Page 15 of In Bed with Her Billionaire Bodyguard

Jesus. Where had her modesty been when she’d been utterly undone by just the way he’d taken off his shirt? If he’d taken even a minute more she might have done something stupid, like reach for him.

The tattoo decorating his bicep...a horse’s flank disappeared beneath his vest and she saw feathers in black and white detail that made her think of winged horses and gods.

Pegasus.

Luc cleared his throat and she realised he was prompting her again. Embarrassment burned her cheeks and she turned her back on him. She pulled the soaked cashmere top from her body and threw it aside.

In the mirror she caught sight of their reflections and her breath caught. They stood back to back. Luc tall, tanned skin, white vest glowing in the half-light, breath expanding his chest, stretching that cotton across muscles that made her weak. And her, dark trousers almost a match for his, skin pale and her nude bra making them look like...like...

She bit her lip to stop herself from betraying the kaleidoscope of erotic images twisting into her mind. Luc’s head jerked as if he’d sensed it somehow, but he didn’t turn to look. But that he’d fought the need to look burned a desire she had never experienced before deep into her chest.

No. She had to stop this. He worked for her, she warned herself. He was her subordinate and she couldn’t... Something about that thought snagged and stirred. Because the one thing that had become so clear in her mind was that there was nothing subordinate about Luc. She shrugged into his white shirt, and immediately the scent of him that enveloped her pulled at her thoughts. It was expensive, the cologne. Too expensive for a chauffeur.

She filtered through the possibilities and as she began to bring her conclusions together, quick, determined fingers threaded buttons through holes and sharp, efficient movements tucked the shirt beneath her waistband.

She turned to the mirror, pulled a little at the shirt to ensure that it sat right and refused to look Luc in the eye as she leaned to press the button to release the hold on the lift and braced as it jerked back into life.

Heat burned her cheeks as she thought how foolish, how stupid she had been not to see it sooner. She’d been taken in once again, and she cursed herself for not learning the lesson that had already cost her too much.

Luc frowned, as if sensing the change in her. He bent to pick up his jacket from the floor and shoved his tie in his pocket and Hope hated herself for the desperate hunger that somehow surpassed her anger.

The lift opened out onto her floor and they both ignored the stares following them as they made their way to her office in silence. And she realised in a heartbeat thathewas leadingher. It had happened that quickly. He had assumed control,just like that.

He walked straight over to the large window, probably drawn by the impressive view of Hyde Park. She didn’t really care, as long as it put space between them. She waited until he turned towards her, a small power play she so desperately needed in that moment.

He stood there, hands in pockets, his black suit jacket over a vest, looking so damn gorgeous it made her knees tremble. Anger, she told herself, lied to herself. That was what she was feeling. Fury, even.

‘You’re not a chauffeur, are you?’ It was less a question than a statement.

He inhaled and squared his shoulders, and stood tall, as if pulling himself to his full height. It only made him seemlarger, morehim.As if he’d shed a false persona before answering.

‘No.’

She clenched her fists, bracing against the hurt and anger crashing through her.

‘Security?’ she asked, remembering the way he’d protected her.

‘Yes.’

‘My brother?’

Luc nodded.

‘Hope? The meeting is about to start,’ Elise said gently from the doorway, as if she knew she was interrupting.

Hope glared at Luc. ‘Stay here,’ she ordered, even though she wasn’t sure she still had the right to do so.

She hurried down the corridors that took her from the old wing towards the meeting room where the shareholders had gathered to decide a future they barely had any interest in, so angry she wanted to cry. But she couldn’t afford to think about Luc and Nate and how betrayed she felt that her brother thought so little of her. The nomination. That was all that mattered in this moment, and she shoved any other thoughts aside. She walked into the meeting room and a staff member closed the door behind her.

Simon was standing beside her grandfather and,oh, God, she was so sick of the power moves and game playing.

‘We’ve been waiting—’

‘Then let’s get on with it,’ she interrupted, drawing a few surprised glances her way.

She went to her assigned seat, to the left-hand side of the Chairman, and sat down, her teeth clenched together so hard her jaw ached.

‘We have a nomination for Simon Harcourt,’ her grandfather informed the room.

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