The Colton Bodyguard

by Carla Cassidy

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  Tyler wasn’t a man who believed in playing games. He believed in going after what he wanted, and he had wanted Greta Colton since the very first time he’d seen her.

  It was obvious he’d shocked her with his indecent and unexpected proposal to share his bed. She grabbed her wineglass and downed the contents, her cheeks a becoming pink.

  Although she looked lovely now in the tailored slacks that hugged her long legs and the rust-colored blouse that enhanced her hazel-green eyes and her dark brown hair, she had really caught his attention when he’d watched her working with a horse at a rodeo months earlier.

  Then her slender figure had been clad in dusty jeans and a T-shirt and she’d commanded the horse with confidence and mastery. That had been the woman who had both captured his desire and intrigued him.

  She lowered her glass and tucked a strand of her long wavy hair behind her ear. “You’re something else,” she finally said. “You make up an outrageous lie to get me out of jail, a lie that ruined my engagement, and now you have the audacity to ask me to sleep with you?”

  He smiled. “Sleep wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.” Her cheeks flushed once again with color, but she made no move to leave. “Greta, we’re both consenting adults and don’t need to answer to anyone for what we do,” he added.

  “I don’t just fall into bed with any man who asks me,” she replied and straightened her back defensively.

  “I’m aware of that,” he said. “If you were that kind of woman, then I wouldn’t be interested in you.”

  She stared at him and then looked away. “Could I please have another glass of wine?” she asked. “And let’s talk a bit more about this horse you have.”

  He got up and refilled her glass, then sat down again, this time a little bit closer to her...close enough that he could smell the fresh scent of her.

  It was crazy—he had never felt such a visceral pull toward a woman before or since that first time he’d seen Greta. He’d initially been disappointed when he realized Mark and Greta had become an item, but he’d also been pleased that his younger brother had found somebody and intended to settle down.

  It hadn’t taken long for Tyler to realize that Mark had no intention of settling down, wedding or not. Getting engaged and planning a wedding to Greta hadn’t slowed Mark’s womanizing ways or forced him to begin to build a future of financial stability for himself and his wife.

  “What else do you want to know about the horse?” he asked.

  Her gaze danced down to his exposed chest and then quickly moved back up to his face. “Uh...how did you come to own her?”

  That quick glance emboldened him. She apparently wasn’t completely immune to him. “I was driving to work one day and passed a field where the horse was tethered to a post. She was half-starved and appeared to have been whipped. I couldn’t just drive by and forget about her obvious distress, so I stopped at the closest ranch house, and the man living there told me the horse was his. I offered to buy her, and after some negotiation, he agreed. Since then she’s filled out and healed from her physical abuse, but neither of my ranch hands have been able to work with her. She won’t let anyone near her.”

  “It sounds like you probably saved her life,” Greta replied, more than a hint of approval in her voice.

  “If I did, she isn’t showing any gratitude,” he replied drily. He was rewarded by her short but melodic laugh. “And speaking of gratitude, I haven’t heard you thank me for getting you out of jail.”

  “I am grateful, but I’m not sure I’ve forgiven you for the particular lie you told. Didn’t you consider what it might do to my reputation? What it would do to your relationship with your brother? Didn’t you consider any of the consequences of your lie?”

  “Nothing has gone public, so your good reputation remains intact.” He paused and thought about his brother. “Mark and I have always had a difficult relationship. To be honest, I knew that you’d already told the authorities that you were in a hotel room on the night of the murder. It just seemed easiest for me to tell them that I was in that room with you. I wasn’t thinking of consequences. I just couldn’t stand the thought of you having to spend another day and another night in that jail cell.”

  She sighed and took a drink from her glass. “It would have been so much easier if Mark had been the one to come forward and say he was with me that night.” Her eyes narrowed. “But he did absolutely nothing to help me. He didn’t even come to see me or make a phone call to check on me.”

  “If all this hadn’t happened, then you wouldn’t have known that you were about to marry the wrong man,” Tyler countered. “Not that I’m suggesting I’m the right man.”

  She tilted her head slightly and looked at him curiously. “Why haven’t you married? You’re handsome and successful and I’m sure plenty of women would be happy to become Mrs. Tyler Stanton.”

  “The women who want to be my wife aren’t the kind of woman I’d want for a wife. They want it for all the wrong reasons,” he replied. “I got close to marrying once, but it didn’t work out and since then I haven’t found the right woman. Besides, I work long hours and don’t have a lot of time to do the whole dating thing.”

  “So you just invite emotionally vulnerable women to share your bed for the night and then move on to the next woman.” She stared at him boldly.

  A small laugh escaped him. “You don’t appear to me to be an emotionally vulnerable woman, and no, I don’t make a habit of inviting women into my bed. In fact, you’re the first who has gotten an official invitation.”

  She eyed him dubiously.

  He leaned closer to her, so close that if he wanted to, he could wrap her in his arms and take full possession of her lush lips with his. It was tempting. It was oh so tempting.

  “It’s true, Greta,” he said and watched her eyes spark with gold and green hues. “I don’t invite women into my bed. I wait for them to invite me into theirs. But you’re different, and the desire, the passion, I have for you is stronger than anything I’ve ever felt for any other woman.”

  Her mouth trembled slightly and he continued, “In all of my life I’ve never been jealous of Mark, but when he hooked up with you, I was jealous of him for the first time. He had what I wanted...what I still want.”

  “I should go,” she replied in a breathy voice, but she made no move to get up.

  “You should stay,” he countered. “It’s a long drive back to Tulsa. You should stay here with me tonight and then tomorrow morning you can see the horse.”

  Her eyes looked slightly glazed and he didn’t know if it was from the wine she’d drunk too fast or the blatant lust he knew shone from his own.

  “Greta, if you want, you can spend the night in one of my guest rooms.” It wasn’t what he wanted, but he also didn’t want to coerce her in any way. He’d laid his cards out on the table and the next play was hers.

  “I’ll stay,” she said slowly. “I’ll stay in one of your guest rooms and take a look at the horse in the morning and decide if she’s a project I want to take on.”

  Disappointment winged through him, but he tamped it down. He knew he’d been forward and he really wasn’t surprised by her answer. He’d definitely been too open too quickly. It had been out of character for him, but when he’d seen her standing on his front porch, all of his desire for her, which had simmered for so long, had roared to full life.

  “Then whenever you’re ready, I’ll show you to your room,” he replied.

  “I think I’m ready now.” She stood and finished the last drink of wine in her glass.

  He got up, as well, and took the glass from her and carried it and his own to the bar. He felt her gaze on his back and cursed himself for being a fool.

  He should have just told her he’d alibied her because he’d been sure of her innocence and then told her about the horse he wanted her to work with. He should have never come at her with the open and honest passion that was in his heart and beat through his veins.<
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  “I’ll get you a T-shirt to sleep in,” he said as he led her down the long hallway. They passed several bedrooms and two baths before he finally turned into a room that was located next to his master suite.

  “This is lovely,” she said. She offered him a small smile. “My bedroom at home is decorated in shades of blue, too.”

  “Then you should feel right at home here. There’s an en suite bathroom, where you should find whatever you need. There’s several new toothbrushes beneath the sink, and if you need something else that you can’t find, just ask.”

  “I’m sure I’ll be fine,” she replied.

  “I’ll just go grab a T-shirt for you to sleep in.”

  He left her standing in the guest room and went into his master suite and to the drawer that held his T-shirts. He pulled one out and for a brief moment imagined her wearing it and nothing else.

  He shook his head and shoved the vision aside and then returned to the guest room, where she hadn’t moved a foot.

  He handed her the T-shirt. “Thanks. This should be more comfortable than trying to sleep in my clothes,” she said. She shifted from one booted foot to the other, obviously uncomfortable.

  “Then I’ll just tell you good-night,” he said. “I’m right next door if you can’t find what you need or if you change your mind about joining me.” Damn, he’d done it again.

  “You’re very persistent,” she replied.

  “I am when I know what I want.”

  “Good night, Tyler,” she said.

  “Good night.” He left the room and she closed the door behind him. He headed back to the great room and to the bar to put the glasses they had used into the dishwasher in the kitchen.

  He certainly didn’t intend to give up on satisfying his desire for Greta. He’d shocked her tonight, but he could be a patient man and he’d swear there had been more than a hint of interest in her eyes.

  Tonight wasn’t the end of things with Greta. He had a feeling it was just the beginning. All he had to do was convince her of that fact.

  Chapter 2

  Greta lay in the center of the king-size bed, Tyler’s T-shirt smelling of fresh Oklahoma air and a hint of ocean-breeze fabric softener.

  It was still early, just a little after nine, but she’d needed to escape from Tyler. She should’ve just driven home, but the truth was the wine had gone to her head, as had Tyler’s invitation to share his bed.

  She’d heard him go into his room just a few minutes earlier. Since it was a Tuesday night, he probably had gone to bed early because he had to work the next day.

  They both would have to be up early if he was going to show her his troubled horse before he left for work. The possibility of working with a new horse was exciting. She was in desperate need of a challenge, and training this horse would fit the bill.

  She closed her eyes, seeking sleep, but her mind conjured up a vision of the man in the next room. Did he sleep in pajamas or was he naked beneath his sheets? His unbuttoned shirt had given her a tantalizing peek at his bare chest. What would he look like with no shirt? What would he look like naked? A rivulet of heat worked through her. Drat the man anyway.

  Mark had never gazed at her with such an unabashed desire. She’d never seen utter lust, such blatant hunger for her, in any man’s eyes before tonight.

  She’d seen it in Tyler’s and she’d be a fool not to admit that he’d stirred something in the very depths of her, a hunger she hadn’t known existed.

  Mindless pleasure—she knew that was what she would find in his arms. Not love, not a promise for any future relationship. He’d offered her only one night of throwing caution to the wind and having uncomplicated sex with him.

  After everything that had happened at the ranch over the past five months, mindless pleasure and uncomplicated sex sounded far too appealing.

  She rolled over on her back and stared up at the ceiling, where pale moonlight danced tiny strands of illumination as it filtered through the slight part in the curtains at the window.

  She couldn’t go to sleep, because she was hot and bothered and curious. She’d known in her head that Mark had been cheating on her long before she had acknowledged it in her heart. She hadn’t wanted to believe it, but the signs had been there.

  Several times she’d thought of calling off the wedding, but for the first time in her life she’d enjoyed a real relationship with her mother, Abra. They had bonded over picking out flowers and deciding on arrangements, checking out caterers and choosing the size and flavor for the wedding cake.

  She’d never seen her mother look so happy, and she’d felt incredibly responsible when Mark had broken their engagement, the wedding plans were called off, and her mother had fallen into one of her bouts of depression. At least her mother hadn’t jumped on a jet to head to Europe like she’d done in the past when the depression struck. Of course, her health wasn’t as good as it had once been.

  Greta rolled over, this time curling into a fetal ball as a vision of Tyler once again filled her head.

  She’d always found him incredibly handsome. While she’d seen the effect of his sexy smile on other women, he’d always been very cool and reserved around her.

  Tonight she’d felt the force of that sexy smile, the intensity of his midnight blue eyes directed at her, and she’d liked it. She was surprised to discover a want inside her, a desire to throw caution to the wind, abandon her good senses and go crawl into his bed.

  Mindless pleasure between two consenting adults. Would it really be wrong? She was on her feet at the side of the bed before she realized she’d consciously made up her mind.

  Before she could change it, she walked out of her bedroom and into his. The moonlight in his room was brighter, drifting through a bank of floor-to-ceiling windows on the opposite side of the large room.

  He sat up, a dark silhouette in the king-size bed. “Greta? Do you need something?” His voice sounded deeper, huskier than usual. She walked to stand at the very edge of his bed, his features now visible to her.

  Hunger. It shone from his eyes and stole not only her power to speak but also momentarily her ability to breathe. He didn’t say anything. He lifted the sheet that covered him and she slid in beside him.

  “Are you sure?” he asked softly.

  “I’m here,” she replied.

  She tried to tell herself it was the dizzying effect of the wine, the stress of the past five months in her life. She tried to believe that she wasn’t herself, that she was acting irrationally, but the truth was she just wanted him to make love to her.

  He pulled her into his arms and took her mouth with his in a fiery openmouthed kiss that heated her from head to toe. He continued to kiss her until she couldn’t think. At the same time his hands moved languidly up and down the back of the T-shirt, stopping just shy of her bare buttocks.

  She ran her hands across his shoulders and back, vaguely surprised by the play of hard muscles beneath his warm skin, muscles that were usually hidden beneath crisp white shirts and expensive suit coats.

  He wore a pair of boxers, and those and her T-shirt were the only barriers between them and total naked flesh.

  A small moan escaped her lips as his hands moved beneath her T-shirt at the same time his mouth slid down the length of her throat. He nibbled and teased her neck and then sucked one of her nipples through the thin cotton material. Flames of desire flared hot through her.

  She reached down, slid her hand beneath the band of his boxers and grasped him. He was fully erect and after that everything happened in a haze.

  T-shirt and boxers were gone, leaving them naked and gasping.

  He teased and tormented her, stroking every inch of her body. He was confident and masterful in his touch and shot electric pleasure through her.

  He followed his heated caresses with his mouth, kissing her in places she’d never been kissed before.

  In turn, she did the same, stroking his smooth, muscled back, kissing down his neck and across his broad chest
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  She was on fire and only he could put out the flames. She moved her hips against his, wanting...needing him to take her.

  When his fingers danced across the place where she needed him to touch her most, she gasped in fevered delight.

  His fingers pressed harder, moved faster against her sensitive center, and a rising, overwhelming tension filled her.

  As it peaked she rode the wave of a climax that left her shuddering with the force of the release. He didn’t give her time to catch her breath. He moved between her thighs and took her.

  He stroked deep and slow, and the rise of her pleasure began to build again. She moaned his name and he increased the speed of his thrusts. Her hips met his as they moved in a frenzy.

  They ended together, with her crying with her own climax as he groaned and finished, as well.

  When it was over, he held himself above her with his weight on his elbows. His eyes gleamed with the satisfaction of his possession. “I knew you’d be the perfect lover for me,” he whispered.

  “And I knew this was a huge mistake.”

  He frowned and rolled to the side of her. “Why was this a mistake? It was just as I imagined it would be...beyond wonderful. We fit together so well.”

  She sat up and grabbed the sheet to hide her breasts. She couldn’t tell him it was a mistake that she wanted to repeat again and again, but that was the truth.

  She’d never felt so wonderfully out of control as she had when he’d made love to her. She’d never known the intensity of the electric sensations he’d pulled from her. He’d tapped into a part of her that she hadn’t even known existed.

  “I’m not in the habit of falling into bed with men I don’t love,” she finally replied. She certainly wasn’t in the habit of falling into bed with men who didn’t love her. “I’m not a one-night-stand kind of woman.”

  “I’m hoping this isn’t a one-night kind of thing,” he replied.

  His words shocked her almost as much as her uncharacteristic actions so far this night. “What exactly did you have in mind?”