of all this.“I’m fresh out of organs.”

“Good.Can I help?”

“No, I’ve got it.Feel free to watch some TV, try to relax.”

As if either of them would be able to relax while they were sharing a roof and being hunted.

TJ busied himself in the kitchen, listening for any suspicious sounds, or for that telltale tingling in his gut that came from survival instinct.The comforting weight of his pistol pressed against his lower back as he worked, but the whole time he was acutely aware of the woman sitting just twenty feet away in the other room.

Through everything that had happened in his life, he’d never been tempted by drugs.Not once.But he was tempted by Bristol.More tempted than with any other woman he’d ever met.

Even though she was Eric’s sister.

Even though he knew he would never be good enough for her.

Even though he could never deserve someone like her.

Three excellent reasons why he needed to get any intimate thoughts of her out of his damned head.Especially since they were going to be alone together in this small house until further notice.

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