Beloved Bodyguard (4 page)

Ja-hun was saved from having to answer by the
arrival of their food. As he picked at his fruit plate, Leelah
packed away a trough full of food that would’ve choked a sumo
wrestler. Where she put it in her slender frame, he had no idea,
but her plate was empty and polished clean before he’d finished his
salad.

“Guess you really were hungry,” he
commented.

“I burned off a lot of calories dancing.”

“So I saw.”

She smiled and lowered her eyelids. “You like
the way I dance.” It wasn’t a question but a statement which he
didn’t bother to deny. “You should’ve danced with me before we left
the party.”

Suddenly, she leaped up from her seat and
reached for his hand. “We should dance right now.”

“This is a restaurant,” he protested as she
pulled him up beside her.

“There’s music, though.” Innocuous background
music played softly. “Perfect for slow dancing.”

Before he could argue, her arms were around
his neck and her body pressed against his. Her sweet scent teased
his nose. Her body was incredibly soft and light in his arms, which
had slid naturally around her back. She swayed against him,
encouraging him to do the same.

“Dancing works best if you move a
little.”

He glanced around the restaurant. Most other
diners didn’t seem aware of them in the back corner. The few who
noticed them dancing, smiled then turned their attention back to
their meals. He shuffled his feet awkwardly. A man with
lightning-quick reflexes in a hand-to-hand fight, yet he lumbered
like a bear when he was meant to be graceful.

Ja-hun looked down at Leelah’s hair and
noticed there were golden strands shot through the brown. She
lifted her face to look up at him from inches away, so close he
could see the dark outer ring of her topaz eyes and the striations
of her irises. A faint puff of her breath tickled his neck, and his
gaze locked on her parted lips. His licked his own lips in
anticipation of something he couldn’t resist.

Without stopping, thinking or hesitating, he
inclined his head, and their mouths touched, a polite brush that
sent his pulse rocketing. Her tongue licked delicately over and
between his lips. He tasted the salty tang of meat and beneath it
the essence of Leelah.

His grip on her back tightened, and he
stopped shuffling back and forth. His eyes closed, and he forgot to
look out for danger. He’d already found it. Every shred of his
intellect warned him he was making a huge mistake, but every part
of him yearned for the woman in his arms.

He clasped her body even closer and kissed
her hard and deep, surrendering his carefully cultivated detachment
to a glittering moment of passion.

Ja-hun was kissing her. Damn, he was kissing
her with a masterful aggression that put her past lovers to shame.
His tongue swept over her lips before plunging inside to coil
around hers. One hand rested at the small of her back, and the
other slid up to cradle the back of her neck. Their bodies were
pressed so close she could feel his erection beneath that
ridiculous suit. How she’d love to tear it off him so she could see
what she felt.

He smelled good, a clean, forest scent
mingled with male musk that spurred her arousal. Her hands were
hooked over his shoulders, and she slid one up his neck and into
his hair to find out if it really did feel like silk. The ebony
strands slipped between her fingers. She moaned softly into his
mouth. Arching against him, she pressed her breasts more firmly to
his chest and rubbed her crotch against his.
Ah, yes.

At first, he responded, thrusting his
erection against her. Then he pulled away. He grabbed her shoulders
and moved her back from him.

“No.” His voice was a harsh rasp.
“Enough!”

There it was, the passion she’d been so
certain percolated just under his cool surface. Ja-hun was finally
aroused. Angry and aroused. His crackling glare was every bit as
exciting and magnificent as she’d thought it would be.

Leelah wanted him to push her back onto the
table and fuck her right there in the restaurant. What would happen
if she goaded him further?

In an instant, the shutters came down.
Ja-hun’s mouth closed to a tight line. The smoldering sparks in his
eyes winked out, leaving them as cold as black ice.

“It’s time to get back now.” His voice was
even colder.

He hailed a passing waitress and scanned his
card on her quickpay, grabbed Leelah’s wrist, and pulled her toward
the door.

Back in the V-1 speeding toward home, Leelah
tried to engage Ja-hun again, but he remained steadfastly
silent.

“Come on. You can’t act like that didn’t
happen, or pretend I threw myself at you. You were kissing me, too,
and you liked it,” she exulted.

“It was a mistake and won’t happen
again.”

That was all he’d say no matter how much she
wheedled or teased. She felt like a wave beating against a seawall.
It might erode a little, but the structure had been built to
withstand the battering sea. Finally, even Leelah grew tired of
hearing herself talk and fell silent.

At home, she jumped out of the car and headed
for her room, very aware of Ja-hun right behind her. Was he
noticing her ass? She swayed it from side to side in case he
was.

As she showered, she fantasized about Ja-hun
attacking an intruder and saving her. A protection fantasy was
cliché yet sexy all the same. Soaping her body, she imagined
falling into his arms after he’d fought off the villain. Her hand
slipped between her legs for a few moments of play, but she
declined to climax again by her own hand. If she couldn’t have a
real fuck, she didn’t want to come at all.

Her father was going to be home for a late
dinner, back from the summit meeting on Anu. Leelah dressed up for
the meal, even though she was still full from her late lunch. She’d
as soon eat pizza in her underwear, sitting cross-legged in front
of the vid, but her dad preferred a little old-school formality. It
was a small thing she could do for him. Besides, she looked killer
in her green and gold Tsymensi dress and wanted Ja-hun to see her
in it.

But her bodyguard showed no reaction when she
swished past him on her way down to the dining room. He followed
her like the faithful attendant he was. He made her think of a
silent but deadly Doberman with his sleekness and all his hard
angles.

“Hi, Daddy.” She crossed the room to hug and
kiss her father. “Missed you. How are things in the Free Worlds?
Everybody managing not to kill each other?”

“Currently.” He smiled and held her chair as
she sat.

It was apparent no one had told him about her
escape. Although her father may have actually supported her reasons
for attending the party, he wouldn’t have been happy about her
giving the slip to his entire security staff. As much as Leelah had
wanted to be rid of Ja-hun when he first arrived, she now wanted to
keep him around. She was glad he hadn’t felt the need to report the
incident.

She chatted with her father about how things
had gone at the summit and other political news. The Insurgent
Alliance was demanding better working conditions for the poor on
planets like Bat and OldEarth, and there was the upcoming penal
reform bill that would affect D’jeering and other prison planets.
An increasingly large segment of Anu’s population wanted to
separate from the Free Worlds to resume self-government. That
situation required some tricky maneuvering as her father tried to
keep one of the most powerful and wealthy of the Worlds content,
yet not cave to their every demand.

“Enough political talk. I’m tired of working
out solutions to impossible problems. Tell me what you’ve been up
to.”

“Imprisoned at home mostly, as you know. But
last week when I still had a life, I went to a Kingset concert with
Trianne. They were great. I mean, the music alone is fantastic, but
combined with the vid screen show and the acting, it was
amazing.”

“Good. I’m glad you enjoyed it, although
their music doesn’t much appeal to me.”

“Oh, please, you still like OldEarth music
from the last century. That rock beat is about as challenging as a
child’s puzzle.”

They finished their meal and moved to the
living room where they sat and debated Leelah’s right to her
freedom for a while. As usual, neither of them would budge on the
topic.

“You can’t coddle me forever,” she told him
for the hundredth time. “I understand the dangers, the possibility
for someone to use me as a tool to get to you, so I’m willing to
have bodyguards. But this house arrest is ridiculous. Why did I
bother to study social politics if I’m not going to be allowed to
get out in the world and use my skills?”

“There are programs you could oversee for me.
And administrative position would be a useful and safe way to use
your education.”

“But, Daddy, working directly with people is
what I want to do. Something really hands on.” She threw up her
hands. “
Shenje
! I don’t know why I bother. I’m going to bed
now. Goodnight.”

Ja-hun remained behind to discuss security
matters with her father, allowing Leelah to go alone to her
room.

She took off her dress and sat in her living
room in her underwear watching the vid. The events of the day
swirled in her mind, and she barely registered what was on.
Memories of Ja-hun walking in on her private time, their brief
conversation at the restaurant, and most importantly, his kiss
played over and over in her mind.

Gray. Who chose gray as a favorite color? She
had to learn more about what made this mysterious man tick, about
his past, his opinions, and if he really was as bland as he
pretended to be. Also, she wanted more of that stellar kissing and
all of the things kissing led to.

But now Ja-hun was locked down tight again.
Even if she pranced around him in her underwear, she guessed he’d
ignore her advances. How could she get him to come into her suite
so she could spend some time with him?

Jumping up off the sofa, she went to her
window and reached up to break off the device that operated the
blinds. When she gave the “close” command, they no longer
functioned. She hated to play at female helplessness, but whatever
it took…

She went to her door and opened it. Ja-hun
was outside, seated on a chair in just his shirtsleeves, his jacket
hanging on the back of the chair and his tie gone. He was studying
data on a palm-sized vid screen. He glanced up at her, eyes
flicking briefly over her bra and panties before returning to her
face.

“Could you help me a minute? My window blind
is stuck or something.”

He rose without a word and accompanied her
into the suite.

“Close,” he ordered the blinds. Nothing
happened.

“See.” She stood near him so her arm brushed
his.

He glanced at her then back at the window.
“It’s broken.”

“Yes. Can you fix it?”

“I’m not a repairman. Have someone look at it
tomorrow.”

“What am I supposed to do meanwhile? Can you
hang a sheet over it or something?”

He turned to stare at her. The windows were
darkglass, the view from inside as clear as if there was nothing in
the frame, while those trying to look in would only see flat, black
glass. The blinds were a formality left over from earlier times to
give a sense of privacy already inherent in the windows.

She smiled. “I know it’s silly and no one can
see inside, but it makes me feel safer.” She rested her hand on his
arm and gazed into his face with wide eyes. “Please.”

The clenched muscle in his jaw twitched.

“Wait here. I’ll get a sheet.” She whipped
the top one from her bed and handed it to him, folding her arms and
watching as he stretched to hang it over her window. It wasn’t
going to take long. She had to think of something to say to delay
his leaving.

“My father was talking about the conditions
in the Bat mines and reforms for the D’jeering prison colonies. We
may be able to strike an accord with the insurgents if Dad can find
solutions to these problems. Have you ever been to D’jeering?”

Ja-hun froze in the middle of tying the sheet
to the rod. “Briefly.”

She’d found a sore point and recognized a
touch of bitterness in that one word. “You were a prisoner there,”
she guessed. “Was it as awful as they say? How did you get
free?”

“I was there in an undercover capacity.” He
began knotting the other side of the sheet, which hung crookedly
over the window in a peacock blue fall of silk. “When that job was
finished, I was hired by Crin-tai.”

It was more information than she’d expected
him to reveal. Leelah was thrilled. “What was it like, working for
someone like that?” The tycoon’s reputation was legendary. Everyone
knew his legitimate businesses masked the illegal activities that
had built his empire.

“That job was just like this one. I kept him
safe.”

“Bet he didn’t look as good as me in his
underwear though,” she teased, hoping to lighten him up a little.
In his profile, she caught the glimmer of a smile.

Ja-hun stepped away from the window, but kept
his back turned to her for another second. When he faced her, his
expression was a blank slate again.

She blocked his way, standing right in front
of him. “Come on. Stay and play a game of
jabarta
with me.
Just one or two and I’ll leave you alone, I promise.”

“I don’t want to play a board game.” His dark
gaze pierced through her and suddenly the words seemed to take on
another meaning.

“What
do
you want to play?” She rested
her hands lightly on his chest.

“Nothing.” He grabbed her wrists as though to
push her away, but stopped with his fingers encircling her wrists.
“I don’t want anything from you.” His voice was hoarse.