The Bodyguard’s Fall (Falling for Autumn #1)

Prologue

Two Years Earlier

Tate

The wedding was running late.

I checked my watch and pulled at the tie that was cinched too tight around my neck.

Ten minutes late shouldn’t seem like a big deal, but in a tiny Sunday school room packed with three other sweaty groomsmen in an old Vermont church with no air conditioning, it might as well have been ten days.

The white, steepled church looked nice from the outside but was a blazing inferno on the inside.

But my best friend Will's bride-to-be, Meg, had to have it.

It was the church she grew up attending, and apparently, it held a lot of memories for her.

I had decent memories of the church I grew up going to, but that was probably because there had been air conditioning.

The door opened, and Will stepped inside.

He was looking classic in a black tux. His blond hair had been combed to one side, making him look more nerdy, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him.

His face was grim, and I immediately racked my brain for something I could say to him in case his bride had just called the whole thing off.

Sweet and gentle was not something that came naturally to me.

“Sorry, guys. Kenzie, the maid of honor, has been in the bathroom, puking her guts out for the past twenty minutes. We think it’s something she ate. They were trying to see if she’d feel okay enough to still walk down the aisle, but it’s looking like a no-go.”

Then he looked at me.

“Someone’s taking Kenzie home, but Meg wanted me to move Liv to the maid of honor position, so she’ll be walking down the aisle with you.” He cocked his head to the side. “Can you handle that?”

I raised my eyebrows in question.

Will gave me a look. “You can’t pick a fight with my sister or else Meg will kill me,” he said. “Can you be nice?”

“I’m always nice.”

“I’m serious,” Will said as he adjusted his black bow tie. Other than his dorky hair, he looked sharp. Happy. Good for him.

“I’ll do my best,” I said, eyeing his tux. “I’ve just got one question. How do you like your vodka martini?”

He grinned. “Shaken, not stirred.” He fiddled with his collar while my brain processed this new information.

Liv Rawlins.

Her presence on my arm would certainly liven up my time here. We’d had a rehearsal dinner last night, but Liv wasn’t able to attend. So this would be the first time I’d seen her in a few years–and suddenly, the prospect of this meeting made the sweat worth it.

Will had always been extremely protective of his little sister, which meant that, by default, I was as well.

By the time Liv was a senior in high school and Will and I were rookies on the police force, looking out for her had become a habit.

It became funny to sit in the booth next to her and her date in a restaurant.

Or pull over her boyfriend—whom we both hated—to walk the line on occasion.

We were her watchdogs. Basically harmless, but definitely the kind of watchdogs that were always sniffing around in her business and removing her from parties or her boyfriends’ cars.

Which, as a teenager, Liv had loved. Absolutely loved.

In our defense, there had been a year of her life after her parents’ divorce when she’d needed some extra pairs of eyes looking out for her.

But deep down, I’d loved Liv like a little sister.

I was happy to tease her and just as happy to park next to her date’s car on Make-Out Ridge and flash my lights.

But it had been a few years, we’d all grown up, and no matter what I told Will, I would be nice.

“How’s my collar?” Will asked, turning around and pulling me from my thoughts.

The collar looked fine to me, but I pretended to adjust it so Will would think I’d done something useful.

“Is there any way you could get some AC running in this place?” I asked, pulling at my shirt.

Will wiped at a bead of sweat dripping from his temple. “The reception center has air conditioning. Just get through this, and don’t pick a fight with my sister.”

“What is she, twenty-five now?”

He gave me a side-eye. “Yeah.”

“So, just to be clear, you need me to walk down the aisle with your very legal, very cute sis—”

“Stop.” He gave me a warning look.

“Can you ask your photographer to do some of those poses where the whole wedding party has to kiss?”

He inserted my name next to some colorful insults, which was exactly what I was waiting for.

He had nothing to worry about, and he knew it.

We had a brotherly code of ethics. But there was something about Liv’s blonde hair, big eyes, and sassy disposition that triggered my protective instincts.

I’d just as soon rip another guy’s face off if he looked at her wrong.

I wouldn’t touch her.

But half the fun was making Will think I could.

A minute later, we were hustled out of the room by a woman in a blue dress with an earpiece and a clipboard. I was both appalled and impressed at the level of efficiency. My police department could use someone like her.

We stopped in the foyer just outside the closed double doors that led into the chapel. Bridesmaids dressed in different shades of blue came spilling out of a room across the hall.

I almost looked past her before I realized who she was.

She was laughing with another girl in a similar dress, commenting on something that apparently required animated facial expressions and hand flailing.

The other girl waved before moving toward another groomsman, leaving her standing alone. She hadn’t spotted me yet.

She had grown up.

I’d known it, but this was the first time I had really noticed.

Her dress was on the shorter end of short, hitting her somewhere mid-thigh.

That was all I registered before yanking my gaze upward to the two fabric ties clasped together behind her neck, exposing a long and shapely collarbone.

Her blonde hair was pulled up and back in a way that only succeeded in making her look absolutely nothing like my old pretend little sister.

And then she spotted me. The exasperated look on her face as she took me in immediately put me back in my place. I could tell she was debating whether or not she would move my way when the girl wearing a headset motioned her toward me.

The sweet floral scent of her perfume greeted me first as she moved to stand next to me, her shoulder brushing mine gently.

We both stared forward, waiting for the double doors of the chapel to be opened. Not usually the one to speak first, I couldn’t help myself.

Nudging her arm lightly, I asked, “Did you miss me?”

She nudged mine back. “Like a paper cut.”

“According to your brother, you have to be nice to me,” I murmured.

She turned and looked at me, her eyes roaming my entire face, causing me to startle. “You missed a spot shaving,” she said, nodding toward my chin.

On impulse, I lifted my hand to check. It was fine.

Feeling lighter for some reason, I leaned in close. “I know you were jealous about my best man title, so I have to ask: is that girl actually sick or is she gagged and tied up in a closet right now?”

I got her. She tried to hold it back, but her smile came anyway. If her brother could see us now. Unfortunately, her reply was cut short when an agitated drill sergeant was suddenly in our faces, looking stressed.

“We’re about to start,” she hissed. Noticing Liv hadn’t touched me, she demanded, “Put your arm through his.”

Liv obeyed, slipping her hand through the bend in my arm. Because I knew she’d enjoy it, I patted the top of her hand gently with my other. She prodded me off with her elbow. The wedding planner looked sharply at me.

“You two are leading the whole procession. If you go too fast, we all have to wait. If you go too slow, then the bride will miss her entrance. Do you remember how fast you’re supposed to walk?”

She spoke that last line slowly, like I was a toddler she’d already asked ten times to do something. Honestly, she was more terrifying than most of the criminals I’d come in contact with on the job, and it was all I could do to nod.

She hesitated, staring at me as though she didn’t believe me, but thankfully, her attention was taken by a desperate plea from someone behind us to help fix a button that had gone awry.

“Do you remember?” Liv asked, looking up at me.

“The old maid of honor knew. When we walked down the aisle at rehearsal, we nailed it.”

“I wasn’t there.”

“Exactly. You’ve got some big shoes to fill,” I said.

“Tate,” she hissed, squeezing my arm as the doors in front of us were opened. The large crowd in the church turned in their seats to watch us. The music started. We looked like two startled deer caught in headlights.

Thankfully, someone behind us whispered a shrill, “GO!”

We made it down the aisle with time to spare—if the glare of the woman in charge meant anything. But the bride still got her entrance. Will couldn’t stop smiling. The couple looked happy. And the wedding party came alive once we maneuvered into the air-conditioned reception center.

Once my best man duties were fulfilled, Liv and I went our separate ways, visiting with the other wedding guests.

Most of my brothers were there, friends from high school, even some of my old teachers. For a guy who regularly avoided running into people I knew at the store, I was actually having a good time catching up with everyone. I had no reason for my eyes to keep wandering over to her.

But Liv was…magnetic.

In a room full of people, she wasn’t the loudest or the boldest, but she was the one everyone wanted to be around. I thought I was here for Will and free food, but I found myself continually drawn back to her…and usually with a smile on my face.

Maybe it was habit. Watching over her had become second nature. But according to Will, she’d settled down, had good friends, and found a job she loved. And it showed.