Chapter 20 #2
Instantly, Kai had both of his hands sealed over his lips, his body heaving. From behind his hands, he muttered, “I’ve never seen someone get shot.”
I rolled my eyes and looked at Sloane. “Can you take care of this?” I asked, hitting my foot to the side of the dead guy .
She sighed and dragged him down the stairs—loudly and carelessly—to settle him in the basement.
At the same time, Lena made a call to the cleaners to come and take care of him.
Once Sloane returned, I turned to Lena, who sat on her chair, one leg crossing over another, sending some message on her phone.
Dominic quietly talked to Sophie, his arm rubbing soothing circles on her back. She was clearly shaken and blamed herself for the entire debacle. She was worried that she’d now put her brother’s life in danger as well, and that he should be moving to their parents’ place.
Having heard enough of their conversation, I cleared my throat and sat cross-legged on the now-empty table, meeting everyone’s eyes and then landing on Sophie.
“Nothing will happen to your brother. I’ll make sure of it.
I’ll be his bodyguard until we find the person who put a hit on both of you and deal with them. ”
“Sounds perfect,” Lena said.
“Makes sense,” said Tara.
“Thank you, Samaira,” Sophie chimed in.
At the same time, Dominic shot to his feet, his eyes fuming. “Absolutely not. I should be the one protecting you two. I can protect myself.”
I raised my eyebrows at him as my four best friends scoffed, which only resulted in him clutching his hair, his eyes blazing.
“I don’t have eyes in the back of my head.
I also didn’t have any idea that there was a hit on us.
Now that I know, clearly, I’ll be hiring a team of bodyguards for all of us. ”
He looked right at me, his jaw clenched tight. “Like I told you a few minutes ago, you will not put yourself in danger to protect me.”
I crossed my arms at my chest and stared him down, fury coursing through my body. “And like I told you a few seconds after that, danger would have to get through me first before it ever touches you. I will be the one taking care of your safety. Not some random, incompetent team of men.”
“Absolutely not, Samaira. That’s not happening.”
“You know I would be the best person to protect you.”
His eyes were wild as he looked at all the women gathered around the table, who were looking back and forth between us. “Are you all not hearing this? You cannot possibly think it’s a good idea.”
Lena raised her eyebrows. “You know she’s the best fighter we have. She’s lethal. She’s powerful. There’s no one else I would trust to keep you safe. Seems completely logical to me.”
Tara’s lips tugged in a smile. “She’s also been in far more dangerous situations than being a bodyguard to a billionaire who spends the majority of the day in his office, working behind a desk. I’d say she’s slacking off here.”
Dominic’s face was turning redder by the minute. He turned to Sophie for support. “Tell me you think it’s a crazy idea. I can hire a whole team of bodyguards.”
Sophie bit her lip, her gaze moving from him to me and back at him. “Dominic, just from what happened today, I trust Samaira with your life. With my life. I don’t think anybody else would protect you as well and with as much care as Samaira.”
My heart fluttered in my chest as my cheeks turned hotter at the way Sophie implied that I cared for Dominic.
Of course, I cared. But a proud feeling burst in my chest knowing that his sister saw it and that she seemed to like having me by Dominic’s side.
I gave her a warm, reassuring smile, appreciating her unspoken support.
Dominic paced the room, his fingers clutching the bridge of his nose. “Samaira, baby, if you become my bodyguard, I’d be constantly worried about any threat coming your way. I know I’d jump in front of a bullet rather than risk having it touch you. You’re not getting shot under my watch.”
His words landed on my chest like physical blows. Deep in my mind, I knew he trusted me to protect him. He believed me to be strong, and he was only saying this because he cared about me. But his doubt about my ability to keep us both safe felt like a slap in the face.
This was why I could never date a man like Dominic.
If he couldn’t trust me with something like this, how would he handle me being out for bigger, more dangerous missions?
My life was the Wildcats. And if push came to shove, I would always choose Wildcats.
I would always fight for women. If Dominic couldn’t let me protect him , how would he ever let me protect other people?
He had to get over it if we had any chance of being together. “How about we fight it out? If you beat me in even one round out of five, I’ll let you hire a team. You fail, you accept me as your bodyguard.”
All the women chimed in with their support, along the lines of "Seems fair," "Sounds good to me," and "This is the only way to solve it."
Dominic stood leaning against the table where I sat. His hands were on his hips, his hair was completely disheveled, and he looked hot as fuck. His eyes were tight with worry and frustration, and it only fueled my anger at him. How dare he feel so conflicted about letting me protect him.
When I kept glaring at him in a challenge, he gritted out, “You’re hurt. You just got grazed by a bullet.”
I raised my eyebrows. “It’s an advantage you desperately need, baby .” My baby was condescending as fuck.
His eyes narrowed. “Fine. If I win a single round, you’ll listen to me.”
Oh, I’ll show him. I looked around at my girls to find half of them hiding their smiles behind their fists, while the other half were outright grinning at Dominic’s misplaced confidence.
“Let’s go, pretty boy.” I jumped down from the table, pointing outside.
“What, here?” Dominic frowned. “I thought we’d go to the ring at Thunder Claw. ”
I gave him the most patronizing smile I could muster. “You afraid the ground would hit your back too hard?”
Kai snorted as the Wildcats tried—and spectacularly failed—to hide their snickers.
“Let’s go, Tigress,” he growled. Walking around the table, he started to unbutton his shirt.
Dominic led the way, walking out of the house. I turned to the girls, a challenging grin on my face. “Five minutes. Bet on it. If it takes longer, I'll give you all my milkshakes.”
Sloane cheered. “Let’s go. Things are finally getting interesting.”
When we walked out of the house, Dominic was wearing a white undershirt, which showed the outline of his abs.
His golden skin was glistening in the morning sun, and his arms were looking jacked.
My body wanted to pull that undershirt up and lick those abs, but my mind was ready to slam him to the ground. Repeatedly.
I tied my hair in a high ponytail as I walked up to him. Lena stood between us, a whistle in her hand, becoming our referee.
We took our stances and waited for Lena’s sign to begin.
The moment the shrill sound of the whistle came, I flew toward Dominic before he could even raise his hands in a blocking stance.
With a sharp kick to his knee, causing him to buckle, I picked him up and slammed him on his front.
Before he could brace for impact, his face licked the ground.
Capturing both his hands under my knees as I dug them into his back, I wrapped my arm around his throat.
He was completely immobilized. I held him in position for the next few seconds.
“Did I forget to tell you, baby ? I was being very easy on you the last time because I like your pretty face.”
I let him go at Lena’s whistle, his breath coming in deep pants as he took in gulps of air.
“Let’s go, Dominic. We don’t have all day.” I got into position as Dominic stood, his body coiled in anger, ready to strike.
I gave him a wink.
With the next whistle, Dominic was ready to block.
But you didn’t win by blocking. You won by attacking.
By faking and attacking and catching your prey by surprise.
I slammed him on the ground once again, my legs wrapping themselves around his throat, as I grabbed his legs with my arm, curving his spine backward, and once again, immobilizing him.
His hands tapped the ground, and I let him go.
The next three times went pretty much the same way, and I became Dominic Park’s bodyguard in four minutes and thirty-five seconds.
Dominic didn’t look as defeated as he should have.
His chest heaved, and rivulets of sweat glided down his abs, mixing with the sand sticking to his skin.
His eyes were dark, and he had a euphoric smile on his face, blood dripping from the corner of his lips as we stood across from each other.
I could feel the eyes of the women around me, but I ignored them all.
I walked up to him, held the side of his throat, and wiped his blood with my thumb. “Say hi to your new bodyguard, Dominic.”
His eyes were dark pools of lust that had blood roaring through my veins for entirely different reasons. “Hi, baby.” His voice washed across my skin like threads of silk wrapping around me in a sinful embrace.
“I can’t watch this.” Sophie’s voice penetrated my senses from somewhere far away. “Me neither,” Kai added.
There was a shuffling sound as my eyes stayed glued to Dominic’s, and we were completely alone.
I pulled him closer by the back of his neck and bit his lip hard, causing him to hiss out a breath. “If you ever doubt my strength, my ability to keep us both safe, you will lose all the respect I have for you. And I don’t work with people I don’t respect, let alone fuck. Are we clear?”
He pulled me closer to him by my waist, his large hand sending warmth through my skin as I felt his cock throbbing against my hip. “I never doubted your ability, and you know it. I just worry because I care about you.”