His Reluctant Bodyguard (5 page)

Rip gave the older man a good-natured thump on the back.
"
Suu-weet
!
Thanks! I owe you, man."

He grabbed Avery's hand and pulled her to the center of the dance floor as the mellow strains of "Can't Help Falling
In
Love" filled the air. She fit into his arms as perfectly as he'd imagined she would. He didn't have to hunch his shoulders like he did with shorter women, and his hand easily spanned her back. They moved effortlessly together as if they'd danced with each other for years. He should have done
this years
ago.

Closing his eyes, he pulled her just a little closer. Her soft cheek brushed his jaw, making him wish they could keep dancing for the rest of the night. But all too soon, the sax held the last few notes of the song in a lingering farewell.

His eyes popped open when Avery stopped moving as the final note hung between them. "Good night, Rip," she whispered, and glided out of his arms and into the darkness.

***

The next morning, Avery rubbed her gritty eyes with her fingertips, but it didn't help because lack of sleep was the culprit. She prided herself on being able to fall asleep almost anywhere and sleep through almost anything.

Not last night.

After she’d left
Rip
standing on the dance floor of the Horizon Lounge, she hurried back to her room. Luckily, Ginger had been firmly off in dreamland and didn't rouse when Avery arrived, undressed, and crawled into bed. However, sleep eluded her. Instead, she tossed and turned and thought about Rip.

He couldn't have picked a worse time to walk back into her life. This was the very first week of her new six month contract, which was stressful enough. Plus, she'd just transferred from the west coast to Florida so that she could be closer to her parents, who lived in
Gainsville
. The last thing she needed was a romantic relationship, but seeing and being near Rip made her think of little else.

Why did he have to be so great looking, funny, and obviously interested in her too?

Then there was the whole crazy situation with the CIA being interested in his father's family. What in the world was that all about? Avery could scarcely believe it was for real. But if it was, she had a bad feeling that she didn't want to be involved.

So where did that leave her and Rip?
Exactly nowhere.

Stifling a yawn, she passed out maps to the guests headed for the gangway, and tried to sound chipper. "Welcome to San Juan. Enjoy your day."

In spite of it being the first week of October, the already humid air promised a hot and sticky day and Avery did not relish the idea of being out in the heat. A nap, if she could manage to grab one, would have to be in her air conditioned room, a place Ginger could barge into at any given moment. Avery had managed to avoid her ever since Ginger's gauche attempt to join her and Rip for dinner last night. But sooner or later, Avery knew her aggravating roommate would catch up with her, and she dreaded the meeting.

When she ran out of maps, she walked a few steps over to the customer service counter to grab another handful. But when she turned to go back to the main lobby, one of the young staff manning the counter stopped her. "Miss Knox? You have a phone call."

Taking the extended phone receiver, she had a pretty good idea who was calling and the thought made her giddy as a teenager.

"Hello, sunshine." Rip's husky voice greeted as soon as she said her name. "Our buddy Mr. Smith has me confined to quarters after last night. How soon before you can come and rescue me?"

Just the sound of his voice made little surges of pleasure race up and down her spine.

Bad sign.
Very bad sign.

She took a deep breath and spoke in her brusque business tone. "Sorry, I'm on duty here at the gangway for at least three more hours."

"Lunch then," he said with a detectable note of disappointment. "Since I can't meet you, do you want me to order something here from room service?"

Avery could feel her thin shell of resolve eroding with his every word. "I -- All right, I'll be there at noon."

So much for not getting involved.

By the time she knocked on the door of the Wilderness Retreat, Avery had given herself the "do not get involved" lecture so many times, she'd lost count. She'd only squeezed in a fifteen minute cat-nap in her cabin before she showered and changed out of her uniform for lunch. The butler
Nadeesh
swung the door open in mid-knock, and Rip, dressed in cargo shorts and flip-flops, stood right behind him.

"Hey, I was getting worried," he said, pulling her inside and leaning down to give her a peck on the cheek.

Avery quickly turned aside on the pretense of checking her watch, but in reality so that the kiss went wide. "It's only five after."

Rip ducked his head like a little boy. "I know, but I missed
ya
."

The "do not get involved" lectures flew right out of her head. How could the big lug be so utterly adorable?

Nadeesh
herded them over to the dining table which sported fresh flowers and a bottle of wine. Avery craned her head but didn't spot the CIA agent anywhere.

"Mr. Smith is holed up in the bedroom," Rip explained, holding her chair for her. "It's just us, and
Nadeesh
, of course." He rolled his eyes behind the fussy butler's back.

"No wine for me, please," Avery declined when the butler tried to fill her glass. "I'll have a hard enough time staying awake this afternoon."

Both Rip and
Nadeesh
tried to change her mind, but she would not be swayed. The meal of salad, chilled gazpacho soup, and chunks of mahi-mahi and grilled vegetables filled Avery past the point of satiation. Rip ate heartily too, and they talked about nothing in particular, mindful of the ever-present butler. Just as
Nadeesh
served the fruit tart dessert, Mr. Smith hobbled out of the bedroom.

"Miss Knox," he acknowledged with a nod before he settled into his usual spot on the sofa with his foot in the air. "Any food left for me?"

Nadeesh
dashed about to fill a tray with soup and salad. Avery offered up her dessert.

"I need to watch my figure," she explained.

The agent snorted. "Brown and I and probably half the men on this ship will be happy to watch it for you."

Rip gave him a pointed glare as he rose to his feet. "I'll get my trunks. Miss Knox and I are going for a walk around the deck and then a swim."

Smith didn't look happy, but he also didn't argue. Once Rip was out of the room, he addressed Avery with a stern expression. "He thinks this is a joke, but I assure you, Miss Knox, it isn't. If the wrong people find out where he is... " His voice trailed off ominously.

Before she could respond, Rip walked back into the room with a blue Adventure Cruise Lines tote bag slung over his shoulder. "Let's go, Avery."

Once they were in the elevator, Rip dug into the bag, pulled out his wallet and shoved it in his pocket. "Is there any place we can stash this bag for later?"

"Later?" she asked in confusion.

"I thought we could go ashore for a couple of hours. I've never been to Puerto Rico and you said you've only been here once --"

"But you told Smith... " she interrupted, but the elevator stopped and several other passengers got on, so she didn't say more.

"That guy needs to lighten up!" Rip muttered. When they stopped on the gangway floor, they got off the elevator with everyone else, and Rip continued in a normal tone. "Besides, I told him we were going for a walk and then a swim. I didn't say what we were doing in between." His dark eyes took on a mischievous sparkle. "I saw this fantastic looking old fort when we were coming into port this morning. Can't we just go out and take a quick look at it?"

"That's El
Morro
, the original Spanish fortress," Avery explained.

In truth, she would enjoy seeing it too.
Strictly for the historical perspective, of course.
Not because she wanted to be alone with
Rip
. At least that's what she told her conscience to help alleviate the sting of guilt. She stashed Rip's bag under the customer service counter, and fifteen minutes later, they were in a taxi headed to El
Morro
, which was perched on a rocky promontory at the tip of the harbor.

"Hey, you speak Spanish really well," Rip said after she had commandeered the cab and instructed the driver of their destination.

"I just finished four contracts cruising to Mexico." She couldn't feel the vehicle's air conditioning, so she asked the cabbie to put the window halfway down. "After all the years you've lived in Southern California, I can't believe you don't speak it."

He flashed a wicked grin. "Only swear words, so don't curse at
me
or I'll know."

A few minutes later they arrived at the parking lot, paid the cabbie, and started the long uphill walk over the grassy park to the fort itself. Much to Avery's relief, a fresh breeze had picked up, making the humidity far less stifling.

Rip obviously enjoyed it too, for he spread his arms wide and exclaimed, "This is more like it!"

"Much better than that stuffy cab," she agreed as a group of school children galloped by them going in the opposite direction.

Once they got inside the fort, they saw several more groups of students and two large guided tours of tourists. They opted to do the self-guided route, and Rip bought a disposable camera in the gift shop. In front of the first building, he asked an older couple to take a photo of Avery and him. Then he asked someone else in front of the next place.

He kept stopping people and asking them to take their photo, until finally Avery said, "I think you're just doing this so you can put your arm around me."

"You're onto me," he answered with a wink.

Alarm bells clanged in Avery's brain and the 'do-not-get-involved' speech roared back to life. She glanced down at her watch, but Rip noticed the gesture and interpreted correctly.

"Just a few more minutes," he insisted. "I want to see the view."

He grabbed her hand and tugged her along the stone wall to a spot where they could look out over the crumbling top at the sea. Rip leaned against the wall, closed his eyes and let the wind blow into his face for a long moment.

"This reminds me of the ruins in
Saturnina
," he said at last. He opened his eyes and turned to face her. "That's the biggest city on
Benezet
, and the ruins are on the highest point above the harbor just like these. I remember playing up there when I was a little kid.
Five, maybe six years old."

"How old were you when you left
Benezet
?" Avery asked.

Looking distant and contemplative, he said, "My parents divorced when I was eleven, but I was already at boarding school in the States. I only went back to the island a couple of times after that, until my father's funeral a year ago last July." He shook his head and gave a rueful smile. "I noticed a cell phone tower up on the hill in the middle of the ruins."

Feeling uncomfortable that she'd pried into his private memories, Avery shifted her weight from foot to foot and murmured, "What a shame they didn't preserve that piece of their history."

"I remember my father telling me
Benezet
must look to the future not the past."

She nodded and a few strands of her hair that had worked loose from her ponytail blew across her face. He smoothed them back as he said, "I want to concentrate on the future too."

His hand slid around to the nape of her neck and his mouth moved closer. With her internal alarm going off like a Chinese gong, Avery looked away and started to duck her head.

"Don't," Rip whispered, and his lips descended over hers.

The kiss started as light and soft as the brush of butterfly wings. But then his other hand went around her waist and pulled her against him, as his mouth settled hot and hungry atop hers. The alarms melted on a wave of pleasure as his tongue followed the seam of her lips and demanded possession
that Avery wouldn't -- couldn't deny
. She twined her hands behind his head and deepened the kiss.

Heat burned across her nerve endings as she met his fervor with her own, momentarily abandoning herself to the glorious sensations racing through her body.
Holy
moly
!
Rip's kiss felt just as good as she'd always imagined.

A childish giggle made them abruptly pull apart. Two pre-pubescent girls in school uniforms stood a few feet away.
 
"Get a room," one of them muttered.

Avery felt her face flame, but Rip turned a steely-eyed glare on the pair of intruders.

"Go away." His tone was the soft kind of scary, like an executioner, and the two girls stumbled then sprinted off.

Her common sense thundered back in a rush, and Avery dropped her hands, putting one palm against his chest to push herself away. But Rip caught her fingers, stopping her.

His voice was low but still intense as his dark eyes delved into her. "I never should have let you walk away ten years ago, and I won't let you do it again."