AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I pushed my salad around, looking for a candied pecan. My feelings for them were clear inside my heart, but speaking them out loud was a whole different story. I’d liked Harrison right away with his warmth and smile. And the way he kissed, like I was the only woman in the world, made me weak-kneed, even sitting down.
Cody had been harder for me to get used to, but I liked his intensity. It was a lot when it was focused on me, but his kindness and dry sense of humor made me warm to him quickly. And he was very, very good with his hands.
But I’d met a lot of men, and many of them had been interested in me. Men with a lot of the same qualities as what they had. None of them had held my attention or made me feel as comfortable as Harrison and Cody did. So often, I felt like men were into me because of my family name. They either wanted my money or my status, and sometimes, I didn’t figure it out until I’d gone out on a date with them.
They were special—all three of them were, though I wasn’t sure how Ethan felt about me.
“I think it’s because they’re genuine,” I said. “I don’t feel like they’re trying to get closer to my inheritance or anything. They like me for me and actuallylisten. They don’t assume I’m some airhead.”
Troy nodded, holding the tines of his fork between his lips. “I get that. A lot of those assholes you went to college with were the worst. But they’re your bodyguards, Tay.”
“I know.” I sighed, putting my fork down and reaching for one of the huge white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies I’d ordered. “But I pay them, so—”
“So that’s why it’s kind of a problem.” His eyes softened. “You’re paying them. You’re their boss. And they’re supposed to keep you safe from all those weirdos and creeps out there.”
“They do. They’re really good at it.” I’d never felt safer, especially after they’d moved in here. Even with the creepy DMs and letters that they’d told me I’d gotten. The messages mentioned that man’s attempt to deliver a “package” to me, so they assumed he was the one sending them. So far, they hadn’t been able to trace him, either through the letters or messages.
But I was confident that they would. Until then, they were going to keep me safe.
“I know they’re good. That’s why they were recommended to me,” Troy said. “But love and lust complicate things. You don’t want them to get too distracted to do their jobs.”
I popped part of my cookie into my mouth. Would being with me distract them from saving me? I wasn’t sure. But I did know that I wanted to keep the relationship going, no matter how it ultimately panned out or what Troy thought.
I was more than capable of deciding who I wanted to be with, especially when it came to such intense feelings like this. I was going to trust my instincts, wherever they took me. I didn’t need to rush—I just needed to let things go.
CHAPTER13
Ethan
Shopping wasn’t my favorite activity by any means, but shopping with Taylor was a different story. I’d begun to enjoy even the most mundane things with her, from going to coffee shops to picking up some ice cream from the shop around the corner. Her upbeat attitude was contagious, not that I showed how much she affected me.
I wasn’t a lovesick teenager. I was just a man in his thirties who had an unhealthy attraction to the woman he was being paid to guard. Great.
“I’m ready to head out,” Taylor said to me, smiling. “Sorry in advance for all the waffling back and forth I’m going to do.”
“It’s fine, Miss Bailey.” I gestured for her to go ahead of me. Cody and Harrison were waiting downstairs in the car to whisk her off to some shops down in Soho. “You have the right to shop however you’d like to.”
She walked ahead of me, her glossy dark ponytail swishing back and forth. Thankfully, her coat covered her up. She had the habit of wearing pants and leggings that made it hard to focus on anything but her ass. My heart skipped a few beats. Was this shopping trip going to be like the swimsuit incident that had led Harrison to break down and go down on her? Filled with temptation and mental games to keep my cock out of the forefront of my head?
I took a deep breath and let it out of my nose, focusing on the back of her head. I hoped it would not be that tempting. I had no idea how Harrison was surviving living with her. Cody, too. Unless they hadn’t kept their hands to themselves. I’d left them all alone, but I hadn’t come home to anything untoward.
I got in the backseat after Taylor, and Cody drove us to the shops. He and Harrison dropped us off on a side street that wasn’t overwhelmed with tourists and idled. I followed Taylor closely into the first boutique, which we’d contacted before we came to ensure it was secure. It was a tiny shop with very few clothes that were absurdly expensive.
“Good morning,” the man working at the shop said with a smile. “Can we help you with anything in particular?”
“Not really, but thank you.” Taylor smiled. “Just looking around.”
“Please let us know if you’d like any assistance.” The man hung back, shooting me a nervous glance.
Good. People being visibly intimidated by me made my job much easier—they weren’t going to try anything that could bother Taylor. This shop was secure, with one entrance in the front and an employee entrance in the back, so I was able to relax a little bit, too.
I watched Taylor wander around the tiny shop, running her fingers over the hangers. We still weren’t chatty the way she was with Harrison and Cody, but she was clearly much more comfortable with me. She didn’t look back over her shoulder at me every other minute, as if I was the one who wanted to abduct her.
“Ooh,” she said under her breath. She held up a complicated-looking dress with beading all over it. “I love this. What do you think?”
“What do I think?” I repeated, my cheeks heating up. “I… don’t know. It’s a dress, right?”
“A top.” She straightened it out and held it to her body, then snorted. “Wait, a dress. A very short one.”
