The Alpha Bodyguards Books #4-6

Chapter One

“H e ran toward me, tail wagging, big ears flapping, and landed with his two giant paws on my chest, he was that big.” She grinned. “I was lucky I didn’t fall clear on my a—” She stopped herself. “I mean, I was lucky he didn’t knock me over.” She laughed nervously. “It was adorable. Well, if you like that sort of thing, you know, dogs. Do you like dogs?”

She was babbling.

Three in the morning, and she was still fucking talking. She hadn’t stopped talking for over six hours.

I didn’t say shit.

I didn’t have to.

She kept going.

“I mean, what’s not to like? Dogs are amazing. So yeah, I didn’t mind when he gave me a big welcoming kiss.” Holding her tablet and her phone precariously in one hand, she again went to lift another chair.

Again I stopped her. Taking the chair, stacking it on the others I’d already placed, I moved around the table and grabbed the last three chairs.

She inhaled deeply and let it out in a rush. “Well, I guess that’s it for the rental chairs.” Holding her tablet and phone against her chest, she scanned the lanai, then her gaze drifted to the bar that had been set up for her boss’s party. “Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it, but you didn’t have to stay for cleanup.” She smiled. “I’m sure that wasn’t on your list of bodyguard responsibilities.”

Personal protection , I mentally corrected her.

She waved her hand through the air as she spun in a half circle, and her wild red curls bounced around her face. “I’m just going to… do something about the remaining alcohol so my boss doesn’t have to deal with it in the morning. Then this party will officially be over and I can find another party to plan.” Her smile dropped. “And another boss, er, client.” She blew a strand of hair off her face. “But she was a really good boss. Nice, you know?”

Her current boss was a client of the personal security firm I worked for. My shift had ended over an hour ago, but for some reason I was still here, staring at the red curl that had fallen over her face for the thousandth time tonight. And her ass.

Black silk hugging her curves, she waved her hand over her shoulder. “Anyhoo, you can go. I’m sure you have much better things to do than listen to me talk your ear off. And my boss seems to be safe from whatever you and the other bodyguards were protecting her from. No one told me what happened, and it would be unprofessional of me to pry, so I’m not, I swear, but I know something happened. Or, at least I think it did. Anyway, whatever it was, it seems fine now, so you can go.” She corralled three bottles of booze from the bar in the arm that wasn’t holding her tablet and phone and brought them to her chest like she was going to lift them all at once. “I’ll just take these into the kitchen where the catering company can pick them up tomorrow. Thanks again for your help.”

I saw the accident waiting to happen a mile away.

Fortunately, I wasn’t a mile away. I was two strides, and I took them.

I reached her as the middle bottle slipped from her grasp, and I caught it.

She laughed. “Wow. You’re like a ninja. I think that’s the fifth time tonight you’ve saved me from dropping something.”

Eleventh.

I took the other two bottles from her, and she reached for three more.

“Seriously.” She swept her arm around her haul. “You don’t have to help. I got this.” Her phone slipped out of her grasp. “Oh!”

I caught her phone, but then I lost my patience. “Enough.” I took her tablet and shoved the bottles away from her.

Her eyes went wide, and she blinked. “Oh. Oh wow.”

I put my hand on her shoulder and steered her toward a stool in front of the bar. “Sit.” I tossed her tablet and phone on the bar and grabbed a glass and the whiskey.

Her ass landed on the stool. “That’s the first time you’ve spoken to me in… hours .”

I poured a double and shoved the tumbler toward her. “Drink.”

She blinked again. “But I don’t drink alcohol.”

“Start.”

“Ohh-kay.” She drew the word out, picking up the glass.

Except she didn’t drink. She looked up at me like she’d been looking at me all night—with big, hazel doe eyes, and the single thought I’d been trying to avoid since I first laid eyes on her came back in spades.

Her, submitting.

Under me, over me, on her knees, I didn’t care. I’d imagined a hundred ways to take her, and all of them involved the same thing. Dominating the fuck out of her nervous energy and innocence.

She swirled the glass in a move that I was sure wasn’t practiced for seduction, but was merely because she didn’t sit still. “Any particular reason for the drink?”

“Pick one.” There were dozens.

She was a hot mess.

She never shut up.

Her hair was everywhere.

She dropped everything.

Her black dress was too tight.

She smiled too much, and she was innocent to the point of na?ve. But I wanted to fuck her more than any woman I’d ever laid eyes on.

“Okay.” She smiled wide. “How about to new friends?”

“I’m not your friend.” Friends didn’t have the thoughts I was having.

Hurt filtered across her features before she masked it. “Oh.” She shifted on the stool, and her foot slipped from the footrest. “Oops.” She righted herself with a shy smile. “Well, how about to scotch with a stranger?”

“It’s whiskey.”

She dropped her gaze and her voice. “Right.” Bringing the glass to her lips, she tentatively took a sip. Her face scrunched up, and she put the glass down. “Yeah, so, that’s why I don’t drink. I mean, I’ve tried it.” She half laughed. “Believe me, in my line of work, I’ve tried all kinds of alcohol. But nope, not for me. Not this girl. I’m just not cut out for the finer things in life I guess. Cheap date and all that.” Her hand flew to her mouth as she looked up at me. “Oh! Not that I was implying this was a date or anything remotely close to it. I mean, I get it. You….” Her gaze dropped to my chest, and she waved her hand. “I mean, you, you can—” She blew out a breath. “Yeah. Not a date. Not with me.” She shook her head, and a sad smile touched her full lips. “Not with me,” she repeated.

Christ. “What do you drink?”

Her head cocked, but her body stilled. “What?”

“Drink?”

“Oh. My favorite drink?” She blushed. “It’s lemonade.”

Lemonade .

I’d killed a man earlier that night in defense of her boss, and she wanted lemonade.