Obsessed Bodyguard (Lone Star Security Romance #2)

Chapter 1

LONDON

This was a bad idea.

I look out the front window of the car into the darkness. The only light is coming from the headlights, and I’ve never been to this part of Valor Springs. I look at the boy sitting next to me.

I’ve seen him around the rodeo circuit, and he’s been asking me out for months.

He looks at me with a smirk on his face, and there’s no doubt he thinks he’s about to get lucky. I’m a damn fool. And it’s all Dillon Carson’s fault.

Ever since Dillon was hired to be my bodyguard, I’ve been doing crazy things, acting reckless and getting myself into one pickle after another.

“Mitch, where are we going?”

He wiggles his eyebrows at me. “Makeout point… I mean, Lookout Point.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Mitch, I said we could talk. You could take me to get a coffee. I didn’t say I wanted to go to Lookout Point with you.”

I wait for him to say he’ll turn around or apologize, but he does none of those things. “Look, we’re almost there.”

I scoot closer to the door, away from him. Turning in my seat, I look out the rear window of the truck, hoping to see lights following us, but there’s nothing. Just blackness.

I put my finger at my neck, playing with the gold charm. Dillon gave it to me as a gift, but I’m not a fool. I know it’s his way of tracking my every move. This is our little game. Well, I know it’s a game. He thinks I’m just being an irresponsible kid, even if I’m twenty-three years old.

I don’t know why I do it, but I do know that he never, ever touches me unless he has to chase me. Then, and only then, does he seem to let his guard down and let me see what he tries to hide behind his eyes. He wants me. He may not want me to know it, but he does.

I don’t even have to close my eyes to picture Dillon Carson in my head. He’s tall, strong, handsome, and he always has a stoic expression on his face. Except when he’s tracking me.

I glare over at Mitch. “I’m telling you right now, Mitch, stop the car.”

He hits the brakes and slams the gear into park. “Fine, I stopped the car.”

I look around, and besides a few stars in the sky, there’s nothing.

“Take me back to town.”

He laughs. “Now why would I do that? We just got here.”

He starts to slide toward me, and I put both hands up, trying to stall. “Stop. Let’s talk.”

He blurts out a laugh like us talking is ridiculous. “You wanna talk, talk. I have other things in mind.”

He keeps coming closer, and I reach for the door. I’m almost out when I’m yanked back inside and pressed up against Mitch’s body. The only other man that has held me tight like this is Dillon Carson, and this feels nothing like that.

I take a deep breath, trying not to panic. “Mitch, wait, please. I can’t… I don’t want to…”

He kisses my neck, and for just a second, I forget to breathe.

And then I snap out of it. I jab him in the throat, just like Dillon taught me, and then I’m scrambling to get out of the truck.

He follows behind me, hissing in breaths.

I try to run around the truck, but he grabs my hair and pulls me backward.

I turn, and without thinking about it, I lift my knee and hit him between the legs.

He doubles over, screaming, but I don’t wait another second. I take off running but only get a few steps when lights glare in front of me. Oh, thank God.

I can barely make it out, but as it comes closer, I see that it’s the ranch truck. I know it’s Dillon.

He gets out, and his mouth drops. He looks at the ripped shoulder of my shirt and my wide, scared eyes, and his face twists in anger.

I’m shaking my head, my arms wrapped around me. “I’m sorry… I’m so—”

He doesn’t let me finish. He lifts me up into his arms and walks around to the side of the truck. He opens it and puts me in. I can feel the anger coming off him in waves, but he’s so gentle with me it makes me want to cry.

“Did he…?” he asks, his voice strangled and filled with emotion.

I shake my head. “No, I hit him like you taught me.”

He nods. “Good girl.”

He shuts the door and leans in the open window. “Stay right here. I’ll be back.”

I cover his hand with mine. “No, just forget it. Take me home, Dillon. Please?”

He forces a smile onto his face. “I’ll just be a minute… I promise.”

I have my hand on his, and he could easily walk away, but he stays put, looking at me, waiting.

I shake my head. “Don’t kill him. I don’t want you to go to jail and leave me.”

With a huff, I lift my hand from his. He pulls away slowly. “Honey, I won’t kill him. But he’s probably going to wish he was dead.”

I watch him walk away, and I make myself a promise. I can’t keep this up. I want him to chase me. Heck, I want him to claim me, but there has to be another way.

I watch as Dillon drags Mitch to the front of his car. I hear Mitch’s screams, and I can’t watch.

It’s only a few minutes before Dillon is walking back to the truck. He’s barely broken a sweat, his breathing is normal, and the only way I can see that he’s on edge is the tick in his jaw.

“I’m sorry,” I start.

He grips the steering wheel, and he’s gruff again, void of all emotion. “This isn’t your fault.”

I look out the window as Dillon turns the truck around and starts driving us home. I confess in a hushed whisper, “It is sort of my fault.”

He spits out the words. “No means no, London. If you changed your mind or whatever, nothing else matters. No means no.”

I turn in my seat and look at Dillon. He’s angry even if he’s not directing his anger at me. “I didn’t change my mind. I led him on. I told him I wanted to go get coffee with him, but it was a lie… I just…”

He turns off the gravel road onto the main road that leads to my house, and it’s then, from the glare of the streetlights that I see the blood on his knuckles. I unbuckle my seat belt and slide across the middle seat. “Oh my God, Dillon. You’re hurt.”

He tenses as soon as I touch him, and I have to swallow back my concern. Slowly, I move back to my seat, and there is a tense, awkward silence that hangs in the air.

We’re almost to my house when he asks, “What did you mean back there? Why did you go out with him if you didn’t want to?”

I shrug, embarrassed.

He pulls into my long driveway. My family’s ranch is on one side of the driveway, and mine is on the other. I bought the land when I won my first national title at eighteen.

“London… answer me. Why would you tell him you would go out with him if you didn’t want to? Did he pressure you, threaten you in some way?”

I gasp. Damn, he’s going to think Mitch forced this on me, and then Dillon’s going to go back and finish the job.

I hold my breath as he pulls up in front of my house and puts the truck into park.

I blow out a harsh breath and look out the window.

There’s no way I can look at him and make my confession.

“Because… because I like it when you come after me. For just a second, I let myself believe that you want me. Not because you’re hired to protect me but because you want me. ”

I blurt it out in a quick ramble and then open the door and practically run from the truck. My face is hot with embarrassment, and I know I’ve made a fool of myself. I unlock my door and go straight to my bedroom, determined to hide the rest of the night… if not the rest of my life.