I freed her laughter with my knife, cutting away the gag and ropes. She fell into me, her limbs rubbery from the position she’d been held in, and I caught her gratefully. I could be the knight in shining leather. It looked good on me.
Cradling her in my arms, I sat her gently on the curb and sat behind her, bracing her with my legs as I rubbed the life back into her arms.
“Thank you,” she said, almost reluctantly. “We should call the police.”
“One step ahead of you,” I said as I put the phone to my ear. “Hi, yeah, I’m Paisley Abbott’s bodyguard, and I just interrupted a kidnapping. Send some boys to pick up her biggest fan.”
I gave them the location and hung up, watching the lump snore against the van as I held Paisley’s shoulder as platonically as I possibly could. She seemed shaken and a little bit bruised, but not broken. At least not visibly.
“Did he hurt you?” I asked.
“Hit me in the belly. Nothing…” She trailed off into a shudder, and I hugged her close, breathing a relieved sigh.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured into her hair.
“Sorry,” she laughed bitterly. “You know, Bart was sorry too. ‘Sorry, Paisley, but I gotta.’” She shook her head. “I’m glad you were here tonight. I thought I was going to die. But don’t you dare tell me you’re sorry.”
It felt like a vice grip around my heart. “I hate that you compared me to that sack of crap,” I said, continuing quickly before she could reply. “But more than that, I hate that I gave you a reason to. I was never gonna use that tape, Paisley. I couldn’t do it.”
“Never?” she said dubiously. “If you were never gonna use it, it would have never been on your computer.”
“Right,” I sighed. Moving so that I could look her in the eye, I tried to explain. “So… I’m not really a bodyguard. Or… I wasn’t, before you.”
“Oh. Wow. I’m so surprised.” She was deadpan, and it would have been hilarious if my entire future didn’t hinge on it. She stood, shaking her arms and legs out. I did as well, just to level the playing field. I couldn’t confess if she was looking down on me like that.
“You see Bart over there?” I asked nodding my head at him.
“Yeah.”
“He’s in pretty rough shape. It, um… It’s not the first time I got a little too wild in a fight.”
She met my eyes, open and listening. Hope emboldened me, and I talked a little faster.
“His name’s Billy. He’s still in ICU, I think. I used to do MMA fighting, underground stuff with betting and all that, you know…lowbrow stuff you wouldn’t be in to.” A flicker of amusement crossed her face, but I pressed on. “So I’m fighting, and I go too far, and Billy gets hauled off to the hospital. No idea if he’s gonna make it or not. There’s no way I can get back in the ring after that, and fighting’s all I know how to do.”
I pushed my hand through my hair, my throat tightening at the memory. Paisley took half a step toward me, then hugged herself. Keep your distance, darlin’. Just for a minute.
“So I’m looking down a road of possibilities. Billy’s got a wife and two little kids. He’s gonna have a huge hospital bill. If he’s not fighting and I’m not fighting and he’s not working, who’s gonna take care of all of that? So I go to Dan. He’s my bartender, known me for years. Knows my life. I tell him what’s up, and he tells me that he’s got this idea.”
“To sleep with me and make a bunch of money on the sex tape?” she asked flatly.
“Yeah,” I said, shifting uncomfortably. “If I hadn’t been in a bind, it wouldn’t even have been an option for me. I don’t go in like that. I didn’t feel like I had a choice.” I sighed, determined to finish in spite of the look on her face. “So I set it up. Got all prepared and everything. Got it on tape.” My stomach curdled as the words passed my lips.
“And then? That was over a week ago. What’s the countdown, Tyler? When is my life going to fall apart?” She was fire and steel, bracing herself for my answer.
I shook my head. “I never sent the tape, Paisley. As soon as I recorded it, I knew I wasn’t going to use it. I couldn’t do that to you.”
She looked at me sideways, taking a step forward. “Why not?”
I shrugged helplessly. “Because you’re great. I like you. Maybe more than that, I don’t know. I don’t even know what that’s supposed to feel like. All I know is that I’ve never felt more at home than when I’m with you. Never wanted to be with anybody more. Not just in bed—I mean hanging out. Making dinner and washing dishes, and watching you work.”
She wasn’t going to say yes. I knew she wasn’t. But if I gave up in the face of ridiculous odds, I never would have made it as far as I did in the ring. I looked up at her, meeting her suspicious gaze.
“I don’t want to use you, Paisley. Not now, not ever. I don’t want to let anybody else use you, either. I want to protect you.” I looked down at my feet, too much of a wuss to watch her reaction. “I want to be your bodyguard again.”
“Is that all you want?” she asked softly.
Snapping my head up, I watched her soften. A little smile touched the left side of her pretty mouth, and the stars glittered in her eyes.
“No,” I confessed, clearing my throat. “But I don’t deserve what I want.”
“I don’t deserve to have a two-thousand-dollar dress, and I don’t deserve to have it ripped by a psycho stalker. Nobody ever gets what they deserve, Tyler. Tell me what you want.” Her gaze intensified, burning holes into my soul.
“I want to be yours,” I told her, so quietly I thought she wouldn’t hear. “If you can forgive me. I want to make this—us…real.”
“How real?” She took another step toward me, standing close enough now that I could breathe in the scent of her hair.
“As real as you want it to be,” I said as my thundering pulse vibrated my body. “I want to stay with you for as long as I’m good for you. If… If you’ll let me.”
I could see my own face reflected in her eyes. Even tiny and upside down, I could see the vulnerability etched into my expression. It felt appropriate, but it sure as hell didn’t feel good.
Chapter 22
Paisley
Even the worst of actions can be born of good intentions. And vice versa too, I suppose. As I looked into the storm raging in his emerald eyes, I felt the hurt in my heart transform. I want to stay with you for as long as I’m good for you. Could he have written a better line if he’d tried?
“Good answer,” I said as a wave of emotion propelled me into his arms.
Surprise lit his face as I kissed him. His lips trembled against mine as he wrapped strong arms around me, pressing me against his thundering chest. The stress of the day, the horror of the kidnapping, Tyler’s epic rescue all raced through my consciousness, making my blood run hot. He tasted like heaven, and I swirled my tongue against his, basking in his flavor.
As his surprise faded, his hands engaged. Sweeping over my body, he caressed every bruised curve, igniting my body. I wanted him desperately, right there in front of God and everybody.
Flashing lights cut through my eyelids, paired with the whoop-whoop of a polite siren. Smiling, I pulled away from him. His face glowed like a kid on Christmas, and I couldn’t help but caress it.
“Excuse me. We got a call for… Oh, wow. Dispatch, we’re gonna need an ambulance out here.”
Bart had just emptied the contents of his stomach all over himself. I wrinkled my nose in disgust, then turned my attention to the officer.
“What happened here?” the officer asked, taking in all of our various lumps and bleeding cuts.
“That guy has been stalking me for months,” I said, pointing in Bart’s direction without actually looking at him. “He accosted me in a club about a week ago, but my bodyguard was there to run him off. We thought that would be the end of it. I, um…”
If I told the officer that I’d fired Tyler, there would be all sorts of other questions. I couldn’t risk that, not no
w. “I gave Tyler the night off tonight, in spite of his objections, and was attacked in my bed. He—Bart—hit me, gagged me, and tied me up, then put me in the back of his van.”
“Do you have any idea what his intentions were? Did he tell you?”
“Not…this time,” I said with a shudder. “But I’ve had to block him multiple times on social media. He was sending me messages telling me that he was going to find me, that he was going cut off some of my hair so that he would always have me with him…” I broke off, suddenly aware of how terrible it all sounded. A desperate sob choked me, and Tyler squeezed my shoulder.
“I came back to the house just in time. I watched the van back out of her driveway, and I saw her dress caught in the door.” Tyler’s throat tightened and a muscle jumped in his jaw. “I was pretty terrified. Wasn’t thinking straight, or I would have called you guys right then. I chased him down and stopped him.”
“Dramatically,” the officer said, nodding at the fused and twisted metal. “That your car?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You must be extremely dedicated.”
“I am, sir.”
“Good. Keep him on staff, Ms. Abbott. I’ve got guys on the force with less guts.”
I chuckled and looked up at my bodyguard, filled with pride. He was dedicated, wasn’t he?
The ambulance arrived then, and Bart was loaded up, handcuffed to the bed. We gave our written statements, filling them with as much information as we could remember. Bart would be going away for a very long time if I had anything to say about it.
“You folks need a ride?” The officer asked.
We were only about a mile from home, and I almost said that we would walk it. Remembering that I was barefoot, though, I agreed. We rode in silence in the back of the cop car, Tyler playing with my fingers gently, tentatively. The cop let us out at my front door, then wished us a better night as he drove away.
“Let’s sit outside,” I said, perching on the top step. “I don’t feel like being shut up right now.”
“Makes sense.” He sat beside me on the step, swallowing hard. Squinting up at the stars, he cleared his throat then took a deep breath. “I haven’t told you much about my life. The stuff that I told you is mostly true. I mean, the big guy I fought wasn’t a perp, he was another guy in the ring. Still went down the way I told you.” He took another deep breath and leaned forward, staring at the ground between his feet.
Butterflies exploded under my heart, quickening my pulse. I could feel the raw truth hovering on his tongue, and I was afraid if I even breathed I would spoil it.
“I’ll tell you all about it someday. For now…I just want you to know that I’ve faced a lot of terrifying shit in my life. Street fights. Fighting in the ring. My asshole dad. Lots of times when I thought my life was over. Lots of times when I wished it was. But I’ve never…” He looked at me, his eyes burning like stars. “I’ve never been more terrified than when I knew you were in the back of that damn van.”
The butterflies in my stomach popped like bubbles, and I sucked in a shuddering breath. Tears rolled down my cheeks, drawn from my heart. Scooting closer to him, I wound my arm around him and kissed his cheek, curling against his shoulder.
“I want you to stay,” I told him quietly, almost afraid that he would refuse.
He didn’t say anything, and as I looked up at him he quickly looked away, rubbing under his eyes. My heart swelled nearly to the point of breaking, and I laced my fingers between his.
“Good,” he said, sniffing. “You need a bodyguard.”
“I do,” I agreed softly. “And a boyfriend.”
He turned to me sharply, searching my face. I kept my expression open, letting him read me. Yes, Tyler. I want you. All of you. He touched my face tenderly, stroking my cheek with his thumb.
“You want me here as your boyfriend? You’d let me back in your bed, after everything I—”
“Yes.” I cut him off, wincing at the twinge of pain still attached to his betrayal. “I might need some time to heal. It’s going to take a lot of work. Lots of reassurance. Countering a lot of paranoia. Think you can handle that?”
“God, yes,” he said, pressing his forehead to mine. “Whatever it takes, darlin’. I’m there, I’ll do it.”
“Then come inside,” I told him, glowing with happiness. “I need a shower, and I don’t want to do it alone.”
His grin just about split his face, his eyes glittering like diamonds. I led him into the house, up the stairs, into my bedroom. The stage for so much drama over the last few weeks, it almost vibrated with tension. I pressed a finger to his lips, then flung the windows open. A cool evening breeze floated in, blowing the memories away. With a happy sigh, I moved to the stereo, tuning it to a station playing slow, romantic country music.
He was watching me with a look on his face that I remembered seeing a few times before. When my dad looked at my mom as she held my baby sister in her arms, still trembling from the exertion of bringing her into the world. When my grandfather looked at my grandmother as she kicked her orthopedic shoes off to dance a jig in the middle of the dance floor at their fiftieth anniversary party. When my sister’s first boyfriend looked at her as she did backflips on the trampoline.
Tyler might not know what he was feeling, but the look in his eyes was unmistakable, and it took my breath away. A different kind of feeling slid through my veins, delicious and awesome and completely terrifying. I moved to him, holding out my hand, my heart beating in time to the music. He slow-danced me to the bathroom, peeling my clothes off on the way. I dimmed the lights and turned the water on as he undressed.
I gasped when I saw him without his clothes. Purple splotches dotted his ribs and left hip, and the shiner on his eye glowed under the yellow lights. His face reflected my horror, and he moved to me, tracing his fingers over my side. I looked down at my tender skin, seeing that it was as bruised as his own. The pattern of the van’s floor glowed purple down my ribs, my hip, my thigh; I hadn’t even known that it had been that bad. The adrenaline of the night had numbed me to my own pain.
“Gently,” I whispered as I traced his bruises.
He kissed my forehead and led me into the shower. Getting clean had never felt more like foreplay, and foreplay had never felt more like love. The word frightened me and comforted me all at once, and I told myself to stop being so damn complicated. Falling into the moment, I relished the feeling of his hands sweeping bubbles over my body.
Pressing against my back, he ran the soft, textured cloth over me from neck to hips, paying special attention to my breasts. The soapy slide sent pleasure running to the tips of my nipples, and I arched against him, pressing my ass to his hips, feeling him grow hard against me. Turning to him, I washed his front as he slid the cloth over my back, sending electricity down my spine.
I kissed him, grinding against him as he cupped my ass. His tongue flicked inside my mouth, mimicking what he had done the night before between my legs, drawing a moan from my throat. Inhaling sharply, he pulled me tight against him, plunging his tongue into me. Rippling my body, I danced against him, greedy for his touch.
His hands crept up to my hair and he pulled my head back, exposing my throat. His lips worked from ear to collar bone as his hands worked through my hair, soaking every strand. Wanted and cared for; what an addicting combination. He washed my hair with the tenderness of a caretaker as he pleasured my skin with the fevered desire of a lover, and I was lost to him.
After returning the favor, I curled into him, tucking my head into his chest as we stood under the steaming stream. He rocked me back and forth to the music flowing through the door, stroking my back and kissing my hair. I thought the happiness would make my heart burst right out of my chest, and tears trickled from my eyes. I breathed a shuddering sigh, and he tilted my chin up to look at him.
“We don’t have to,” he told me, concern darkening his eyes. “I’ll hold you while you sleep, if you want. I don’t need…”
; “I need it,” I interrupted, kissing his mouth firmly. “Make love to me, Tyler.”
With that, he took my mouth in his and I sighed, wrapping my arms around his neck, dancing my hips against his. Reaching behind me, he turned the water off then spun me out of the shower. Drying became a slow sultry dance, guided by what was now smooth, smoky jazz floating in the air. Leading the dance into the bedroom, he lifted me onto the bed.
Standing at the edge of the bed, gazing down at me, he touched my face with his fingertips. Tracing my contours, he swept his fingers down my throat, over my shoulders, around my breasts; spreading his hands, he grazed a line over my waist, hips, and thighs. His eyes drank me in, glowing with that same look. Gentle fingers touched the lazy heat swirling between my hips, answered by a trembling sigh.
Slowly and deliberately, he pushed all of my buttons, loving my body with his hands and mouth, sweeping that molten pleasure over me again and again until it built up in a bubble of wanton lust around his fingers. His mouth wrapped around my breast, his tongue flicking the hard tip, he pressed against my most sensitive places. Ecstasy rolled over me slowly, a thick, lazy storm flicking electricity to every nerve.
“Tyler,” I murmured as the pleasure reached my hips. “Oh God, Tyler!”
I quaked and pulsed around him, surprised by the strength and suddenness of it. Writhing beneath him, I came back to earth, already aching to have him inside of me.
He didn’t make me wait. Standing over me, gazing down at me with those incredible eyes, he slid his cock inside, his breath hitching in his throat. Our eyes locked as he moved inside of me, building the intensity between us, making my heart race with something more powerful than sheer lust.
His hands wandered over me, mesmerizing me, turning my body to electric jelly. Crossing my ankles behind his back I arched into him, drawing him deeper, grinding to the rhythm of the music.
Groaning, he bent over me, lifted me at my waist, and slid me back onto the bed. I whimpered as he slid out of me, my whole body aching for more. With a wicked little grin, he crawled onto the bed and kissed me.
Protect Me - A Steamy Bodyguard Romance (You Can't Resist a Bad Boy Book 5) Page 12
