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“Because you’re going to stand between me and every threat?” Mocking. Or at least, she probably meant for the words to be mocking.
“Damn straight. Until the danger is over, where you go, I go.”
She looked over her shoulder. “I’m going to bed.”
Take me with you. Nope. No way. Not gonna say that. “I’ll be downstairs. No one will get past me.”
“There is a bed in the next room.” She returned her attention to him. “You haven’t slept tonight, either. You need rest. I’m sure you can protect me just as well from that room as you can from downstairs.”
“I can protect you best if I’m in the same room with you.”
Her body stiffened.
He shouldn’t have said that. Oh, well. “But I can see where you might not want that to happen. I’ll bunk on the couch. That way, in order to get to the stairs, in order to get to you, any perp would truly have to get past me first.” He wanted to keep an eye on the ground level. “I’m sure the cops will be knocking at your door with more questions in a few hours. I’ll keep them away until you’ve had enough rest.”
“You’re the best bodyguard in the business. The female detective said that.”
He shrugged one shoulder and lifted his head. “That’s why your dad hired me.”
“Who was your last client? Uh, charge?”
“An action star.” He told her the name. “He has a place close by, so I was in the area when your dad needed someone to step in with you.”
“Then I’m grateful. Without you, I don’t know what would have happened to me.”
Not like Midas wanted to think about that shit. “You won’t be hurt again.”
She eased away. Opened the bedroom door. And left him there. Her scent lingered in the air. Surrounded him.
The door closed.
He wanted to open it. To go inside and tell her—
What was he supposed to tell her?
That she wasn’t just a case? That none of his normal rules applied to her? That he had been ready to kill and destroy in order to get her back?
She’d been through enough. That was hardly the crap she wanted to hear.
That was hardly—
Her door flew open. “You didn’t have to pretend that you wanted me.”
What?
“Unnecessary,” she bit out. “You didn’t have to kiss me. You didn’t have to act like you needed me, you didn’t have to—”
His hands curled around her waist. He lifted her up so they were eye to eye. “I had to kiss you.”
Alina shook her head.
“But I didn’t have to pretend. I didn’t pretend. I wanted you from the first moment.” His eyes were on her lips. “And you know what? I still do.” So…I’m gonna take what I want.
His mouth locked on hers.
Chapter Nine
Angry. Scared. Hurt.
