Chapter Nine
Luna
We were back at it the next day with a book signing in Austin. This one was bigger. It was more of a small convention with a half dozen authors in the hotel’s ballroom. The place was packed, although it had quickly become my norm over the past few days.
I hadn’t asked Hayes about what the influencer had been digging at during the interview yesterday. Whatever it was had made the vein in the side of his neck bulge.
“Can I get a picture with you?” the first fan at the table asked.
“Of course.” I smiled for the selfie with her and then signed a copy of my latest book.
She took the book and held it to her chest. “Can I get a picture with the book boyfriend?”
I hesitated and looked at Hayes. “I’m a bodyguard first and a book boyfriend second. I can’t pose for pictures when I’m on duty.”
The woman seemed fine with that response and walked away with her new book.
“That was a diplomatic answer,” I said quietly to Hayes.
“I can be charming when I need to be.”
If he was charming, I hadn’t seen it. But that hadn’t stopped me from wanting him.
I fell into the familiar rhythm of signing books, taking pictures, and chatting with fans. The lineup was steady right up until the event started to wind down.
After the last person left my table, I stood and stretched my back. The adrenaline of the big event had long since worn off, and I was hungry and stiff.
Then a commotion came from the emergency exits off the main ballroom. A shout I couldn’t make out, what sounded like the scrambling of feet, and a loud bang.
I froze.
Before my brain could catch up, Hayes was already moving, his actions swift and decisive.
One second, I was standing, and the next, his arm was around me, pulling me down behind the table I’d just been sitting at.
My breath hitched, and my palms lay flat against the carpet as his weight pressed close, shielding me.
From what, I had no idea, but my heart rate kicked up anyway.
A shrill alarm screeched through the space, then was silent.
There was a gun in his hand. I didn’t even see where it came from.
“Stay down,” he whispered, voice low and steady. His eyes met mine for half a heartbeat before he turned away, positioning himself between me and whatever was out there.
My heart hammered so hard it hurt. The floor was cold beneath my knees, the air thick with an anticipatory silence.
“What’s happening?” I whispered.
“I don’t know yet but I’ll protect you,” Hayes murmured. “Just stay quiet.”
His tone left no room for argument, and for once, I had no intention of ignoring his rules. I might tease him about sleep schedules and my caffeine intake, but when his voice dropped like that, the rest of the world narrowed down to one truth: listen to Hayes.
I swallowed hard, muscles rigid for whatever would come next. All I could hear was my own breathing. Someone whispered, Probably nothing but I wouldn’t believe it until I heard it from Hayes. Then another sound. Metal on concrete, a hard sound that made me flinch.
Hayes didn’t move. Every muscle in his body was coiled, waiting. His hand hovered near me, not touching but close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off him. The air between us was tight. Fear and something else I had no name for.
My lips parted to say his name, but before I could, he shifted. The tension in his shoulders eased.
Then, as quickly as it started, he rose to his feet, scanning the room. He reached down, hauling me up but keeping me tucked tight against his side.
A security guard appeared near the emergency exit, breathless. “Sorry, folks, there was an issue in the alley out back, and the door alarm got tripped.”
“What the hell was the bang sound, then?” I said, looking at Hayes.
“Door hitting the wall when it opened, probably.”
I let out a breath and slumped against his side. I didn’t care what it looked like if someone took a photo right now. That had freaked me out.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, just, I thought something awful was really happening.”
He nodded. “Hard to be sure in the moment.”
“Thanks for reacting so fast. I just kinda froze.”
“It’s my job.”
I nodded, still clinging to his side. He didn’t seem in any rush to push me away. “Come on, let’s go to the hotel.”
******
Back in our room, the scene that had played out at the convention went through my head on a loop. Whatever adrenaline had been pumping through my veins was long gone, leaving me shaking and buzzing at the same time.
Hayes had talked to security and gotten the rest of the story.
It was nothing. A few people were fighting behind the building, and the security guard went out the door to stop them. The door had banged against the wall, and someone had been knocked into a dumpster. There was yelling and shuffling of feet.
It was a loud noise and nothing more.
Through it all, Hayes had been as steady as a rock. I don’t know what I would have done if he hadn’t been there even though the danger wasn’t real.
“You sure you’re okay?”
I nodded. “I just need to escape into some writing, but do you think…?”
“What?”
“Can you stay in my room with me for a bit? Or leave the door between our rooms open.”
“I’ll stay,” he said, grabbing his laptop and sitting down on the bed. He leaned against the headboard and crossed one ankle over the other. I did the same and started writing.
“What is a good descriptor word for red? Cherry? Lipstick?” I asked a while later, my brain not wanting to cooperate.
“My truck is candy apple red,” he said without looking up.
“Oh, blood.”
“Blood red? Isn’t that kind of morbid for a romance novel?” he asked.
“No blood on your arm.”
He turned his arm around to reveal a small gash across his forearm. “Huh, must have happened in the panic at the hall. Scraped it on a table or something.”
I stared at him.
“Luna, it’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. You had to run to me because I froze, and you got hurt. Let me clean it up for you.”
“Luna—”
“Please, Hayes.”
He blew out a breath and nodded.
I retreated to the bathroom to find what first-aid supplies we had, and when I came back, he was sitting at the table by the window.
I knelt in front of him to examine the cut. It was deeper than it had first looked. “How did you not feel this?”
He shrugged. “I was focused on keeping you safe.”
My heart constricted in my chest, and I gently turned his arm so I could see better. His skin was warm under my fingertips. “I’m sorry, Hayes.”
“You don’t have to apologize, Luna. This kind of thing happens. I’ve been shot, stabbed, punched—”
“But this one was my fault.” I took a cotton ball and dipped it in antiseptic, then dabbed it over the cut.
He hissed through his teeth, and I blew gently on the cut to ease the sting.
“You can’t be perfect all the time,” he said.
“Why not? You seem to be,” I countered.
His breath came sharp through his nose. “Not always.”
I glanced up from where I was cleaning his arm. “I have a hard time believing that.”
He hesitated, jaw flexing. “When I was first starting in private security, I was at this event, guarding a rich tech founder and his wife. I’d done all the prep, background checks, building layout, and crowd vetting. Should’ve been an easy job.”
“What happened?”
“The client was stopped outside by a news crew on our way in. We both know what that’s like.”
I nodded with a half smile.
“This guy shows up, disgruntled ex-employee as it turns out, thought the tech guy had stolen his idea. He had come up in my research, but my intel showed him as being outside the state. Clearly my intel was wrong.” He snorted a laugh, but there was no humor in it.
“Anyway, he pulled a gun. My client took a round in the shoulder before I was able to disarm him.”
My hands stilled.
“He was okay after surgery. He forgave me for having something slip through, but he didn’t hire us again,” he said quickly. “The press was brutal. And the guilt…” He shook his head. “I can’t risk messing up like that, not again.”
“Is that why you have all the rules for me?” I asked.
He nodded. “I need to keep track of everything at once. It’s easier if things are done my way.”
I considered this. The poor guy was torturing himself over one mistake. He was wound so tight that any small problem could make him snap.
“I was terrified today,” I admitted.
He gave a low laugh that didn’t reach his eyes. “Honestly? I was, too.”
My gaze snapped up to meet his. “You were?”
He nodded once. “For you.”
The air between us shifted, loosening Hayes’ usually tight lips.
“Normally, when something happens like that, it’s all adrenaline and training. You just react.” He paused, searching for the words. “But today… the idea that you could be hurt.” He shook his head. “I didn’t like that feeling.”
“I knew you’d protect me,” I whispered.
He looked at me for a long beat. “I’m obligated to protect you,” he said finally. “But I wanted to. Needed to, maybe. I don’t even know how to explain it.”
I ran my palms up his arms, over his shoulders, and to the sides of his neck. His stubble prickled against my skin. He leaned into my touch for just a moment before pulling back.
“Luna, I can’t let myself be distracted. Not when I’m on the job.”
I didn’t take my hand away, just kneaded the tense muscles at the base of his neck. His eyes floated shut, and he let me comfort him.
“Nothing here can hurt me,” I said, before pressing my lips to the harsh line of his jaw. He let out a breath, and I continued kissing along his skin. Just before I got to his lips, I pulled back and met his eyes.
“It’s hard to do the right thing when your hands are on me,” he admitted. “I don’t know how to guard myself from you.” His words were just a murmur, then his lips were on mine.
When his resolve broke, it crumbled to dust. He was moaning as soon as his lips touched mine, teasing his tongue along the seam of my lips until I opened for him, then plunging his tongue in.
He brought his hands to my waist and pulled me to stand between his spread thighs.
I savored the taste of him, the feel of his soft lips dominating mine.
I wanted to crawl onto his lap, to straddle his thighs and let whatever this was take over.
To just do what felt right after a day when everything felt wrong.
I let my hands slide over his pecs, feeling his chest rise and fall, and how his nipples were pebbled under his tight black T-shirt. I swiped my thumb over one of the hardened buds, and he jumped, before pulling out of the kiss.
“Shit.” He shot to his feet, gently moving me away, and took a half step back. His ankle hooked on the leg of the chair, and he lost his balance for a moment before regaining it.
“Hayes, are you—”
“Yeah,” he said quickly. “I just…you need someone who can think straight around you, and that isn’t me right now.” He blew out a breath. “This book tour isn’t over, and I have a job to do.”
I nodded, trying not to take his dedication to his job as rejection. He had explained his reasoning, and it now made sense what the influencer had said during the interview. That didn’t stop me from wanting him.
“You should get some sleep,” he said, his voice coming out breathy and low.
I nodded dumbly.
“Thanks for cleaning up my arm,” he added.
I wrapped my arms around my waist. “No problem. You got cut helping me, after all.”
He stopped and looked me over. “I’d do it anytime.
” He walked to the door between our adjoining rooms and stepped through it.
He left it open like I’d asked him to. It was such a Hayes thing to do.
I started cleaning up the bandages, wondering if what had just happened would lead to a wound worse than the one on his arm.