Page 55 of Colton Family Bodyguard (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

“Clearly. You could have seriously hurt them.”

“Yes. I’m glad he chose not to engage anymore.”

“Did you learn all those moves in the navy?”

“I refined them in the navy. I got into bar fights a lot when I was young.”

“Right. Wild.” She smiled and laughed a little, trying not to be so turned on by him.

Nobody had ever fought for her, least of all at a bar. She had not been the type of girl who hung out at such establishments, especially like this one. She had always been more of a wine bar kind of woman. Lunches with her girlfriends. Dates to nice restaurants.

Walking beside Callum, covertly taking in his long strides and his big shoulders, slightly swaying, she had never felt safer.

He caught her looking at him. “What?”

She shook her head, fumbling with brief self-consciousness. “Chivalry isn’t dead.”

“You liked it that I got into a fight back there?” He grinned teasingly. “I wasn’t playing around.”

“Oh, I know you weren’t.” She eyed him again, unable to stop her admiration.

At the car, he stopped her before she opened the door. “Maybe I should get into fights more often.”

She tipped her head up, falling into this flirtation far too easily.

“And you in this outfit doesn’t help matters.” He touched beneath her chin. “I’ve been dying to do this all day.”

He kissed her, soft and slow. Then the flames took over and he deepened the caress. He didn’t touch his tongue to hers, just gave her a long and reverent kiss.

She was beginning to think avoiding another tumble in bed would be impossible. And as for avoiding falling for

Callum? That was becoming even more impossible by the moment.

Chapter 9

Back at the Dales Inn, Callum saw that same SUV out front with someone inside. Funny, now that he had a closer look, this man didn’t appear as large as the one who had shot at them. He must have been mistaken about the suggestion that this was their shooter.

“We should be fine. Just don’t look at him.” If it was a man. Callum wondered if it could be a female.

Up in the suite, he called Kerry, who told him she was on her way to check on them.

“Is there anyone else you can think of who has a grudge against you?” he asked Hazel.

Her head popped up from the tablet she had been playing around with. “What?”

He went over and sat beside her. “It just occurred to me that the person who’s been sitting out in front of this inn might be a woman.”

Her brow scrunched in confusion. “But the person who almost ran me and Evie over was a man. I know it.”

“I know that, too.”

“Well...what are you suggesting?”

“Maybe nothing. I’m more thinking out loud.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I just have this feeling that there is someone else seeking you out. The person who sits outside the inn doesn’t shoot at us.”

“We were in disguise.”

Yes, but every time? What if Callum hadn’t noticed the driver of the SUV before today?

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