Page 29 of The Bodyguard and the Alpha
She sighed in exasperation, but she complied, pulling down on one of the coats that hung from hooks beside her.
I kept my eyes on the surroundings. All my senses told me that we were the only people for miles.
Ready?
“You know I am. I was ready before. You’re the one with unreasonable demands.”
Green apples bloomed in the air. My little Pixie was delightfully angry. No matter. She would understand that while I would try to give her anything she wanted, I would never compromise on her safety.
Stay behind me.
I stayed alert for the short walk to the barn. While she slept, I’d cleared the path to the large outbuilding.
Chapter 35
Electra
Finally, Bastien led me out of the house, towards a barn at the back of the property that I hadn’t seen when we arrived last night. Around us, the world was blanketed in snow and quiet, as if we were the only living beings in the vicinity. The early morning sky was clear, with the promise of a fine day, but right now the air was cold enough to make my face hurt. If Bastien hadn’t insisted I grab my shoes and a coat from the cottage I would have been shivering. Not that I would give him the satisfaction of telling him he was right. He’d turned way too bossy already and I had no plans to encourage the domineering behaviour. Even if I secretly enjoyed the fact that he was so solicitous of my comfort.
Despite the cold that bit at my skin, he still only wore shorts and the rest of his fine body was bare to the elements. Even his feet. How could he not be freezing? Not that I minded the view. Not at all. My eyes roved over his broad shoulders, his muscled back, down to his trim waist. The thick thighs. I remembered how good it felt to rock my body on one of those legs, and my body flushed.
I could help you with that. His mental voice was warm and amused.
“With what?”
You desire my body. It is yours.
“How?” I cleared my throat, trying to rein in my embarrassment. I was an adult. I could have a rational conversation about sex. “How can you tell?”
I’d be a bad mate if I couldn’t tell when you were needy.
Needy. That was a suitable description. My clit had begun to throb and my hard nipples pressed against the soft fabric of the t-shirt he’d found for me.
No. I couldn’t let myself get distracted. A distracted bodyguard got their principal killed. Shit. Ignoring him was proving harder than I had expected. “What I need is for these manacles to come off.”
Agreed. It will make it easier for you to pull my hair when my head is between your knees.
And that visual didn’t help. “Don’t you ever give up?” My lips twitched in a smile, no matter how hard I tried to resist. His persistence was all too attractive.
Never.
The word sounded like a vow and I shivered. We didn’t have forever. That wasn’t in our cards.
Ahead of me, Bastien pulled open the barn door. He waited on the doorstep a moment, his large body still, alert, before he decided it was safe. I narrowed my eyes at him, glaring at his back. That was my job. Once the manacles were off, and I had my powers back, he and I were going to have a conversationabout the role switch that had been happening since he shifted. That shit wasn’t going to fly anymore.
He switched on a light and stepped aside for me to enter.
It was a large space. Up high, the ceiling was crossed with beams. At ground level, the building was cluttered with the vague shapes of machinery under protective cloths. I had some idea what they might be used for. Not because of my upbringing—I was raised a city girl, through and through. After our father left, there had been no spare money for holidays in the country. Then, once my powers came in, the hectic level of activities my mother had forced onto me left little time for leisure. In fact, the first few times I remember going out of the city were when Bastien took a vacation and I went with him as part of his security entourage. Even though I had been working on all of those trips, I was grateful to have had the opportunity to visit those places. Pristine beaches. Luxury ski resorts.
Caly and I had been planning to go on a trip together, but between my work schedule and her hours in the bookshop, we hadn’t managed to find a time to go. Now, she would probably go with her new mate. I didn’t begrudge her a moment of happiness with him. As much as I would have liked to spend time with her, I knew that she wanted to go to the Bahamas. I’d been there once. Didn’t need to go again. Working for Bastien had opened my eyes up to the wonders of travel, but many of the fancy places we stayed didn’t suit me at all.
I’d discovered that I craved isolation. Quiet. They were what I needed when I didn’t work. Time to just be myself. I hadn’t told my sister, not wanting to disappoint her, but when I took vacation time, I usually rented a cottage on a big farm. I’d been to the same place now for three years in a row. During the day, I did whatever I felt like. No schedule. No pressure. If I was in the mood, I cooked —complicated recipes that took me hoursto prepare. I made pasta from scratch. If I didn’t want to talk to anyone I didn’t have to. Some visits, I didn’t go outside for days on end. I gleefully skipped my daily run, read books and ate far too much. At night, I watched the stars or stayed inside by the fire and knitted socks for preemie babies that I sent to the hospital. But at least once a trip I walked across the paddocks to visit Callum, the farmer who owned the property with his wife Anna. Anna fed me cake in their big farm kitchen and Callum showed me how to work wood. Thanks to Callum, I had an idea of the types of tools and machines that would be stored in a barn like this.
It was weird. I knew it was weird. But it helped me remember who I really was. The person I truly was, inside, wasn’t a badass. Inside, I was the opposite. I wanted a quiet life, with a man who adored me and children. I wanted to keep chickens and stay at home.
I looked around. If it was anything like the barn I was familiar with, there would be tools and a workbench in the corner. And, there it was, the tool I needed: a small vise. Callum had shown me how it operated.
Striding over to the bench, I spoke over my shoulder. “Let’s get this done.”
