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He flashed me a white smile that softened his entire face. It was impossible to ignore how good looking he was. I would have wagered he was Prom King. That smile probably smoothed over a lot of situations where he would have gotten in trouble.Or it gets him into more trouble.
“Sure,” I said. “Forget it ever happened.”
I was used to sexism among my clients. Guys were always weird about being protected by a woman, no matter how competent I was. It was like starting a football game down a touchdown; from the very beginning, I had to pull myself out of a hole to earn their respect.
I should have been used to it by now, but it still stung just as much as it had the first time I experienced it.
On the drive back to his place, I noticed him glancing over at me. Was he checking me out? I glanced back. His gym shorts were riding up a little bit, revealing tan legs that were absolutely chiseled with muscle. They were like blocks of stone, all hard lines and edges.
“Are the guys you date intimidated about dating a professional bodyguard?” he asked while we sat at a red light.
“Nope.”
He smirked over at me. “Come on. Not even a little bit?”
For a moment—a verybriefmoment—I considered telling him the truth. That I’d been in a long-term relationship up until he dumped me last Christmas for a young actress bitch who was barely old enough to drink. That I hadn’t tried dating at all in the eight months since then, because I hadn’t had a first date inyearsand had no idea where to start. Telling him all of this would have been a good way to break the ice after our iffy first meeting.
Instead, the familiar lie came to my lips. “They’re not intimidated because I don’t date guys. I date women.”
“Oh.” Luke cleared his throat. “Okay. That’s really cool. Or, like, not cool. It’s normal. I wouldn’t judge you for that or anything. I actually grew up with—”
“Thanks for your permission,” I said dryly. “But you don’t need to make this more awkward than it already is.”
He shrugged, and we drove the rest of the way in uncomfortable silence.
Luke pulled into the parking garage of the Obsidian Apartments and parked on the third level. After popping the trunk, he insisted on carrying my suitcase for me. “I can handle it.”
“I insist.”
Fine. Whatever. If you want a masculine show of strength, knock yourself out.
As we walked through the garage to the elevator, I noticed Luke had slowed down and began glancing around. Especially when we walked by a huge cement pillar. That’s when it dawned on me.
“This is where it happened, isn’t it?”
He stopped and pointed. “Guy popped out from those two cars. Never saw him.”
I walked up and gave him a reassuring pat on the back. “I’m on the clock from this point forward. I’ll go first.”
I led the way, glancing to the left and the right. It was doubtful that he would get attacked the same way twice, but being a bodyguard was as much about making peoplefeelsafe as it was about actually protecting them. Peace of mind was just as important as peace of body.
But after a few yards, Luke quickly walked ahead of me, gently shoving me aside in passing. “I don’t need you to go first. I’m fine.”
I shrugged. “Just doing my job.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t ask you to do this job. Okay?”
His defensiveness didn’t surprise me. Getting attacked did a lot to shatter someone’s confidence, especially a big guy who had never had a reason to feel unsafe in his life.
But you don’t need to be a dick about it.
His third-floor apartment was nice, but modest. Especially compared to Kaylyn’s million dollar Pasadena condo. A middle-class office worker could have lived here rather than a professional football player. As I walked inside, my brain automatically made a security assessment. There was one entrance, at the end of a long hallway. Far from the elevator and stairs. His apartment had a lot of windows, but none of them looked like they opened far enough for someone to slip inside, even if they managed to Spider-Man their way up to the third floor. He did have a balcony, though. I would need to make sure the security bar was in place whenever he was inside.
Overall, an easy place to defend.
“Nice place,” I told him. “Clean.”
He shrugged. “I haven’t lived here long enough to dirty the place up. The guest bedroom is this way.”
