Page 1 of Her New Bodyguard: Colton

JULIA

I’ve always hated the term “corpse pose”. I don't want to think about death – that's not relaxing, it's morbid. So I've always used the proper term of shavasana.

At the end of every yoga class, it was always lovely to just lie there and breathe. The idea was to blank our minds and simply focus on the breath flowing in and out.

It wasn't happening today.

Dad was in danger. I'd worried from the beginning that the private bank he started was going to attract a certain kind of client. And sure enough, I heard him on the phone last night yelling at somebody about how unfair it was that women were being targeted, instead of him and the other two bank presidents. When he ended his call, he made a point to lock all the doors and set our home alarm system.

Just as I was going to bed, I heard him muttering on the phone about security companies. Great. Even more door codes to memorize. I was a bit jumpy, and the thought of accidentally setting anything off made me nervous.

But I wasn't going to let Dad's paranoia ruin my morning yoga class, even though I was now too flustered to clear my mind.

Once other people began rolling up their yoga mats and filing out, I finally gave up on the breath meditation and sat up as well.

As I looked through the glass to the lobby of the yoga studio, a pair of vivid eyes locked on mine. They belonged to a huge man in his mid to late thirties, with thick dark brown hair, and wide shoulders that were almost menacing. He looked a bit out of place dressed all in black, as everyone else was wearing light, bright colors.

Yet he was smiling.

He turned to chat with Ellie, one of the yoga instructors. If he was her boyfriend, I was going to have to find a way to control the flutter running through my midsection.

The man was hot. Wildly, inappropriately, distractingly hot. I'd never had such a reaction to a man before, and I had to think that was a good sign.

I was at a point in my life where new things were supposed to be starting. Yet for the past week, Dad asked Mom and I to stay at home as much as possible, and wanted to know where we were at all times.

Which is why I had left a note about yoga on the kitchen table this morning, even though I didn't want to feed his odd new paranoia.

I went to the dressing room to change into leggings and a loose dress, then took down my ponytail and brushed it out. I swiped on a bit of eyeliner and lip gloss, telling myself that it had nothing to do with the gorgeous guy. He'd never notice me, anyway.

Waving at Ellie and Janice on the way out, I had barely made it ten steps into my walk home when the huge man stepped in front of me. His eyes were dark smoky green, and I instinctively took a step closer without even realizing it.

"Julia!" he said with a broad smile.

He leaned down to give me a friendly hug. Then he whispered rapidly and urgently in my ear, "Rose sent me. She said you have a birthmark on your hip shaped a bit like Italy, and when you were four your best friend was a stuffed platypus named Bippy. I'm your new bodyguard. Smile, look happy to see me, and come with me to my car so I can explain what's going on."

His deep, raspy voice so close to my ear caused an intense physical reaction: my nipples tightened and my lower belly clenched as my thighs pulled together. I'd never been so aroused, and it was completely distracting.

"So good to see you," I said brightly, returning his hug and then stepping back. "Hey – I hate to ask, but I'm pretty wiped from that class. Can I get a ride home?"

"Of course."

He led me half a block south to a rugged-looking SUV. As he opened the door for me, I noticed that his eyes were flicking all around, like a hunter searching for prey. Or maybe the other way around.

Getting into a car with a stranger was not something I would ever have done. Yet my parents were the only people who knew I took this early morning yoga class. I was pretty sure only Mom and my pediatrician knew about my birthmark. And Bippy the Platypus was so embarrassing I never told anyone about it. He had to be telling the truth.

There was also something about this huge man that made me want to know more about him.

He held my hand as I got settled in the seat, and I whispered, "What's your name, at least?"

He smiled, those deep green eyes sending tingles of lust straight up my inner thighs. "Colton Fitzhenry," he whispered. "It's nice to meet you, Julia. I promise that I'll keep you safe."

As his hand brushed across my stomach and shoulder while he buckled me in tightly, I had no doubt of that.

He felt like a military man on a mission. But also, from the way his eyes traveled over me, it felt like…maybe it was too soon to even think like that. But was there a chance that there was a tiny spark between us?

No man had ever looked at me like that before, and I was shocked by how much I wanted more.

A lot more.

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