Page 123 of Bodyguard By Night

“Absolutely fucking not.” Ransom’s voice was a shot.

“Hear me out.”

“No.”

Well, this was certainly more the Ransom I was used to.

I folded my arms and squared off in front of him. “I want this figured out before the wedding. We have ten days.”

A vein throbbed visibly in his forehead.

“Poe?”

“Give me a few hours. I have an idea, but I want to run it by Aidan. Ta.” The line went dead.

“You’re not doing something stupid. I don’t care what Poe cooks up.”

“Isn’t it better to, I don’t know, flush him out?”

“That only works on TV, babe.”

I rolled my eyes. “You know what I mean. Play the game better than him.”

“Since he’s an unknown variable, I’m not playing jack shit. Especially when it comes to your life.”

I sighed and stepped in front of him. “Isn’t it better to be on the offense than the defense?”

His eyebrow arched. “Are you seriously throwing game plays at me?”

“I’m not wrong.” I pressed my hand against his chest. My heart was racing at the thought of pushing this guy, but maybe it was better to do it now. “You know I’m not.”

“I’m not risking you.”

My chest tightened and my belly flipped, but I knew I was right to push on this. Ransom would keep me hidden in this house forever. A tiny part of me wanted to let him take care of me. I was so tired of doing everything myself. “It’s not your decision.”

“You came to me.”

“I did. I also told you I wouldn’t live in fear again. Some faceless guy who gets off on looking at me is not going to rule my life. We don’t even know if he wants to do anything more than follow me.”

“That’s the first stupid thing I’ve heard you say.”

I jerked back. He’d narrowed his eyes and I literally watched a wall come down between us. “Yeah, well this stupid woman is going to go help her sister create her dream wedding. You can come or not.”

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