Page 5 of Her New Bodyguard: Colton

Colton reached out and tweaked him on the shoulder. "Hey. Language in front of a lady," he said sharply.

The officer laughed, then turned to me. "Apologies, Miss."

Colton introduced me to Officer Heath Johnson, then quickly explained what was going on.

"Crap," Heath muttered. "I thought your agency was airtight."

"So did I," Colton growled, offering me one guest chair before sitting in the other.

"Do you want my people to see if they can trace that text?" Heath asked.

"That would be great, thanks. While you do that, may I use your phone?"

"Of course." Heath raised an eyebrow. "Not one of those sleazy one-nine-hundred lines, is it? "

Colton tweaked him in the shoulder again. "I swear, if you don't settle down, I'm going to—"

"Can you believe this?" Heath said to me with a grin. "Threatening a cop in his own office."

I gave Heath the password for my phone, and he hurried down the hall as Colton turned to me. "We were in the military together long ago. Heath is basically my brother."

"That explains your vibe," I said.

"Julia, I would never usually go to the cops about a job," he said softly. "But I don't like what's going on. There have been rumblings about this particular case."

He reached out to run his fingertips along my cheekbone, then snatched his hand back quickly. "I'm sorry. I feel wildly protective of you."

His grin was positively adorable. "And not just because I'm curious for you to teach me your magic yoga shoulder stretches. I'll see to it that we get somewhere safe, where nobody from the agency can find us."

"I thought we were running from whoever was after Dad's bank?" I asked.

"Them too," Colton said.

There was something in his eyes as he reached out again to stroke my hair. I felt the urge to stand up, wondering if he would kiss me if we were closer together.

He leaned closer, those gorgeous full lips brushing along my cheekbone. Then he stood and went to sit behind the big desk with a wink. "Heath hates it when I make myself at home."

For such a tough guy, Colton was adorably boyish.

Yet I wasn't sure. Was Colton being sweet because he really liked me, or to keep me calm? The electricity between us when we got close was definitely real.

I was going to have to wait until we were truly alone, and see how he behaved then.

I hoped that happened soon.

---