Bedding The Bodyguard

by Virna DePaul

  “Good.” She turned away, the scarf draped over one shoulder, to look at some tacky souvenir mugs and he took the time to check out her bottom. The jeans she wore cupped her cheeks perfectly, and he found himself fighting back the urge to give her bottom a good hard swat.

  Just then, his cell phone dinged with a text notification. With a smile at Kat, he pulled his phone out and checked the screen. It was from Cole.

  The man who broke into Bailey’s house is in police custody after trespassing again. He’s confessed to leaving her those threats. Looks like your girl is safe.

  Your girl.

  Cole had referred to Kat that way once before.

  It’s how Luke thought of her now.

  His to cherish. His to protect.

  His to….love?

  Luke stared at the text with mixed emotions. Of course he was glad the man had been caught. That Kat was safe from him. But it didn’t mean another threat wasn’t going to rear its head. If Kat returned to the spotlight, chances were it would. Had she given any more consideration to hiring another bodyguard?

  He glanced over at her, smiling when he saw her trying on another hat, this time a jaunty fedora. Catching him watching her, she tipped the brim of the hat and blew him a flirtatious kiss. He winked at her as he slid his phone back into his pocket.

  Striding back toward her, he told himself to enjoy the rest of the day with her, here in this little hamlet of a town so far removed from the hustle and bustle of LA. Kat was facing a mirror trying on another hat, and Luke wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, growling dramatically as he buried his face in her neck. She giggled and spun around to gaze up at him.

  “Everything okay?” she asked.

  “Everything’s great.”

  “How does an ice cream cone sound before we head back?”

  “Sounds sweet, but not as sweet as you.” He knew it was a corny thing to say, but he meant every single word. Kat had added something to his life, filling empty places inside him he’d never known existed. How could he help but notice them once she no longer did?

  They ended up foregoing the ice cream when they spotted a crepe place a few doors down. Sitting outside by a fountain, they fed each other bites of chocolate and strawberry crepe, and talked about everything from the songs they listened to while running to some of Kat’s favorite on-screen moments.

  The afternoon had begun to fade toward evening when they finally headed back. Luke drove, stealing glances at Kat’s profile as he did. She wore a pensive look and he wondered what she was thinking. About her life back in Hollywood and whether it’s what she wanted? Or about their time together here coming to an end?

  * * *

  A short time later, Luke and Kat sat together on the porch of Luke’s cabin. Kat had her bare feet up on the railing, and every once in a while their hands would meet and join then break apart.

  Kat tried to ignore the panic that was growing inside her. Tried to push away the awful sensation that she was about to lose all of this. The privacy. The peace and quiet.

  And him.

  She swallowed hard.

  Her practical side knew there was no way this thing they’d started could survive her lifestyle. Luke was a cop, and he wasn’t interested in flashy things, or flashy people. He’d be a fish out of water in her world.

  But what if she left her world?

  If there was ever a man worth tossing it all away for, it was Luke.

  His face wore an inscrutable expression. What was he thinking? Was he tired of her already? The sex they’d been having was spectacular, and she’d never met a man so ready to please her and himself no matter how often they’d already felt the fiery brush of that pleasure. But sex aside, these gentle and romantic moments just sitting in comfortable silence or dancing on the deck might be boring him silly.

  He was a man of action. She was an actress. He saved lives. She pretended to be living someone else’s. The gulf was so great, and she couldn’t see any way to bridge it.

  The things they had in common—their love of books and nature and peace and quiet—were enough here and now, but they might not be once they returned to their real lives.

  The sun went down in a big fiery ball, a beautiful end to the day. If she and Luke were coming to an end, she wanted to enjoy every moment of it. She wanted it to end just as beautifully as it had begun.

  She cleared her throat and pasted a smile on her face before turning to him. “I do believe I owe you a dance.”

  Luke’s eyebrow lifted. “You really know how to belly dance?”

  She could belly dance thanks to a fitness class she’d taken last year, but she merely said, “You’ll have to be the judge of that, don’t you think?’

  “I’ll give it my most careful and enthusiastic consideration,” he said.

  “Good. Just give me three minutes then come in, okay?”

  He nodded and the look of anticipation on his face just heightened her own.

  She slipped inside, found a song on the stereo she could dance too, and quickly stripped down to her cute little pink-and-black bra and panty set.

  She set the lights to dim then wrapped the scarf around her hips, making sure the little coins attached had plenty of room to move and clang together, then she lifted her arms above her head, set her feet and waited.

  Luke entered, closing the door behind him. His lids grew heavy and his nostrils flared as he took her in. She began to sway, using the hip isolations she’d learned to wriggle and writhe in a sensual, pulsing movement. Luke stood rooted to the floor, his eyes locked onto her body as she thrust her breasts up and down then allowed her hips and the scarf to create a low musical jangle that resonated through the room.

  She drew closer. Her hair whipped around her face and she shook her hips faster, arching her pelvis out toward him then spinning around so he could see her ass cheeks moving in slow undulations beneath the diaphanous material that covered them.

  The song was about to end and inspiration struck. Luke brought out the kinky side in her—why not embrace it? She danced to where he stood, and, just as the song ended, she sank to her knees, head bent.

  “I’m yours to do with as you please,” she said in a low, throaty voice.

  He picked her up.

  She dangled from his arms, reveling in their strength.

  His mouth settled over hers in a hungry kiss. When he pulled back, his eyes gleamed with passion and possession. “Damn right,” he said, and headed for the bedroom.

  Beside the bed, Luke set her down and caressed her face. “Kat, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and the dance you just did is a memory I’ll cherish.”

  She’d been called beautiful by a lot of people in her life, but it was amazing how this felt like it was the very first time. “Thank you,” she said. “Have I told you that you’re so sexy, I can’t stop thinking about kissing and touching you?”

  “How about instead of thinking it, we do it. And follow that up with a whole lot of fucking.”

  His words sent little shocks running through her body. How could she want him so much, and so often?

  She did though. All Luke had to do was look at her, whisper in her ear, or say something as bald and commanding as the words that had just come out of his mouth, and her body instantly responded.

  Her nipples protruded through the bra she wore. Her nerves felt too close to the surface of her skin, and her legs had parted of their own accord, willing him to follow through with that breathtakingly sexy sentence.

  He leaned forward and pressed his warm, full lips on hers. Her breathy sigh echoed in the room. She grabbed at Luke, her nails scratching him lightly. He grunted and together they fell to the bed, their hands tangling as each undressed the other. When they were both naked and Luke had seen to protection, he climbed on top of her.

  His heated strength and lean muscles filled her senses as he kissed her again, his hands running along her belly and breasts then lower. He cupped the flesh between her thi
ghs and squeezed. Her labia pressed into each other and caught her clit between, providing a tingling decadent pleasure that had her writhing.

  His mouth stayed on hers. Her tongue explored the hard ridges of his teeth just as his fingers circled the hardened nub of flesh slowly, then pressed hard enough to make her cry out in a mixture of pleasure and pain.

  He pulled away, and his mouth moved to her shoulders. To her breasts. Then lower. His teeth grazed the delicate flesh right below her navel and then his warm breath stirred her pubic curls.

  His tongue slid between her puffy labia. Her breath held then released as his tongue found her clit, pressed it then massaged it back and forth in a slow, maddening way that had her ass clenching and lifting off the mattress.

  Fingers parting her entry, he went deep inside her while his tongue continued to lavish attention on her clit. Kat whimpered and thrust her hips forward and upward, her fingers tangling into his hair as she sought to press him closer.

  His head lifted, and his lips and chin gleamed with the evidence of her arousal. He rose above her, driving into her with an immediate and unapologetic thrust.

  His hips moved as she bent one leg out, opening herself for him and his thick shaft. His chin dug into her shoulder and his fingers curled around her hips tightly, lifting them so that he could go deeper still.

  Kat met every thrust and withdrawal. Her legs shook as she strained up and toward him. When she came, she felt Luke falling with her, his body going rigid then relaxing slowly. His breath washed over her cheek as he turned his head. His tongue found hers and she kissed him, allowing herself to savor her own juices and his lips at the same time.

  * * *

  After they made love, Luke’s fingers traced up and down her arm, just skimming her satiny flesh. He’d been almost stunned silent watching her dance. She was naturally graceful, fluid and limber, and the way she’d moved, the way her body had flowed and snapped, had been one of the sexiest things he had ever seen.

  She was quiet. He peeked down to see if she was asleep but her eyes were open, her expression pensive.

  “Penny for your thoughts.”

  She smiled. “I don’t know if they’re worth it.”

  “Why do you do that?”

  She gave him a puzzled look. “Do what?”

  “You have a habit of being self-deprecating. But sometimes it borders on more.”

  She looked away.

  He used his finger to tilt her face toward his. “Talk to me.”

  She sighed. “Luke, I’m so confused. I don’t know where to go from here. It used to be simple. I wanted to act. Now it’s all so complicated and confusing.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m a huge success as an actress. At one time, that’s all I thought I wanted. But now that I’ve gotten it, I’m not sure I do anymore. How’s that for being ungrateful? I don’t know what’s truly good about my life, and what’s just tinsel and smoke.”

  He tightened his arms around her, feeling her confusion like a punch in the gut. “It’s hard to fairly evaluate whether acting is really what you want when being an actress, being in the public eye, makes you feel unsafe, isn’t it?”

  He’d hinted at that before, but here and now, he could only hope that she really heard what he was saying—that allowing herself to be protected wouldn’t be weakness, but evidence of just how much she cherished everything she had in life.

  “Maybe. But what’s going to make me feel safe? Having someone follow me around constantly? It just feels so…”

  She hesitated, and he shook her. “What? Finish what you were saying.”

  “It makes me feel weak,” she whispered. “As weak as my mother. Like I can’t live in the real world. Like I’m not special. Like I’m not even normal. Like I’m a—I’m a freak.”

  He kissed her forehead. “A lot of your mother’s fears might be paranoid thinking, Kat, but the truth is, there is plenty enough to fear in the world that’s real. And if someone is expressly threatening you, how does that make you weak? It isn’t weakness to want to protect yourself and all you’ve worked for. It isn’t weakness to let someone care for you, either. Accepting your own value, and the value you bring to others—doing whatever is necessary to safeguard the life you truly want in spite of those who want to take that happiness away from you?—That’s true bravery.”

  “Maybe you’re right.” Slowly, she reached up and cupped his cheek. “You were wrong about one thing though.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s you who are the special one, Luke. Not me.”

  He smiled. “We’ll just have to agree to disagree on that, Kat.”

  “Okay,” she half-said and half-yawned. She let out a contented sigh and snuggled in closer to him.

  Luke felt the smile slip off his lips even as he kissed the top of her head. Then

  he took a deep breath. Based on everything that Kat had told him, everything he’d seen of her in her movies, he truly believed she was meant to act. That it fulfilled her in a way that nothing else could. For all his talk that feeling safe was what she needed first and foremost before she made any decision about her career, he’d withheld information that would make her feel safer. The information about the elderly man who’d almost accidentally run her off the road and the information he’d received earlier from Cole about her stalker now being in police custody. He couldn’t avoid it any longer. He had to tell her, even if it meant losing her. “Kat, there’s something I have to tell you. Something important,” he began.

  Only when he looked down at her, her eyes were closed and she was snoring softly.

  He sighed. Pulled her in tight. And promised himself he’d tell her the complete truth when they woke.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Kat woke up wrapped in Luke’s long arms and legs. He was so warm and she loved the way his hard body felt against her so much that she didn’t want to move at all. She could have spent hours just lying there in his arms, relishing the way he felt against her. She turned her head slowly, trying not to wake him up, but with a driving need to see his face. She inched up onto her elbow and felt a tug deep down in her core. He had a strong, prominent jaw, yet it had a graceful curve to it. The strength of his neck was apparent in the twining cords of muscle that went on to shape the rest of his perfect body. She lifted the comforter gently and took a peek at what lay below it. She shuddered as the sight of his naked, taut muscles called up memories of their lovemaking. He knew exactly how to treat a woman in bed and she’d never truly known what satiation was before Luke.

  She snuggled back down next to him and he shifted slightly and threw his arm back across her. That big, strong arm…Lord, this man made her feel safe. Like nothing could get past him to get at her.

  She thought back to the conversation. About his theory that until she actually felt safe again, she couldn’t fairly decide whether to quit acting or not. It was a good one. Because right here and right now…being in Luke’s arms…she felt invincible. And if she was invincible, what kind of life did she want?

  He’d posed the question to her before but she hadn’t been prepared to answer. Now, she knew. She wanted to continue acting. And she wanted Luke. Those two things would make her happy, and if she chose to safeguard that happiness by hiring a bodyguard, well that wouldn’t make her weak. It would make her smart.

  Strong. Just as Luke had said.

  She closed her eyes and reveled in her newfound feelings of confidence. Not fake confidence. Real confidence, this time.

  She knew the life she wanted and she was prepared to protect it at any cost.

  She lay there like that for a long time as more and more light began to pour in through the slats in the blinds. Luke didn’t seem to be waking up any time soon. She wondered if he’d miss her if she snuck over to her own cabin for a shower. She could dress and fix her hair and come back over and make breakfast for him. She slipped out from underneath his arm and sat up. He groaned again and rolled over, but he didn’t
open his eyes. She leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on the side of his gorgeous face. “I’ll be back,” she whispered as she slipped out of the bed.

  When she got over to her cabin she took a long, hot shower, lavishing a delicious lavender-scented body wash over her skin. She got out, patted a soft and lush moisturizing oil on her skin, smiling when her fingers found a few small sore spots on her hips. He’d left tiny bruises there in the rush to make love to her the night before.

  She dressed in one of her favorite sweaters, a soft, green cashmere, and a pair of jeans. She took her time brushing her hair then braided it.

  She carefully applied a light touch of make-up: mascara, a quick swipe of tinted gloss, and a thin dark-brown smudge of liner on her upper lids and checked her reflection. Her eyes shone and the smile on her face was wide and genuine.

  How long had it been since she’d been so happy?

  Too long.

  Kat decided on impulse to give Charlie a quick call just to check in. She could picture him already at his desk, stressing over one thing or another. Charlie was one of those people who thrived on stress. He drank Maalox the way others drank coffee.

  She found her phone and hit his number. As she expected he answered on the first ring. “Hey, Charlie!”

  Charlie’s voice held panic. “Oh my God, Kat! Are you okay?”

  She frowned and took the phone from her ear, looked at it and put it back up to her ear. “I’m fine, Charlie. I’m sorry I haven’t answered your calls, but I’ve been lying low.”

  “Not low enough, apparently,” he said.

  Kat frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Oh shit. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I assumed you saw them and that’s why you were calling.”

  Kat suddenly felt like she was having a serious bout of déjà vu. When Ray had leaked the photos of her sunbathing topless, this was exactly the reaction she’d gotten from Charlie. “Assumed I saw what, Charlie? You’re not making any sense.” Maybe he’d finally cracked. She’d warned him about eating raw coffee beans and popping those energy drinks just so he could work longer hours.