Her Billionaire Bodyguard Bridegroom (8 page)

She stared at him in stunned rejection, but he ignored her and headed for the bathroom. He turned the shower knob all the way to cold and stood under the freezing spray until his teeth chattered. Despite the self-imposed water torture, the embers of passion she’d stoked to an outright blaze still scorched him. Ten minutes later, he gave up, stepped out and toweled off.

When he returned to the bedroom, there were icicles in her eyes. “I know you’re angry at me right now,” he murmured. “But trust me, you’ll feel differently in the morning.”

“And if I don’t?” she challenged.

As much as he wanted to brush off her query, he found himself giving it serious thought. Getting involved with her on a physical level would complicate things to the umpteenth degree. On the other hand, it
would
make sticking close to her a great deal simpler. The benefits would balance the additional risk, he reasoned. And he could handle the potential complications.

Decision made, he met her inquiring gaze head-on, determination and desire fizzing in his blood.

“If you don’t, and if I’m certain there are no extenuating factors clouding your judgment, then I can assure you I won’t be walking away from you the next time. But this is too important for there to be any doubt. I’ll wait until you tell me you’re ready to take our relationship to the next level.” He settled on the sofa in the other room and turned off the light. “Now get some rest.”

Silence reigned for long, drawn-out moments. He assumed she’d fallen asleep until her sweet voice broke the stillness.

“Luke?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. For everything.”

“Don’t mention it.”

He punched his pillow and sighed. It was going to be another sleepless night.

Brianna was still sleeping soundly when Luke abandoned his makeshift bed on the sofa at the crack of dawn to check on her. Slipping out to the balcony, he closed the door quietly behind him. At least one of them was getting some rest.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to relieve the gritty-sandpaper sensation lodged there. He was exhausted, but there was no sense in carrying on the pretense of slumber when his body’s unrelenting demand for satisfaction made sleep an impossibility.

Last night’s cold shower hadn’t cooled the arousal blazing through his blood like an out-of-control wildfire. Even now, hours later, it bubbled through his veins in a rolling boil.

He ploughed a hand through his hair, further ruffling the already-tousled strands. He needed to stay focused on his mission, a mission that did not involve fantasizing about keeping Brianna’s delectable body “covered” in an entirely different way than this assignment mandated. His thoughts had no business transgressing there. Directing his wayward musings back to the job at hand, he fished his cell phone out of his robe pocket and called Liz.

“Good morning,” she greeted him, her voice nauseatingly cheerful even at the ungodly hour. “Getting an early start on the day, I see.”

“I was a little too preoccupied to sleep,” he grumbled. “I thought I’d check in to see if you’ve received any updates on the bombing.”

“No. But I’m certain the strike on Dimitriou’s daughter’s room wasn’t a coincidence. It’s a good thing you were there to derail it. It could have been much worse.”

Luke breathed an exasperated sigh. “I should have caught him, Liz. I was on full alert, but the fireworks show threw me. I blew it.”

“You didn’t blow it. The situation would have been far worse if you hadn’t spotted the intruder and frightened him off. It’s highly likely the bomb was just a diversion. Once he realized you’d made him, he set if off so he could escape. There was no way you could have predicted he’d do something like that.”

“That doesn’t excuse my sloppiness. I should have spotted him before he had a chance to get that close in the first place. There can’t be another Tanya on my watch,” he asserted, the proclamation resonating with heartfelt determination and raw emotion.

“I only have three words to say in response to that,” Liz retorted. “Not. Your. Fault.” She enunciated the syllables with exaggerated slowness, pausing dramatically between each one. “For starters, Tanya wasn’t a client you were guarding. She was a woman you cared deeply about. You had no idea she was in danger, nor could you have. She lied to keep what she was mixed up in hidden from you. Even if you had been cognizant of your girlfriend’s double life, you were too close to her to protect her effectively. But this situation is entirely different. You’re aware of the threat, and you’re not emotionally invested like you were with Tanya. Brianna is just a package.”

“You’re right,” he sighed. So why, then, did the affirmation sound so weak to his ears? Could it be he wasn’t as emotionally immune to this package as he professed to be?

If he were completely unaffected, he would have reacted differently to last night’s threat. The panic that had surged through him when the blast went off in Brianna’s room wasn’t the reaction of a detached professional. She was getting under his skin, and that was totally unacceptable.

“What I
would
like to know,” Liz murmured, “is what the attacker would have done if you hadn’t messed up his plans?”

“My guess is that he still would have set the bomb off as a scare tactic. No doubt Mendacci hired him to make it clear to Philip he’s serious about going after his family. It’s Mendacci’s not-so-subtle way of letting him know what will happen if he doesn’t come back into line.”

“That’s as good an assumption as any.”

“I’ve convinced Brianna to travel with me. That should throw her pursuer off the scent a bit.”

“That doesn’t mean there won’t be trouble,” Liz cautioned.

“I’ll be on guard. If it appears we’re being tailed, I have a plan B.”

“Which is?”

“We’ll travel to Maine in my helicopter.”

A strangled sound escaped Liz’s throat. “You’re going to need a plan C, then. You didn’t read the dossier, did you?”

“You know I just scan them for the highlights. I rely on my finely tuned intuition to fill in the blanks. Why?”

“I don’t suppose your finely tuned intuition told you your package is terrified of flying? Airborne is not in her vocabulary.”

“I’ll hatch a back-up plan to the back-up plan, then. No worries.”

“I never said I was worried. Despite your aversion to doing your homework, I know Brianna is in the best of hands.”

“Thanks. You’re a good friend, Liz.”

“You forgot to tack on the ‘awesome boss’ part.”

“That goes without saying.”

“Okay, wise guy. I’ve got a briefing to get to. Stay safe out there.”

Luke couldn’t help but chuckle. His affinity for taking risks was second only to Liz’s penchant for dangerous, by-the-skin-of-her-teeth maneuvers.

“I won’t do anything you wouldn’t do.”

Stepping back into the suite, he checked on Brianna again. She was still dead to the world, so he took the opportunity to shower and change before ordering coffee from room service.

He finally heard her stir when a knock on the door announced his morning caffeine infusion had arrived. After ascertaining that the waiter was alone, he opened the door to the young man and accepted the coffee service from him. Once he’d tipped him and sent him on his way, Luke poked his head around the bedroom door.

“Good morning. How’s your head?”

Brianna blinked at him drowsily, still half-asleep. “Fine, thanks. What time is it?”

“A little after eight.”

“Ugh! I didn’t mean to sleep so late. You should have woken me.”

For a moment, he didn’t reply. He was too distracted by the view. The sheet had slipped, giving him a tantalizing glimpse of creamy curves revealed by the low neckline of her nightgown.

“You needed the rest.”

He saw the exact moment the last remnants of sleep lifted, leaving her cognizant of the intimacy of the situation. Her cheeks flushed a becoming shade of pink, and she tugged the sheet back up to chin level.

“I shouldn’t be lazing the day away. We have work to do.”

He had to give her points for recovering quickly. “It’s okay. We have plenty of time to make the drive to Maine. We’re not on a rigid schedule. Would you like some coffee?”

“I’d love some. Give me ten minutes to grab a quick shower first, okay?”

“Of course. I’ll wait for you out in the sitting area.”

He hadn’t taken her ten-minute estimate seriously, so he was surprised when she emerged from the shower two minutes shy of her self-imposed deadline. She’d donned a tailored black pencil skirt and a brightly patterned silk top with a V-neck that put an alluring amount of her gorgeous curves on display. Needing to focus on anything but the enticing fullness of her breasts, he distracted himself by pouring her a cup of coffee.

She eagerly accepted the fragrant, steamy mug. “Thanks. I can’t make it through the morning without my java fix.”

“I share your vice,” he confessed with a self-depreciating smile, pouring a second cup for himself.

She took a sip of the brew and sighed in appreciation. “Perfect! Lots of cream and a little sugar. Exactly how I like it. How did you know?”

“I was paying attention at dinner last night.”

“Detail-oriented, are we?”

In order for his clients to remain safe, he needed to be in touch with every nuance of his environment. Sometimes even things that appeared innocuous on the surface could be precursors to an attack. “Guilty as charged. It’s my job to be observant.”

Since he couldn’t illustrate his point using his experiences as a covert bodyguard, he turned to his editorial role, instead. “Readers tend to frown on mistakes and incorrect information. Miss a typo, say like an extra
t
tacked onto the word ‘but,’ and suddenly a story takes on an entirely different slant.”

Brianna laughed. “I see your point.”

“Something tells me you share my propensity for crossing
t
’s and dotting
i
’s. Considering the rave reviews I’ve heard about your contributions to Upwords Development—I’ll bet you’re as thorough as I am.”

His praise brought the blush back to her cheeks. “That means a lot, coming from you.
Intrepid Explorations
is a top-notch publication.”

“So you’re an outdoors enthusiast?”

“More of a wannabe, actually. But I’ve seen an issue or two,” she admitted. “Your backpacking special was nicely presented. It made me want to try camping someday.”

“Ah. A closet camper living vicariously through the pages of
Intrepid
, huh?”

“You’ve guessed my secret. For the record, I’ve enjoyed my armchair adventures tremendously. Anyhow, while I’m doling out appreciation, I owe you a couple more thank-you’s. One for taking the sofa last night, and another for not taking me up on my offer when I threw myself at you. You were right to talk me down.”

He raised a hand to his ear, tipping his head in her direction. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t catch that. Can you repeat the last part?”

Brianna rolled her eyes. “You’ll have to be satisfied with ‘thank you’.”

Luke grinned for a second, then his expression turned serious. “You wouldn’t be normal if you hadn’t been shaken by your close call. It’s not every day your hotel room is the scene of a bomb blast.” As quickly as it had disappeared, his grin returned. “Combine delayed reaction with my irresistible masculine charms, and you were bound to make a play for me.”

The teasing wink Luke sent her way made Brianna’s insides tingle.

God, I wish he wouldn’t smile at me like that.

Now the dimples were on full, knee-weakening display again. The man could overload her sensors without even trying. It was time to steer the subject away from last night’s brush with intimacy before she dissolved in a puddle of lust at his feet.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m famished. Shall we get some breakfast?’ she queried brightly.

“Sounds great. I’m starving, too. We can order from room service, or go down to the restaurant. There’s also a third option, if you’d like. I know of a great little sidewalk café within walking distance of the hotel. They make the most incredible croissants you’ve ever tasted, served with homemade jams.”

“You had me at croissant,” she beamed, her mouth already watering. “I’ll just swap my heels for a pair of walking shoes.”

In the bedroom, she toed out of her pumps and slipped into her most comfortable pair of flats. A warm breeze drifted in through the open window, carrying the promise of a beautiful day.

Okay,
she admitted to herself,
the weather isn’t the only reason the day is looking so bright.

Her upbeat spirits were due, in large part, to the compelling man waiting to have breakfast with her. Despite her best intentions to ignore the feelings he incited, the man definitely tempted her to play with fire.

When she was with Luke, the turmoil that had plagued her life these past few months melted away. He made her forget about the car accident that had tragically claimed her mother’s life; made her forget about the fiancé who’d cheated on her mere weeks before their wedding. And though the discovery that her mother had lied to her about her father was hard to sweep from her consciousness, the pain was somehow less raw with Luke nearby to take her mind off it.

It would take time to come to grips with the enormity of her mother’s deception. There were a zillion questions bouncing around in her head, not the least of them why her mother had let her grow up believing her father had died before she was born. Tragically, the car accident that had taken her mom’s life meant those “whys” would remain unanswered.

Despite her earlier apology, she knew the brandy and the shock weren’t to blame for the shameless hussy act she’d put on the night before. No, Luke made her hormones sit up and beg very prettily, thank you, and she’d eagerly caved to his allure.

What had she been thinking, throwing herself at him like that? It really was time to put things back on a strictly business footing, she determined, emerging from the bedroom with her armor securely back in place.

The affable grin Luke shot her way when he entered the room trotted his damn dimples out again, and her Kevlar immediately slipped a little.