Page 59 of Love Notes


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“Bodyguard service for some woman.” Just saying the words puts a sour taste in my mouth.

Morry releases a howl of laughter. “Oh no, contact with a woman. How will you survive?” She slaps me on the back. “Go shower and change. I’ll pack up your stuff.” My trainer shuffles off toward my gym bag. “Use a lot of soap. You stink.”

“Like I care.” I slam into the locker room and strip off my shorts and jock, tossing them onto the metal bench in front of the row of five lockers. I have one foot on the tile floor of the shower when it hits me. I should not shower. Definitely not. The last thing I want to do is look good or smell nice. That’s what causes problems. I should smell like a sewer and look worse. Gleefully, I back up and pull open my locker. Inside, I have a couple pairs of sweatpants and shirts. I pull on the clothes, slick back my hair and don my glasses.

I take a quick look at the polished steel plate hanging over the sink areas and decide I look grubby enough. I raise an armpit and shake my head. “Phew. Morry’s right. I do stink.”

That puts a smile on my face. I wait in the locker room until the noises in the gym quiet down. A quick peek out the door tells me that Morry has returned to her office. Good. If she catches me, she’ll force me into the shower and ruin my plans to repel this girl.

I jog over to the frat house, eager to get this chore done. The place smells like spilled beer and vomit. I don’t know why anyone wants to go to these hellscape events. I glare at the crowd, looking for the Audleys, and ignore the long-fingered hands that grab at different parts of my body. There’s more than one fleeting brush of a palm over my ass. It’s too bad I can’t body slam a girl into a door. If I did that once, I think no one would touch me again. In the next room, I spot the tall, identical heads of the Audley twins. I push a couple of hands off my chest and plow forward. By the time I reach them, there’s only one Audley left.

“I’m here,” I announce. “And you’re going to owe me at least two weeks’ worth of IT support for this. Consider it hazard pay.”

“Actually, I kind of think you’ll be paying me when you see Erika.” He steps to the side and I nearly collapse. I hear him tell me her name, but everything but her fades away.

Behind him is a tiny, doll-like girl. She looks like one of those figurines that danced in the jewelry box that sat on the dresser of my foster mom, Patty. Or maybe one of those cake toppers—sweet, edible, gorgeous. Lust like I’ve never felt surges through me, along with a huge need to protect. I hadn’t realized I could feel like this about a girl. I almost want to go back and apologize to the one woman who broke into my apartment because if she felt about me how I’m feeling about Erika, her past actions make sense. As I stare down at the crown of the dark-haired girl’s head, the only thing I can think of is how I want to lift her into my arms and carry her to some fortress where I’ll bolt the castle gates shut so that no one can get inside to see her but me.

“Tank, this is Erika. Erika, this is Tank. He’s going to walk you home.”

I’d talk, but I can’t. My tongue doesn’t work. Neither does my brain. Apparently, my legs don’t either. I’ve taken root in the ground. Erika bobs her small head.

I probably would’ve stayed like that—petrifying into a tree trunk—if a dickwad hadn’t tried to push by her without saying “excuse me.” I snap to attention, shove the guy across the room and tuck Erika under my arm.

“We’ll be going,” I inform Audley.

He grins like the smug bastard he is. “I’ll text my bill to you tomorrow.”

“Asshole,” I mutter, but without any heat because damn if he doesn’t deserve some kind of finder’s fee. Erika’s a treasure. No. Scratch that. Erika’s my treasure.

CHAPTER2

ERIKA

Tank drapeshis big arm over my shoulder as he guides me from the house. It’s not as heavy as I thought it would be, but I can only guess he’s not letting all of the weight drop onto me. Still he manages to keep me in a firm hold. The man is a human shield. He’s not physically pushing anyone out of the way because they are too close to me, but the crowd has automatically given him a wide berth. It’s like they know better and no one wants to get hurt. The crowd just divides and gives him room due to his gigantic size. Tank looks like he could launch a guy clear across a room with barely a brush. Based on the crowd’s reaction to him, it would be my guess that it’s happened before. The only thing I can do is stare up at what has to be one of the biggest men I’ve ever come face to face with.

“Big” is an understatement. I normally feel small next to most people, but now it’s almost comical. I tuck a piece of my hair back into my messy bun. I’ve always been self-conscious of my hair. It’s been thick since I was a little girl. My mom kept cutting it off until I begged her to finally let me grow it out. I always felt like a boy when it was short, and it didn’t help that I had a small build. I had no idea how hard it would be to maintain.

It finally grew into a giant mass of hair that felt like it weighed more than me at one point. I couldn't bear to cut it after having begged my mom to let it grow for so long. Lucky for me I’ve grown into it. Still, having been teased about it when I was younger, I always pull it up. Then I started dancing. Hair gets in the way when you dance, so I almost always have it in a ponytail.

I push into my massive bodyguard just a touch, thinking that he won’t notice. I want to know what his giant form feels like. I tell myself it’s because I find his body interesting. The man is built and I know he’s an athlete.You don’t find the Audley twins’ bodies interesting. My brain gives me a small reality check, but I ignore it. My heart races in my chest—the opposite of the calm, stoic look he has on his face—as I take a peek up at the man that I’m now pressed into. He smells of fresh lemons and honey. I’m not sure what I thought he would smell of, but that wasn't it. I want to push into him more and brush my nose against the simple black shirt he has on to see if it’s coming from there or if it’s him.

My stomach growls at the smell of food. Tank looks down at me. He pauses for a moment. I jerk my gaze from him, but my face flushes with heat.

“Hungry?” The one word comes out gruff and deep. I think it’s a question, but maybe he’s making fun of me.

“I could always eat,” I admit. I steal another peek at him when we start moving again and I see he’s smirking. I think it’s a smirk. His lip twitches.

“Me too,” he grunts. He sounds more like a bear than a tank. “Bear” is a more fitting nickname for him. I never understood why people give out nicknames anyway.

I don’t want to tell him that he’s going the wrong way because I know the other direction will take us closer to my home. I’m enjoying the feel of him pressed against me so much that I don’t want it to end. I decide to stop and point him in the right direction. “I’m that way,” I inform him. It’s probably for the best since he’s doing the Audley twins a solid taking me home. I don’t want him to be inconvenienced any more than he is already.

“Food?” I glance up at his stoic expression. How can someone look hard and soft all at once? He’s all severe edges and lines. His eyes are dark too. They look even darker now that we’re outside, yet they hold a softness to them when he looks at me. His features are so hard but handsome at the same time. I stare at him, trying to take all of him in. I can tell that his nose has been broken. It adds to his appeal and oddly makes him more attractive.

I let out a yelp of surprise when I stumble over my own two feet. I’ve been hanging around my best friend Liv too long. Her clumsiness is wearing off on me. I’m now pressed deeper into Tank. I grab at him to get my balance. Okay, maybe I grab a little extra because I’m curious. I only get a few seconds of exploration before he’s reaching down to right me without saying a word. He doesn’t even acknowledge my little misstep. He only shifts us and continues walking.

I fight a gasp when my mind finally puts together the simple math of where my hands had their small exploration. I realize what some of that hardness I felt was. Oh. My. God. I look anywhere but at him. My face feels hot all over again. He’s turned on and the heat is not only hitting my face. Now it moves though my body.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, making me think he can’t say more than one-syllable words. I’m not sure I want him to right now.

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