Page 39 of The Bodyguard Proposal

Huan checks his phone. “My ride-share app will find us a car soon.”

Seconds or minutes creep by. Behaving like a feral cat, I squint at everything, hoping if Rachel is around that I see her before she sees me.

“Dumpster is big, but smelly. The kebab store has glass windows.” I’m thinking and saying ideas automatically. Spotting a gyrating couple against the bus stop, I wonder, “PDA? Like those cliché movies where you make out to hide. All I’d need is a volunteer. Someone to kiss me.”

“Kissing?” A guy with a goatee grins as he walks by. “I’ll volunteer, baby.”

Hmmm. I actually half-consider it.

He turns around, sensing my hesitation. Goatee is about to walk back to me, but then I lose sight of him.

That’s because I’m pressed against a storefront door. Huan’s shoulder and feet bump into mine, and his hand grips my lower back, but there is some width between the rest of us.

“I won’t let Rachel see you,” he says, his voice husky.

We’re not making out, but anyone looking at Huan’s body won’t be able to tell. He’s wider and taller than me, so if I stay in the right spot, I’m blocked. It works from most anglesbecausewe’re so close.

The vengeful throb returns, stronger than ever.

“Komal?”

It’s that tone of voice. He’s checking in on me again. Like it matters.

So soft and breezy that my teeth are on edge because you know what? I’m not breezy. There is a drum in my chest, so loud I’m surprised he can’t hear it. Everything is amplified, and it’s not like when I was in his arms earlier. That wasn’t as bad or as hot as this.

Huan’s face is right there. And everywhere he touches zings me. It feels engrossingly good, and I can barely focus. But him? Isn’t he affected at all? You can’t grab people, touch people, or hold them like this if you don't feel it, too.

Like they are yours.

“How easy it is,” I say. “You become the hero trying to save me. Again.”

Huan actually laughs. I don’t think I’ve heard that sound all night. “Nothingis easy with you, Ms. Chahal.”

That pinches. “It sounds like you have a list. Please, tell me the grievances you’ll put in your HR report when we get back home, Mr. Li.”

“There isn’t?—”

“Oh, but there is. Tell me how hard this night has been foryou.”

“Don't ask me that.”

“The truth or I'll find some other arms to shield me.” The whole point of this trip was to be spectacularly free. At the moment though, it feels as if you can't outrun your circumstances. Huan is politely minding his words... like everyone else does when they know you are famous. It’s not real.

I make to step away, but his hands fall to my waist. I'm held in place, almost pressed against him, in this alcove where the world around is not important.

“Don't hide,” I say, throwing his words back at him. Those were the ones he said when I turned that shower on him.Be real.

Huan palms the wall behind me. He leans down so his mouth is near my ear. “Like a Neanderthal,” he whispers. “I’m losing protocols. I’m not supposed to react but—when I saw earlier—” His other palm hits the storefront wall above my head. “I’ve guarded high profile politicians in wartime, been shot at and never broken a sweat. Didn’t lose my head during the earthquake in Sri Lanka either, so this shouldn't be happening. I shouldn't be acting like this.”

My hand finds his chest. Heat sears my skin, but what floors me is how fast his is heart is racing. It actually matches mine.

“Don’t,” he strains out, shuddering once.

“Don’t what?”

“Touch me—don’t. For as long as we stay this way, for as long as you need me to make sure you don’t get seen, do me a favour. Don’t move. Stay absolutely still and don’t—touch.”

I’m about to ask why when I notice the culprit. My eyes catch the movement. A bulge in his jeans expands until the glint of the zipper exposes. There's my mouth watering again when it shouldn't. I'm not attracted to erections. The wetness between my legs disagrees with a laugh.

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