Page 75 of Hunted Hearts
“I think this…us…it wasn’t part of the plan. I didn’t even believe there was anything to be afraid of. I didn’t want a bodyguard in my life. But being with you…it changed all that. Now I’m not sure what happens when the danger is gone.”
He twisted his gaze away and stared at the ceiling for a long beat. “I don’t know either,” he admitted. “But I know this—” His jaw flexed. “You’re not trespassing. You’re…carving out your own place. Here. With me.”
Juliette blinked fast as emotion swelled. “I don’t want it to end, Theo. This—us—this house, the ranch, Serenity, the music… It feels like the first time I’ve ever actually lived.”
Theo hovered over her, searching her eyes for so long that she lost herself in the gray depths of his.
“Then don’t think about the end. Not yet,” he grated out.
When he kissed her softly, she gave herself up to the sensation of his lips claiming her in ways she never knew possible. After it ended, she burrowed closer to him, letting the warmth of his body and the quiet of the mountain retreat seep into her bones.
“I can’t believe you ripped my lingerie,” she mumbled against his shoulder.
Theo chuckled, his voice deliciously deep. “I’ll buy you a hundred more.”
“Only if you help me pick them out.”
“Oh, I plan to. But fair warning,” he said, lips brushing her ear, “I won’t be letting you wear them long.”
She laughed softly and turned to press a kiss to his chest.
Outside, the wind rustled through pine trees, but in that room, with the fire of desire burning between them and the lake shimmering beyond the window, Juliette had never felt safer.
Or more his.
Chapter Fifteen
Theo adjusted his earpiece for the third time in five minutes. As he paced the hallway outside the event ballroom, his cowboy boots thumped like the hands of the clock counting down to the time that the concert began.
The soft hum of voices and the clink of crystal glasses filtered through the walls. The background music was a playlist of Juliette’s recordings from past performances all over the world.
None of it settled his nerves.
He checked the itinerary laid out on his phone again, even though he had it memorized.
Arrival. Cocktail hour. Plated dinner. Keynote introductions.
Then Juliette’s performance, followed by a press moment and mingling with VIPs. Easy. Elegant.Controlled.
Or so he kept telling himself.
Only nothing about this night felt easy. And as for control? He was barely hanging on.
Juliette was in her dressing room getting ready for her performance, and Theo had already checked on her three times. Okay—four.
Denver stood with his legs braced and his arms folded, watching him slowly descend into madness.
“You’re going to wear a hole in the carpet.”
He whirled to glare at his brother. “Tell me you wouldn’t do the same if it were Rhae.”
“I would. I did.” His jaw clenched tight at the reminder of Rhae being kidnapped and held by her stalker, an old business colleague of her father’s who wanted her for his own.
Denver’s nostrils flared as he forced a harsh sigh through his nose.
Theo opened his mouth to say more, but at that moment, a group of well-dressed guests appeared in the corridor…walking toward Juliette’s dressing room.
Into his earpiece came Colt’s voice. “VIPs coming your way.”
