Beloved Bodyguard (10 page)

“I know you think I’m not your type and that
I don’t fit into your metaphorical color scheme.” She indicated the
gray room around them. “But I have layers, too. I like the cool,
quiet order you wear like an aura. And I’m wild about the woodsy
mashiki
scent of your room. This place is a haven.
You’re
a haven. I’m willing to learn to enjoy the things you
like, if you’ll do the same for me.”

Ja-hun picked up the
jabarta
piece and
rolled its rounded surface in his palm.

She touched his hand. “So, tell me something
you like.”

He couldn’t remember a time in his entire
life when someone had asked him that. And since no one had asked,
he’d rarely considered the question.

“I like…” He thought hard, then spoke
quietly, embarrassed to say the words aloud. “I like walking in
woods on foggy mornings. I like the way everything is gray and
hushed and the leaves glisten. There weren’t many trees where I
grew up. Only buildings and streets.”

“This is easy.” Leelah said. “I like woods
too. I especially like spider webs with droplets of dew sprinkled
like diamonds over them. And when the fog is so thick around your
feet you can’t see them, it’s as if you’re walking on clouds.”

He looked at her sharply, to see if she was
teasing him, but her gaze was sincere and her smile genuine.

“My turn,” she said. “I like sitting on the
beach under a blazing sun, watching the swimmers in the water and
little kids building sand castles, people sunbathing on the sand,
the blue sky overhead and the blue-green water below. Maybe a boat
or two sailing across the horizon. I really love the sea.”

Ja-hun couldn’t find the charm in being on a
crowded beach under a blazing sun, but when he imagined Leelah’s
tan body lying on the beach beside him, he nodded. “I could learn
to like that.”

“So, you see. We already have some things we
both like, and other things we can explore together. You’ve
got
to stick around a while. Ja-hun, will you be my
bodyguard?”

“You still want me after what happened? You
had to rescue both of us. Maybe I should be hiring you to be my
bodyguard.”

She grinned. “I did kick ass, didn’t I?”

Ja-hun set his
jabarta
piece on the
board and pushed it diagonally four spaces. “All right. We’ll give
this a try.”

“Great!” She captured his piece, setting
herself up to take the gold
lokosh
on her next turn. “You
realize I’ve won this game, right?”

“Yeah. I know.” He conceded the
lokosh
then rose from his chair, swept the board free of playing pieces,
and pulled Leelah across the table for a kiss.

“Morning.” The bass rumble near her ear woke
her from a sound sleep. She was spooned against some sort of
rock-hard ledge.

Leelah batted at the hand toying with her
nipple. “Stop. I’m sleeping,” she grumbled, squeezing her eyes
shut.

“Not any more. You have to wake up for work.
You wanted a job. You got it, and now you have to show up on time
every day.”

She groaned. Did he have to remind her of
that? The man started his days entirely too early and with too
chipper an attitude.

Soft lips on her shoulder and the brush of a
wet tongue between her shoulder blades made her smile. Ja-hun
cupped her breast in the warm cradle of his palm. “Want me to wake
you up the easy way or the hard way?”

“The easy way, please.” She sighed as his
hand slid from her breast down her stomach to her pussy. Still
kissing her back, Ja-hun teased his finger between her folds and
circled her clit with light touches designed to ease her into a
sexy frame of mind.

“Like that?” His husky voice made her shiver
and her nipples peaked.

“Oh, yeah. Just like that.” She snuggled into
his embrace, enjoying his hard chest against her back, the weight
of an arm over her hip, and his morning erection resting in the
groove of her ass. His cock was so solid her pussy ached to feel
his girth stretch and fill it.

Leelah relaxed and drowsily enjoyed his
tender manipulation of her clit, but after a bit, Ja-hun pulled
away. He flipped her on her back and burrowed under the blankets.
His firm licking and probing fingers woke her up the rest of the
way. She whimperd and lifted into his touch.

When he had her hips thrusting and her juices
flowing, he crawled up to lie over her, his hair mussed from the
bedcovers. She smoothed his tousled hair, fingers lingering in the
silky strands. She’d forbidden him to have it cut during the two
months they’d been together, and now it fell over his forehead in
floppy bangs. Ja-hun had threatened several times to crop it to his
old shorter style, but she’d only had to murmur how sexy he looked
with it long and he left it alone.

“Good morning.” Ja-hun welcomed her to the
new day with the pure devotion in his eyes, before slowly lowering
his face to kiss her. She tasted her own musky flavor on his tongue
as it slid around hers. Then he pulled away to press little kisses
to her face, the tip of her nose, her jaw and neck. She squealed
and pulled away from the tickling nuzzle on her neck.

Ja-hun’s warm, rich chuckle was like a
morning cup of
chamti
. His happiness sparked an answering
glow inside her. It had taken some time for him to graduate from
small smiles to happy grins. A hearty laugh was still a prize to
savor from a man who’d had such a hard, lonely life that he’d never
learned to laugh.

Leelah felt his cock pressing against her leg
and she was more than ready to have him inside her now. She reached
between them and guided him to her. As he glided slowly inside, she
exhaled a sigh. A sense of completion filled not only her body but
her heart and her life, suffusing her with well-being.

Ja-hun thrust his cock hit her sweet spot,
sending delicious waves of pleasure through her. She groaned and
arched toward him. In and out, he thrust in an easy rhythm, the new
rhythm of her mornings. She might just be addicted to Ja-hun. Could
she rise in the morning anymore without him to start her day? His
rough-hewn face filled her vision and it was all the morning sun
she needed to see.

“Harder,” she urged, gripping his rear. “Now
wake me up the hard way.”

He smiled. “All right.” Now he rammed harder,
jolting her so that she grunted from the force. He thrust with such
intensity it pushed her body up the mattress until her head hit the
headboard.

With every stroke, he continued to hit that
perfect spot inside her until swirling hints of bliss coalesced
into a surge of ecstasy. Leelah bucked hard as her orgasm exploded
through her. She cried out and dug her fingers into his ass,
hauling him even more deeply inside her.

A few more thrusts and Ja-hun froze, his body
shuddering. His eyebrows knitted in a scowl and his mouth opened as
though he might burst into rapturous song. Leelah smiled at the
idea of Ja-hun singing from sheer happiness. She’d heard him
muttering a tune in the shower before and it wasn’t pretty.

He opened his eyes and caught her grinning.
“What are you smiling about?”

“Nothing. Just enjoying my wake-up sex.
You’re very good at starting my day.”

“I’ve been getting a lot of practice.” He
smiled back at her before rolling off to lie by her side. “You’re
going to wear me out.”

Leelah stretched and yawned. “I suppose I’d
better get showered and dressed. Who knew being part of the
workforce would be so exhausting? If I’d known, I might have kept
my mouth shut and kept sponging off my dad.”

“But now you’re stuck helping the poor and
disenfranchised. Life’s so unfair.”

“And you’re stuck making sure nothing bad
happens to me while keeping me satisfied sexually. That’s a rough
gig.”

“I may have to quit and go back to work for
Crin-tai.” He leaned over to draw the tip of one breast into his
mouth, tugging hard before releasing it with a pop.

“Mm. Life’s so hard for both of us.”
Twitching back the covers, Leelah sat up. “Come on. We’re going to
be late. Hurry,” she said, as if he was the one who’d been
malingering in bed.

She actually loved her job at the Social
Recovery Center and knew Ja-hun enjoyed his too. He was far more
than her bodyguard, having begun work at the Center after they
realized how many languages he knew. With his calm temperament, he
was a natural at helping upset clients get forms filled out while
he listened to their problems.

Before heading to the shower, Leelah paused
to watch her lover rise from the bed. He’d been intriguing when he
was all stone-faced and mysterious, but he was even more attractive
with a satisfied smile curving his lips and his eyes sparkling.
Plus a naked Ja-hun was better than Ja-hun in a suit anytime.

“Don’t forget we have Trianne and Burdah’s
party tonight,” she reminded him. “And don’t grimace. You know we
have to schmooze with the rich to keep donations high.” Her friends
had turned out to be a tremendous asset to the Center with their
flair for hosting events everyone wanted to attend.

“I didn’t grimace. I’ll be there.” Although
he never complained about the socials she dragged him to, Leelah
knew sometimes he craved the quiet and solitude he’d long been
accustomed to.

“Want to go to my father’s mountain cabin
this weekend?” she asked. “I can almost guarantee you a misty
morning walk in the forest.”

“Sounds perfect.” His dark eyes shone. “I’ll
protect you from bears and mountain lions.”

“And paparazzi. They always seem to be
lurking somewhere nearby, no matter how isolated the spot.” She
grinned at him. “But I’ve got my bodyguard to keep all the monsters
at bay.”

About the Author:

Whether you're a fan of contemporary,
paranormal or historical romance, you'll find something to enjoy
among my books. I'm interested in flawed, often damaged, people who
find the fulfillment they seek in one another. For more information
on my back list of books go to
http://bonniedee.com
. You can
also find me at FB and Twitter.

If you enjoyed
Beloved Bodyguard
, you
may also like
Beloved Killer
, a full length novel about
another emotionally stunted anti-hero brought to life by love.

When love strikes a killer,
can a man of violence truly find redemption?

The right-hand man of a notorious mobster, J
has no identity outside of his work—until the night he meets Nikki
Larson. Sent to intimidate the strong-willed bar owner, he falls
for her fast and hard.

Returning home after her father’s death,
Nikki is once again forced to clean up his mess. To settle her
family debt, a mob boss wants to use her bar in his criminal
enterprise and sends an enforcer to back up the proposition. Nikki
refuses to show fear to the henchman assigned to monitor her. In
fact, she enjoys taunting J, even as she’s strangely attracted to
his gloominess.

When a rival gang invades the bar, J rescues
Nikki and they go on the run from both the mob and the law. J’s
growing love for Nikki demands he choose between the only life he’s
ever known and an uncertain future with a challenging woman who
might not love him back. Two wildly different people struggle to
find common ground, but escaping the past means overcoming danger
from all sides.

Excerpt:

Nikki entered the steamy rain forest of the
laundry and headed toward the few unbroken machines. It was too
early for the place to be very busy, so she didn’t have to
bodycheck anyone to win a couple of machines. She rammed her
clothes into two washers and set them running.

From the front window, she could see the
sedan parked outside. She headed toward the rear exit, heart
fluttering at the idea of escaping her guard. She gripped the knob.
Almost free. How long would it take him to realize his quarry had
flown the coop?

Footsteps in the nearly empty room of
slushing washers and whirring dryers snapped her head around. Her
enemy had entered the building. The dark-coated, rangy man looked
as out of place as a Doberman at a poodle party. His gaze met
Nikki’s, and he didn’t try to pretend he was there for any other
reason than following her. He walked over to a row of plastic seats
and sat. The chair was so low, his knees thrust into the air and
his legs splayed. He looked uncomfortable. She hoped he was.

Nikki turned the knob. If she stepped
outside, would he come after her? She imagined blocking the door
with a Dumpster and running away. But what would be the point?
She’d have to come back for her laundry eventually, and she had to
return to the bar. It wasn’t as if Jay didn’t know where to find
her. If she was truly going to convince Kuypers she was on board
with paying him, she shouldn’t run away from her watchdog.

Nikki let go of the doorknob and walked to a
table full of tattered, outdated magazines. She leafed through
pages of celeb photos and quotes while she strolled to the row of
chairs across from her persecutor. She dropped into a seat and
continued to study her magazine.

Take that, asshole! You can’t intimidate me,
even if I know for a fact you can lift me as if I were a toddler
and stow me in the back of a car.

Nikki pretended to read for several moments,
but at last she couldn’t resist looking up. She expected to find
Jay’s eyes staring back at her, but his gaze was focused on the
worn linoleum.

His rough-hewn features and scars made him
look like some character in a crime movie. An image not far off the
mark. She wasn’t sure of the exact color of his hooded eyes, but
last night she’d thought they were pitch-black—maybe with hellish
flames dancing in them. Today there were shadows beneath them.
Good! She hoped he was as exhausted as she was from their sleepless
night.