Page 123 of The Bodyguard

“I—”

“Have you ever seen her cry and shout like that before?”

“No,” he admitted. Not two minutes ago, Sawyer wanted to be alone with Angela. To curl up with her, just the two of them. Now Boss Man was suggesting that kind of privacy. Sawyer ran a hand over his face. He and Angela had crossed too many lines, and throwing them into the place where he grew up would only entangle them further.

Jared inched closer. “She’s been shot at—on two different continents. Her family is a piece of work. The ex is a piece of shit. Hell, she lived in a cage for years. Take Angela home and let her soak up normal.”

Take her home. Sawyer wanted to run away with her and pretend. His heart would break when their time-blocked romance ended anyway. Funny how guarding his heart was the reason he avoided relationships to begin with. Never once had he been tempted to fall in love again. Yet here he was.

Jared glared. “I’m not asking, Sawyer.”

He studied Angela at the window. “She’s not going to say yes.”

“Make it happen,” Jared demanded under his breath and then left Sawyer to figure out the hard part.

He ran a hand over his face again and approached Angela as though she might be a bear. “Hey—I’ll be back in a second.”

She jumped as though she’d forgotten he was there. “I’m fine.” Angela sniffed, still staring out the window. “Really.”

That didn’t ring true. He stepped into the hall and called his mother. “Hey, Ma.”

“I wasn’t expecting your call today—Sawyer’s on the phone,” she called to his dad. “Give me a second. Dad’s coming.” She put it on speakerphone. “How are you?”

“Good.”

“You don’t usually call weekday mornings.”

“I’m nearby and thought I’d—”

“Nearby? You are? I didn’t know you were in the US. Can we see you?”

“Actually…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought I could swing by.”

“You don’t have to ask. Show up, son,” his dad announced as though referring to high school football tryouts.

Sawyer paused. He wasn’t going to hide Angela in the car, and his parents would never leave for a resort in general, much less if he was in town. “I have someone with me.”

“That’s fine. Bring whomever.”

“She’s having a hell of a hard time and needs a break.”

“What better place than out in the middle of nowhere with us?” his mother asked.

Sawyer chuckled. As if his family could have had any other reaction. If Angela needed a taste of hunky-dory ordinary, she would find it in the house he grew up in. “We might have a dog with us.”

“I love dogs,” Mom added.

“A puppy.”

“Even better.”

Sawyer dropped his head back and stared at the ceiling. He couldn’t remember what pictures were in their home. He almost asked if they could take down anything with Penny in it. And it killed him that he couldn’t recall if they had already. More than ten years had passed. Still, his mother had lots of framed pictures and photos stuck around the house. There was a one hundred percent chance that his high school years—with Penny center stage—would be somewhere on the walls. “All right. We’ll be there tonight.”

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Angela couldn’t explain the tears. She was far past caring that Paul had cheated on her. She wasn’t surprised that he’d been stupid enough to let one of Pham’s flunkies into his bed and share her location. Learning that had been the straw that broke the camel’s back. Everything had suddenly been too much to keep inside. So embarrassing.

Especially after Sawyer explained Jared’s brilliant idea and how his parents were expecting them later that night. The only reason this crazy notion came to fruition was because Thelma was too cute to say no to.

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