AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The Marine Corp.”
“Must have been tough.”
His didn’t answer, but a veil had come down over his eyes. It wasn’t a subject that was easy for him to talk about, and she wished she hadn’t pried.
The rest of the ride went by in silence. She wondered what life must have been like deployed to another country so far from home and his loved ones. What horrors he must have seen and maybe even had a hand in. She felt a desperate sadness at what he and others like him must have gone through.
When they arrived at the shelter, Johnny parked the car in one of the staff parking spaces and prepared to settle in for the wait with the latest audiobook from James Patterson.
Kane handed what looked to be a small keyring to her.
“Before I forget… here’s your panic button.”
Her doubtful expression conveyed all the reluctance she was feeling. Weren’t they going too far with all this?
“Giving my parents peace of mind is one thing but what with you and Bud’s presence already, surely we can forgo that? I hardly think anyone’s going to come at me with the two of you standing around.”
“This isn’t up for discussion.” He understood her plight, but his tone held no compromise. “In all likelihood, you’ll never have a need for it, but you don’t ever want to be in a situation where you do only to find that it’s not there. Let’s not make you a precautionary tale.”
His words painted a striking picture that caused her mouth to go dry. She took it from him. It was cool to touch and nothing more than a small fob that contained a single large button. She wasn’t sure what it was about the innocuous item, but holding it in her hand had her stomach recoiling in waves.
“Some like to attach it to their keys. So long as it is on your person or within unobstructed reach at all times I’m not too particular about where you keep it.”
She went to slide it into a pocket on her jeans, then stopped. “How do I know it won’t accidentally go off?”
“It needs a pretty decent amount of pressure to be activated so that’s not a concern.”
From the way he spoke, it was clear the subject was over for him and Lexi wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She did have one pressing thing on her mind that she needed to flag up with him before they went inside.
“Other than my boss, I don’t want the people here to know you’re my bodyguard.”
“That might not be possible—“
“I’ve spent a long time trying to convince them all that I’m one of them. It’s taken months for them to let me in, but if they see me walking around with my own security detail, it’ll just remind them again of how different we are and I don’t want that. Please. It’s important to me.”
Her eyes were luminous as she stared up at him, causing something to shift in his stomach. She looked so concerned that he felt he could cave on this one issue.
“If I’m not your bodyguard, then who am I? I’m going to be with you every step of the way.”
“Every step?”Her brow raised high.
“Well, maybe not inside a toilet stall but I’ll certainly be outside the restroom.”
She didn’t look very pleased, and while he couldn’t blame her, this was a necessary step. Her eyes leveled on his as she stared at him silently. He imagined that a lesser person might find her directness nerve-racking after all, ignoring her beauty, wealth, and pedigree, this was the girl who had shoved a can of mace right at him without breaking a sweat. But Kane met her gaze full on. When he didn’t back down, she sighed.
“Fine. Then I guess you’re my friend.”
“Friend it is,” he responded, though he wondered how they would pull that off given the tension between them.
The shelter was two floors of solid concrete, barely disguised by the cheerful mural of happy animals someone had painted on the walls. A brightly colored sign did its best to welcome visitors, but nothing could hide the fact that this was a place where animals waited to be homed.
That suffocating desperation was in all of them. That sense of a clock ticking down. No matter which one you went to, whether they had a no-kill policy or not, they all felt the same.
Inside, she greeted every staff member with a smile and by name. From the looks of things, she was adored and cared equally as much about the people working here as she did the animals. She took a moment to ask each how their sons were doing at school, or if they had managed to perfect their gluten-free baking yet.
As she made her way to the main office, Lexi couldn’t help but notice how the women were behaving around Kane. Eyes went wide. Some blushed while others whispered to their female colleagues. Even women she knew who were happily married were responding to his presence.
Kane himself seemed oblivious to all the attention.
