Page 70 of Daddy's Bodyguard

“The chaos.” I whisper. “The way you just … do what you do because your heart tells you to. There’s no reason. No plan. No … no steps to one goal.”

“I have steps. I have goals.”

“Tell me about them?”

“I want to keep you alive.” He kisses my neck. “I want to take you on a date once this is over – and I plan to finish it as soon as possible.” A kiss to the other side of my neck. “I want to settle down and live happily ever after, maybe in my sister’s neighborhood, so I can be a better uncle and brother.”

“And the steps?”

“Convince you that we can be good together. Teach you all about survival. Deal with the threat. Absolve it by whatever means necessary. Get you back in your apartment and fix the door. Take you on a real date with flowers, kick your ass in Scrabble, make you moan, and see you kick ass in congress.”

“That simple?”

“That simple,” he replies, his nose brushing mine. “Not everything requires ten steps and weekly updates. I want to be spontaneous, want to go with the flow.”

“But you’re military.”

“Iwasmilitary, babe. I was discharged. I spent years hating it, trying to find ways back in, and then accepted that I can do different things.”

“How?” I want to know what turned him from predictable, straightforward, understandable to this tempting, infuriating … annoyingly impossible-to-ignore man.

He lifts me up and grumbles about how this isn’t a conversation to have while he’s inside me. We get dressed and sit together on the couch. He picks at his fingernails until I catch his hands. “I can’t stand the sound.”

“Sorry.” He clears his throat. “I accepted it after working with Daisy on physical therapy. After helping her through losing her husband, Ashton, while she helped me with my leg … we lost my brother. He died overseas. His first deployment. His first … time with the enemy.”

“Fuck. Jasper, I didn’t mean to bring that up, I …” I take his hand in mine.

He squeezes it. “I talked to my dad, and he gave me hell. Said I wasn’t a man since I failed my psych eval. Said that my brother was more of a hero than me because he never stopped fighting and didn’t take the easy out. I realized then that nothing I did would be enough for him. Not until I died for my country. It wouldn’t matter who I saved. It wouldn’t matter because I was broken.”

“You’re not broken and fuck him,” I exclaim.

Jasper smiles and pulls me close. “You’re sexy when that viper strike is aimed at someone else.”

“I mean it.” I hold his face in my hands. “You are whole and good, and you’ve saved me twice. You’ve protected me and treated me so well and made this so much easier than it could be. You are amazing, Jasper.”

He swallows and looks to the side. “That’s a lot to hear, dearest.”

“And you’re a lot to take in.” I grumble, starting to pull back. “Too much sometimes. Overwhelming.”

“And that’s what scares you?”

I swallow. It scares me that he makes me feel so much when I haven’t known him long. He’s unpredictable. He could leave at any moment. He’s so ruled by his emotions. I don’t know how to handle all that.

Jasper brushes his hands over my arms. “Let me in, Sofia.”

“You’re unpredictable, and you make me rethink everything,” I whisper slowly. “It’s terrifying.”

Jasper smiles and shakes his head. “You are much too strong to be afraid of me.”

I swallow and nod, then kiss him again, and again, and again. He groans and adjusts me in his arms. “You are one hell of a woman, and my favorite thought is of you conquering the world.”

“And what about you?” I ask.

“I’m a bit big for a Spiderman suit, but … I know I want to do something without guns or violence.”

“Gentle?” I verify. I smile when he nods and fit myself into his arms. “A gentle protector. I could see it.”

“Just let me be the knight in shining armor occasionally. Just once in a while,” he murmurs against my ear. “And you can be the dragon ripping through the big issues.”

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