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It’s hard to form words under his blue gaze, but really, it’s hard to form the word yes. Admitting that I’m taking someone who doesn’t really want me…that’s hard. I’ve tried my best to have one-night stands that at least show interest. But hey, I don’t have to sleep with Korey. It’s just a triple date.
I manage to mumble, “Uh-huh.”
Donnelly steps ahead. “Korey with a K.”
What is he doing? Panic starts to ignite inside me like a furnace. And then I realize—he’s a bodyguard.
Not my bodyguard.
But a bodyguard.
And this…this is his job.
9
PAUL DONNELLY
I don’t like him. This Korey with a K.
I don’t like how his wizard brows wrinkle at me when he snaps, “Yeah?”
His brash attitude is unwarranted. I’m not coming at him, even if I wish I could. I wish we were at a bar and I wish I wasn’t on-duty. Don’t say it, Paul. I’m gonna say it.
Don’t.
I take a casual peek left. Boss isn’t here. I’m gonna say it.
“What’s got your dick twisted, man?” I ask him nonconfrontationally and quietly, so Luna can’t hear behind me.
He shifts his weight. Ah, man, if he’s personally offended by that, he’s gonna hate me.
“Really?”
I shrug like it’s nothing.
Knowing Luna has been on the hunt for a date today shouldn’t affect me. I’d so easily supply her with condoms if she needed one.
Used to.
Somethin’ I would’ve done.
Now, I’d still do it for her, but it wouldn’t be that easy. I’m thinking it’d be close to excruciating.
I’d never stop her from having sex though. She’s not someone that belongs to me. I just hate thinking that she could be attached to him.
“I’m busy,” Korey emphasizes like I can’t see his hand halfway in a jar of LOTR buttons.
“You don’t need to be so pissy about it,” I say plainly, and before he comes at me, I ask him conversationally, “You serious about going on a date with Luna?” These are things I’d say if she were my client and he could be a potential threat.
And these are also things I’d say if she were something else to me.
I might not be assigned to Luna, but I’m gonna look out for her. Guess that’s why when I saw her approaching the wizard, I asked Frog to swap and told her I’d handle the NDA. Frog is still learning the paperwork, which she’s said isn’t her favorite part of security. But she wants to succeed, and she’ll ask me and the guys for help whenever she needs it.
She was fine with the quick switch. Xander is just absorbed with the panel. No big threats in sight. Just Korey with a K.
“Maybe, yeah.” Korey sounds defensive. Laughter from the panel, then applause from the audience cuts briefly into our conversation.
“You’re really taking her money?” I ask him.
“She said she’d pay me.” He drops the scoop of buttons, just to face me more, but he also eyes Luna behind me. “You will pay me?”
“Yeah, I will.” Her soft voice is hard to hear over more applause.
Why are you paying him? I want to ask her, but he’s right in front of me. So I’m asking him, “Why would you wanna take her money? She’s Luna Hale. Most people would be paying to go on a date with her.”
He grins like I boosted his ego. “What can I say? I’m not like most people.”
“I’d pat you on the back, but I got a phobia.”
“A phobia?” Korey snaps. “Of what?”
“Racoons,” I say. “You said you’re not like most people. Figure you must be in the trash panda family.”
He’s glaring.
“Watch out for cars. Heard they kill a lot of your kind.”
“What’s your problem?” he retorts under his breath.
She deserves more than you. She’s worth more than you.
You shouldn’t be taking anything from her.
I know better than to say this shit on-duty. I speak quietly. “Person or racoon, you gotta sign an NDA if you wanna date Luna.” I unpocket my phone and pop up an electronic NDA. “I won’t take you from the panel. So I’ll send this to you, and you can look this over on your own time. Once you sign it, you can meet up with her again. You have a preferred email?”
He isn’t offering his email. He’s sizing me up. “You jealous?”
Yeah. I am.
I’m jealous that this douchebag gets to be with the girl I wish I could be with. I’m jealous of their future time together, a future kiss that I’ll never have with her, a future at fucking all—when all I got is present, fleeting moments that slip through my fingers like dust from a Thanos snap.
I say none of that.
He sees me silently stewing now, which I hate. Once they know they’ve hit a nerve, they think they have you in a chokehold.
“Hey, wait,” Korey smiles, “you’re Paul Donnelly. Aren’t you the bodyguard who’s secretly dating Beckett Cobalt? Shouldn’t you be more concerned about him?”
