The Alpha Bodyguards Books #1-3

Chapter Twenty-One

B ecause you’re mine .

The three words swirled low in my stomach. I’d never belonged to a man, least of all my father after my mother passed away. He had a country to run and then a new wife to tend to. He never said I wasn’t a priority, or ever made me feel less for my position in life, but I always knew I reminded him of my mother, and that was a sadness he didn’t like to revisit.

And now I had a man claiming I was his. A man I barely knew who was risking his life for mine, and who made me feel more like a woman than twenty-five years of life ever had.

I wanted to be his, more than anything. But everything was moving too fast, and I couldn’t temper the nagging seed of doubt that we were dangerously wrong about Mr. Morrows.

Before I could warn Damian again about Mr. Morrows and my doubts, he was opening the door to my office.

Collins stood just outside. “Marek and Brandt are briefed. I sent the assistant to lunch.”

Damian tossed my keys at Collins. “Copy, thanks. See you in twenty.” Taking my arm, he swiftly led us to the back entrance of my gallery.

I glanced behind us. “He sent Harrison home?”

“Trust me,” he said absently as he scanned the back parking lot. “Better for all involved.”

“Better how?”

He didn’t answer. A Jeep with the top down barreled into the small lot and pulled up beside us. Two men, one dark haired, one light haired, both formidable, both wearing sunglasses, looked first at Damian then me.

The lighter-haired man in the passenger seat hopped out and came to the opposite side of me as Damian.

Without breaking stride, Damian led us to the passenger side of the Escalade. “Jared Brandt, Calandra Spiros.”

“Mr. Brandt,” I acknowledged.

A barely concealed gun tucked into his back waistband, the austere lighter-haired man nodded at me, but he didn’t speak. Damian helped me into the SUV and shut the door. The man he’d called Jared got back in the Jeep.

Damian slid behind the wheel, and I had to admit, I held my breath when he turned the engine over.

As if sensing my unease, he grasped my thigh as he backed out of the lot with only one hand on the wheel. “That’ll go away once we catch him.”

I glanced at the Jeep behind us with two men I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. “What will?”

“Holding your breath every time you start a car.”

I nodded because I didn’t know what to say. The nagging feeling that we were wrong about Mr. Morrows grew bigger with every breath.

“Talk to me.” He rubbed his huge hand over my thigh. “What’s on your mind?”

Besides the fact that he seemed almost blasé about everything that was about to happen? “I don’t think it’s him.”

He grasped my hand and brought it to his mouth, brushing his lips across my knuckles. “We’ll find out one way or another. But in the meantime, you’ll be safe with Dane and Jared until I get back.” He put my hand back in my lap.

“I think I should be there when you question him.” I had only met Mr. Morrows a couple of times, but I knew him better than Damian.

“Not happening.” He pulled into busy Miami Beach traffic, and his cell phone rang. He answered it through the speaker system in the SUV. “Tyler.”

“It’s Sawyer. Take me off speaker.”

Damian hit a button on the dash and pulled his phone out, holding it to his ear. “What’d you find?” His face turned into an impenetrable mask as he listened without comment for a minute. “Copy.” He hung up, but he didn’t say anything.

I couldn’t take the suspense. “What’s happening?”

Damian absently scratched his chin before answering. “No explosives and no devices that could be used for a car bomb were found at his residence. There were no burner phones, nothing suspicious, but there was one thing.” He glanced at me. “Stationery.”

I inhaled sharply.

“Did you happen to notice a scent on the stationery?”

Oh God. Was Mr. Morrows the one stalking me? “Scent?”

“Brine or salt air?”

“I live on the intracoastal.” Everything smelled briny. The water was brackish, half fresh water, half ocean water, and my house was less than a quarter mile as a crow flies from the ocean. Coastal breezes were a way of life.

He nodded once as he turned onto my street, but he didn’t comment.

We were both quiet as he pulled up to my security gate and I opened it from the app on my cell phone. Damian drove through and parked behind a brand-new Jaguar with my salesman standing next it as Nikolas gesticulated wildly at him.

Without realizing it, I sighed.

Damian cut the engine, but grabbed my hand. “Everything’s gonna be okay.”

He didn’t know that, but I thanked him anyway because I didn’t know what else to say. “Thank you.” I glanced at Nikolas who was still talking at my salesman.

Damian leaned back in his seat and looked at me. “Seriously?”

“What?” I needed to rescue my poor salesman .

“You don’t trust me.”

My hands stilled, and I looked at him. Even incredulous, he was so handsome. “I don’t know you.” The words came out before I could stop them. I didn’t mean it as inflammatory, simply as fact, but once I’d said it, I wondered if I was subconsciously trying to put a little distance between us.

Still feeling the remnants of him between my legs, a desire I never knew I’d had still coursing through my body, my core properly stretched and well-used—I wanted to forget everything and crawl into the nearest bed with him. And that wasn’t behavior fitting of princess. Not even a bastard princess.

His expression didn’t change, his tone didn’t waver, but the air between us suddenly was so tense, I couldn’t breathe.

“That’s a loaded statement, Princess.”

“You’re back to calling me Princess.” I didn’t mean it in a good way.

He stared at me a moment. “I’m on a time constraint. You’re going in to the house with Marek and Brandt. Get something to eat, have a bath, and I’ll be back soon. We’ll talk then.” He opened his door.

“A bath?” I accused. “A man is stalking me, trying to kill me, and you want me to take a bath ?” With every word, my voice pitched higher, and a temper I controlled my whole life unleashed. “You do not get to tell me what to do!” I reached for my door.

His door slammed shut at the same time he reached across me, gripped my door and prevented me from opening it.

“Let go!” I ordered.

Holding my door, gripping my chin with his other hand, he leaned into me. His mouth an inch from my lips, he growled out a command. “Take a breath.”

“You take a breath!” High pitched and loud, I yelled, yelled at him. And it was as if the act unleashed a torrent and more yelling came rushing out. “You take a bath! You take a breath!”

Letting go of the car door, he gripped my face with both hands. “Calandra— ”

“Don’t you Calandra me!”

He smiled.

The arrogant, infuriating, bastard smiled . “Don’t you dare smile at me.”

His expression turned grave, and he held me tighter. “I told you to take a bath because it will ease the soreness, sweetheart. That’s all.”

Oh.

Oh .

Taking a breath, trying to bring it down a notch, I dropped my gaze. “I didn’t know.”

“I’m getting that.”

“You have more experience with this than I do,” I admitted.

“I know, and I love that like you wouldn’t believe.” He stroked my cheek and dropped his voice. “Look at me, beautiful.”

I didn’t look at him. “I’m ashamed I yelled.”

“Eyes on me, baby,” he commanded.

As if I were powerless to not do as he bid, I looked at him. And my traitorous heart melted all over again. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. Don’t apologize.” Quick and hard, he kissed me once. “I have to go, but I’ll be back and we’ll talk all night if you want to. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know about me. Until then, know this.” He paused, holding my gaze. “I will never lie to you. Everything I say, I mean.” His voice turned deep and rough. “Nothing has ever compared to being inside you today. Nothing .” Releasing me, he got out of the car.