In Bed with the Bodyguard (20 page)

“Nope,” he said, but the red staining his cheeks told a different story.

“So you got the invitation? I wondered if I'd mailed it in time.”

“Invitation? I didn't receive anything.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

He gestured at the graffiti-splashed walls dotted with canvases by her artists and said, “Enjoying the art. Why else would I be here?”

She rolled her eyes. “Seriously, if you didn't get the invitation, what are you doing at my art show?”

He cocked his head and the corners of his eyes crinkled as he looked down at her. “I wanted to see you. No, I needed to see you.” Her heart pounded in double-time at the intense look in his eyes.

“Why?” she managed to choke out.

“Because I miss you.”

She froze and he immediately took advantage, swooping down to plant a soft kiss on her forehead, then one on her cheek.

Goose bumps dotted her forearms, and she folded her arms defensively across her chest, willing herself to stand firm. If she caved, she might forget herself and fall into his arms and damn the rest of her guests. Valerie and Lance's mother faded backward and made a good show of looking at a painting on the opposite side of the room.

Her icy fingertips fluttered across one flaming cheek and she struggled to stay focused. “What did your mom mean about your new office?”

He stepped back, giving her room to take a deep breath not mingled with his. “I'm quitting the Service. I've accepted a position with MarketFresh.”

Ari's eyes widened and the surrounding chatter from the party seemed to dim. “You did? You have? But…why?” Her mind was officially blown. How could Lance quit his beloved job; the job for which he sacrificed familial harmony? Was it because of her? How could he think she'd want him to quit his job? The enormity of his gesture overwhelmed her.

He grabbed hold of her hand and brought it to his lips to brush a kiss across her knuckles. He held on to her while he answered. “As long as I'm working for the Secret Service, you won't trust me. You'll always think I'd report any news of your dad.”

Stunned, Ari's stomach clenched as if she'd been punched. She knew from previous conversations how hard he'd worked and how much he'd given up to achieve his position. That he'd throw it all away for her, when he hadn't been willing to do so for his father, was stunning, thrilling, and upsetting. “But…you love your job.”

He said nothing but gave her a wry yet tender smile.

“Oh,” she said on an exhalation. She got it. By quitting, he was telling her he loved her more than his job. The depths of his willingness to prove himself rocked her to the core, but there was no question in her mind about the wrongness of his decision. “No. Don't quit. Not on my account.”

He frowned. “Are you saying I have no chance of changing your mind? I refuse to believe we're done for good.”

“No! I mean yes. I mean, I don't want you to quit because—” She broke off before she admitted she loved him too much to ask him to sacrifice such a thing for her. “I don't think you should quit,” she said. “You'd end up resenting me.”

“Arianna,” a voice called from across the room. She craned her neck and motioned she'd be there in a minute.

“Look, I have to go.”

“Can I stay and wait for you?”

She hesitated, then nodded. “Fine. We'll talk later tonight.”

Lance glanced down at his watch and leaned farther back in the black metal folding chair. It was nearly midnight and the place had cleared out about half an hour ago. Glasses and metal flatware clinked as the rental company removed the last crate of champagne flutes and silverware.

“Don't let me fall,” Ari crowed as she rolled by in bare feet on a skateboard. Kevin jogged alongside her, teaching her how to balance and steer on the narrow board.

He smiled at the sight and settled in to wait some more. She was avoiding him. He could wait. Valerie and Jason had generously offered to drive his mother back to her hotel so he could stick around for Ari. It was nice to know they were in his corner.

Before she'd left, Valerie had kissed his cheek and whispered some advice in his ear. “She still loves you. Show her you can be trusted. Don't blow it.”

He wouldn't. This time he'd take his cues from Ari. He'd been half tempted to give the rental car keys to his mother and risk throwing himself on Ari's hospitality, but he didn't think she was ready for a sleepover with him yet. He'd kept the rental car and planned on driving back to Virginia tonight.

“Hello.” Ari rolled to a stop in front of him and inexpertly dismounted from the skateboard. “Thanks for giving me a quick lesson,” she said, handing the board back to Kevin. “You should go home now. Your mom will be worried.” She smiled at the teen, who responded with a shy smile and a look in his eye that probably mirrored the one Lance had. Oh, hell, was every male infatuated with Arianna? Too bad, the kid couldn't have her. She was his.

“Ready to talk?” he asked, suppressing his need to pull her down onto his lap and nuzzle the cleavage revealed by her strapless cocktail dress. At last they were almost alone. It seemed to have taken hours for the last of the waitstaff and Kevin to leave.

“Yes. I signed off on the rental stuff, and it looks like they're gone. Steve said I could leave the paintings up until tomorrow morning.”

“Is that safe?” he asked, unable to forego his security background entirely.

She smiled at him. “For the night it should be okay. I'm meeting the van tomorrow to repack the paintings before the skate park opens.”

“What about the sold ones?” A red sticker adorned the tag of nearly every piece of art in the room.

A huge grin covered her face. “Isn't it amazing? I sold nearly every painting. Your mom bought two. In fact, she started a bidding war for Lacey's sculpture. Thanks for bringing her.”

He gave in to his desire and reached out to touch her hip. “I'm thrilled for you, but not surprised. You worked your ass off getting this show ready, and you have a real eye for art.”

She fell into his lap, trusting him to catch her. “I'm giddy, I'm ecstatic. We raised a lot of money for the Rose Fund, and I have enough left over to pay off a few bills.” She wrapped her hands around the back of his head and pulled him close for a lingering kiss that had him reeling.

Long, charged moments passed entwined in the embrace before he remembered nothing between them was settled. “Ari,” he said, pulling back.

She turned her upper body to face him, hanging both legs over his thigh. “Don't think. Just kiss. It's been too long.”

He allowed one more slow lip lock before stopping again. “Ari, you're not thinking clearly. Are you sure this is what you want?”

“Mmm, yes…” She murmured her acquiescence into his jaw, grazing the stubble with her teeth.

“'Cause it won't be just sex to me. I want you too badly and you mean too much.” He shuddered as her fingers undid the top buttons on his shirt and reached in to circle his nipples.

“Yes.” She slid one leg over his other thigh, straddling him and hiking her short dress up, balancing the perfect globes of her ass on his knees. “I want you now.”

“You have me. I'm going to take you here on this chair, in that dress.” He breathed deeply in the soft joint where her neck met shoulder. Tonight she had on an unfamiliar flowery scent. It made him crazed. “Stand up for a second,” he said in a low, rough voice. With a little tricky maneuvering, he pulled a condom from the fold in his wallet, undid his pants, and rucked them down to his knees, locking his legs nearly together. “Shit.”

“Metal chair a little cold?” Ari softly laughed. She pulled the condom from his grasp, tore open the package, and rolled it on him.

He nodded but quickly forgot all discomfort when she lowered back down and his erect cock made contact with the lacy strap of her thong. In this position, his lips reached the top curves of her perfectly formed breasts and he took advantage kissing and nuzzling. She was sweeter than sugar.

He slid his fingers down to her thong, nearly snapping it in half in his haste to touch her wetness. “I don't want to rip these. You know how I love your sexy lingerie.”

She smiled and did something with her hips that had the crown of his erection perfectly poised at her entrance. His vision blurred from pleasure. “Are you wet enough for me? 'Cause I want in you now.”

In response she pushed down as he pushed up, sheathing himself in her tight passage. Her tight heat squeezed him, making him groan with need and desire. He'd missed their sex. Every time they made love it got better, and this time was no exception. Their bodies ignited with the passion they'd been missing during their time apart. His hand and a hot shower was no substitute for the reality of Ari's curvy body urgently riding his.

“I missed this,” she gasped in his ear.

“Missed you,” he grunted back. His shot-up thigh had been declared good to go by the docs, but they hadn't imagined his thigh needing to balance a gorgeous redhead while she undulated with abandon on him. She was wild in his arms, and selfish as she writhed, seeking her pleasure. He didn't need to work for it.

Right now, she couldn't get closer except for the layer of clothes keeping them apart. Yet it was hot as anything to have her riding him fully dressed with his dick buried deep. They were in plain view of the glass entrance doors. Anyone who drove by and looked at the correct angle might guess what they were doing from their movements, but he didn't give a shit. He needed to make her come. Now.

His mouth found hers as his arms bound her closer to his body. With his feet braced on the concrete floor, he pushed steadily up, driving himself deeper in her wet heat. It was too good. He was close. When her inner muscles spasmed around his shaft in ever-tightening waves, he knew he was a goner.

They came together in a searing, wild explosion, each trying to get closer to the other. All too soon he pressed his forehead to her damp, bare right shoulder, gulping in air, trying to slow his breathing back to normal. “I've missed you too damn much,” he said against her neck, hoping she'd say something, anything, that this was more than a sexual quickie for her. He didn't know if what he'd said about quitting his job for her had penetrated. But it was true. He'd spoken to his dad and sister about MarketFresh and only had to give notice to Sullivan before leaving the service for good.

She didn't say anything encouraging, but rested her cheek on his right shoulder and sighed deeply. He wanted to sit like this holding her forever. Here, in this room, in this chair, at this moment, none of their problems mattered.

“You can't quit your job,” she whispered against his shoulder. At his immediate protest, a rush of words fell from her pink lips.

“I don't need the grand gesture. I'm overwhelmed you would quit your job for me, but please, Lance, please. Don't quit.”

His arms tightened around her lush frame, and his palm traced circles around her back. “All right,” he finally whispered, holding her close, feeling his heart fill with love.

They sat in stillness for a long, healing time until a series of beeps came from the corner of the room. Ari leapt off his lap before the noise registered in his ears as her cell phone. She raced over to her purse, tugging her dress down over her hips as she ran.

“Who's calling you at this hour?” he wondered, shifting around to yank up his pants.

She didn't respond; she pulled her phone from her purse and glanced at the screen, but didn't answer it.

“Ari, who is it?” Lance rose to cross the room at the sight of her suddenly ashen face. “What is it?” He zipped his chinos, leaving his belt buckle undone.

Wordlessly, she turned the phone to face him. He squinted at the small text. “Happy Birthday, Arbey.” He looked at her incongruous reaction, feeling a bit foolish. “Who's Arbey? Is today your birthday?”

She nodded with a frown. “Arbey is me. It's what my dad calls me to be silly sometimes. It's short for Ari Baby.”

“Wow. Is the text who I think it's from?”

“Uh-huh. My father,” she whispered, and sank to the floor.

A
ri shuddered as her blood froze in her veins and she barely registered Lance pulling her onto his lap and cradling her in his strong arms.

“You're shivering.”

She nodded numbly. “What do I do?” After months of complete radio silence from her father, she now had contact. Six months ago she would have texted back; now she wasn't sure.

Her brain told her to hand the phone immediately over to Lance and let the feds work their wiretapping, tracing magic, but her heart whispered that this was her father who'd simply texted a birthday wish to his only daughter. Did it make her an awful daughter to use the birthday message against him?

She looked up at Lance, expecting to see Mr. Letter of the Law holding his hand out for the phone, but he sat cradling her with sympathy on his face. “It's totally up to you, Ari. If you want to keep the text a secret from the FBI, I won't say a thing.”

Her eyes widened and tears entered them at Lance's total loyalty to her. He'd said she could trust him, but those were just words. Agreeing to keep the text from her father a secret broke down her barriers like nothing else. He was willing to break the law for her, or at least stretch it a little, which for Lance was the equivalent of committing murder.

“The FBI probably already saw the text, since they've been monitoring my phone for weeks, but I've received dozens of birthday calls and texts today. They won't know to pay special attention to this one unless I tell them, right?”

Lance nodded. “I'd like to say they're on it and you don't have to do a thing, but there is a bit of backlog in the wiretapping business. There's a lot of contracted labor and they can't follow up on every phone call and text. It could be days before that text is noticed and by then your father could be in a new location.”

She nodded sadly, knowing what she had to do. “I need to delete it, then.” She scrolled through a few screens, gauging Lance's reaction. Was he truly going to let her delete the best possible clue to her father's whereabouts? Though his lips compressed into a tight line, he made no move to stop her.

She stood up, shaking out the skirt of her dress, and made her way to the front door of the skate park, where she knew her FBI followers waited in the shadows of the parking lot. She'd invited them in to the party, but they'd declined.

“Where are you going?” Lance asked, rising and following.

“To hand this over to the feds, of course.”

“But I thought you were deleting it?” He scratched his temple.

She gave him a wry smile. “No, I was testing you.”

He frowned. “Did I pass?”

“With flying colors. Of course I'm handing over the phone. How could I look Kevin or any of the victims in the eye if I deleted the text?”

Her breath squeezed out in a rush as Lance scooped her up in a big bear hug.

“God, I love you.”

She hugged him, not quite ready to give him the words back yet, even though her heart burst with emotion for Lance. An alluring part of her brain screamed to accept him and take everything he had to offer and reciprocate it tenfold.

He released her and held the door open for her to make her careful barefoot way through the parking lot and over to the black American-made sedan. At her approach, the agents opened their windows, releasing a blast of icy air-conditioning into the steamy June night.

If they were surprised at Lance's appearance, they didn't mention it. “Ms. Rose,” the driver said. “Ready to call it a night and head back to your hotel?”

“Not yet,” she said. “I have something that may interest you.” She passed the phone through the open window and leaned her elbow down on the doorframe. “It's from my father. He texted about two minutes ago.”

The agents glanced at each other, then looked over to Lance, who responded with a curt nod. He stepped over to put a supportive hand on her lower back. “It's for real.”

She released the phone into their care, and took a deep breath and leaned farther into the car to pass another message through the open window. “When you catch him, tell him…” She broke off, not sure what message to pass to her criminal, escapee father. “Tell him, he's got a wedding to pay for.” She stood back up and smiled at Lance. “Ready to go home?”

“With you? Always.”