He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist, kissing him with everything she had, drinking in his familiar scent, his taste, all she’d missed for the last couple of weeks.
He lifted his head, pressing one more kiss on her lips and allowing her to slide back to the floor. The hard press of his groin sent sparks of awareness shooting through her body.
“I missed you, too,” he said.
Her heart skipped a beat at his words. “We need to talk about where that leaves us. What do we do about these crazy feelings we have when our lives are so…”
“Busy?” he asked.
She nodded.
“First question. The danger I face doesn’t bother you? You can handle my job?” he asked, sounding like he dreaded her answer.
She didn’t have to think to answer. “Of course, I hate it. Who wants the person they love to be in danger?” No sooner had the words come out than she panicked.
Talk about too much too soon. Blurting things out again. Things she hadn’t given any thought to. “I’m sorry. Don’t freak out. I didn’t mean—”
“You better have meant it,” he said on a low growl.
She blinked in surprise. “I didn’t just send you running?”
“Hell, no. Will the potential danger I’m in send you running?”
She shook her head. “Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean I don’t respect what you do. Or think you’re good at it. It feeds your soul…just like my profession feeds mine. Which brings us to the next question. Finding time to be together.” She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth, worried this issue would be their deal breaker.
“Well, not all my assignments are long-distance, and I’ve earned enough seniority with Ian to turn things down on occasion.”
He raised his eyebrows in a challenge, and she couldn’t help but grin. “I’ll see your turning down assignments and agree to try not to take my work home all the time and to take weekends off when you’re in town.”
He braced his hands on her hips. “Look at us negotiating a relationship like mature adults. You know, I never wanted to be home the same way when I was married before.”
She knew the admission wasn’t an easy one. “It’s hard to make things work when both people aren’t invested in the outcome.”
He rolled his shoulders, his discomfort clear. “I never realized it before. I always blamed the fact that I worked, that my job was dangerous, that Amy couldn’t handle it. I guess I was partially to blame.”
She brushed her hand over his scruffy cheek. “I like it,” she said, laughing. “But seriously, life is about changing and growing.”
“And meeting the person you love. The one who completes you.” He grasped her wrist, rubbing his thumb over the pulse point she knew was jumping at his touch. At his words. At the idea of them. “You do that for me, Talia Shaw. I think I’ve been waiting for you all along.”
She smiled wide. “Well, I promise you, I’m going to make it worth the wait.”
Epilogue
One Year Later
Shane shifted from foot to foot in his dress shoes that matched his tuxedo, anxious for the ceremony to begin. Above him was an arch of white flowers, and in front of him, the long aisle he was waiting for Talia to walk down.
They’d opted for a small wedding, although Talia still wanted some of the formalities of a traditional ceremony, and he couldn’t wait to see his bride in her wedding gown.
“You okay?” Tate, also formally dressed, asked.
Shane stuck a finger into his collar, hoping for room so he could breathe more easily. “I’m fine. I just want her beside me already.” He wanted to make Talia his wife. Have her take his name. Move into the house they’d bought.
Start a family?
They’d begun talking about it.
Suddenly music began and he sucked in a shallow breath.
This was it.
Tate put a hand on his shoulder. “Breathe, man.”
He did just that, then turned. Other than Tate, they didn’t have a bridal party, just her brother as his best man and Jonah walking her down the aisle.
Jonah, who’d stepped up in the last year to get his wife back. His house had been riddled with bullet holes, so he used the renovation time to move back to civilization and court his ex—who was only too happy to enjoy him acting like a normal human being. He’d shaved his beard, cut his hair, and agreed to some therapy and meds for his paranoia, although he insisted after Talia’s situation he really did have good reason to be careful.
The curtains that blocked Shane’s view of the door shifted, and Talia stepped forward on Jonah’s arm. At the sight of her, Shane’s breath caught in his throat.
Talia stood in a fitted white dress, lace on top, what looked like satin below that clung to every dip and curve of her perfect body. And as she moved, a long train followed her down the aisle. He’d never seen a more breathtaking sight.
She joined him, placing her hand in his, a radiant smile on her face. And around her neck was the locket he’d bought her not long after she’d come to see him at McKay-Taggart. Not that it could replace the one she’d been forced to throw away, but he hoped, with the small picture of her mother he’d placed inside courtesy of Tate, that she’d find some measure of peace.
She’d cried when she’d unwrapped it, when she opened it and saw the treasured contents, and again when he hooked it around her neck. She hadn’t taken it off since.
“You’re gorgeous,” he mouthed to her.
He wished he could say he remembered every word spoken by the minister, but he couldn’t take his gaze or focus off the vision in front of him. She was radiant, her cheeks flushed, her eyes shining with happiness.
He was fully aware when it was time to say I do.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride,” the minister said.
Now that he could do, he thought, and sealed his lips over hers, treating her to a wedding kiss neither one of them would ever forget. After they broke apart, he gazed into her eyes for too brief a moment. Then they were being congratulated by their select guests.
But Shane wanted a minute alone with his wife. He pulled her aside, to a corner of the room, keeping her hand in his. “Hello, Mrs. Landon.”
She grinned. “Hello, Mr. Landon. I’m glad we have a minute. I wanted to talk to you this morning, but it’s bad luck for you to see me before the wedding.”
He kissed her cheek. “I’m here now…and forever.”
“Well, that’s a good thing,” she said, biting down on her bottom lip. “Because remember that conversation we had about having a family someday soon?”
“Yes?”
She drew a deep breath. “Well, that day is now.” She smoothed her hand over her flat stomach, but her meaning couldn’t be more clear.
“You’re pregnant.”
“Mmm hmm.”
“We’re having a baby.”
She nodded. “We are.”
He let out a loud whoop of excitement, then picked her up and swung her around, his excitement palpable.
“I’m glad it’s good news,” she said with a grin.
“Hell, yes. It’s not every day a man gets married and finds out he’s going to be a father all in one day.” He couldn’t be more thrilled.
This woman was his to love, cherish, and protect. Forever.
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Remy Guidry doesn’t do relationships. He tried the marriage thing once, back in Louisiana, and learned the hard way that all he really needs in life is a cold beer, some good friends, and the occasional hookup. His job as a bodyguard with McKay-Taggart gives him purpose and lovely perks, like access to Sanctum. The last thing he needs in his life is a woman with stars in her eyes and babies in her future.
Lisa Daley’s life is going in the right direction. She has graduated from college after years of putting herself through school. She’s got a new job at an accounting firm and she’s finished her Sanctum training. Finally on her own and having fun, her life seems pretty perfect. Except she’s lonely and the one man she wants won’t give her a second look.
There is one other little glitch. Apparently, her new firm is really a front for the mob and now they want her dead. Assassins can really ruin a fun girls’ night out. Suddenly strapped to the very same six-foot-five-inch hunk of a bodyguard who makes her heart pound, Lisa can’t decide if this situation is a blessing or a curse.
As the mob closes in, Remy takes his tempting new charge back to the safest place he knows—his home in the bayou. Surrounded by his past, he can’t help wondering if Lisa is his future. To answer that question, he just has to keep her alive.
* * * *
Her Guardian Angel by Larissa Ione
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After a difficult childhood and a turbulent stint in the military, Declan Burke finally got his act together. Now he’s a battle-hardened professional bodyguard who takes his job at McKay-Taggart seriously and his playtime – and his playmates – just as seriously. One thing he never does, however, is mix business with pleasure. But when the mysterious, gorgeous Suzanne D’Angelo needs his protection from a stalker, his desire for her burns out of control, tempting him to break all the rules…even as he’s drawn into a dark, dangerous world he didn’t know existed.
Suzanne is an earthbound angel on her critical first mission: protecting Declan from an emerging supernatural threat at all costs. To keep him close, she hires him as her bodyguard. It doesn’t take long for her to realize that she’s in over her head, defenseless against this devastatingly sexy human who makes her crave his forbidden touch.
Together they’ll have to draw on every ounce of their collective training to resist each other as the enemy closes in, but soon it becomes apparent that nothing could have prepared them for the menace to their lives…or their hearts.
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Justify Me by J. Kenner
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McKay-Taggart operative Riley Blade has no intention of returning to Los Angeles after his brief stint as a consultant on mega-star Lyle Tarpin’s latest action flick. Not even for Natasha Black, Tarpin’s sexy personal assistant who’d gotten under his skin. Why would he, when Tasha made it absolutely clear that—attraction or not—she wasn’t interested in a fling, much less a relationship.
But when Riley learns that someone is stalking her, he races to her side. Determined to not only protect her, but to convince her that—no matter what has hurt her in the past—he’s not only going to fight for her, he’s going to win her heart. Forever.
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Say You Won't Let Go by Corinne Michaels
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I’ve had two goals my entire life:
1. Make it big in country music.
2. Get the hell out of Bell Buckle.
I was doing it. I was on my way, until Cooper Townsend landed backstage at my show in Dallas.
This gorgeous, rugged, man of few words was one cowboy I couldn’t afford to let distract me. But with his slow smile and rough hands, I just couldn’t keep away.
Now, there are outside forces conspiring against us. Maybe we should’ve known better? Maybe not. Even with the protection from Wade Rycroft, bodyguard for McKay-Taggart, I still don’t feel safe. I won’t let him get hurt because of me. All I know is that I want to hold on, but know the right thing to do is to let go…
* * * *
His to Protect by Carly Phillips
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Talia Shaw has spent her adult life working as a scientist for a big pharmaceutical company. She’s focused on saving lives, not living life. When her lab is broken into and it's clear someone is after the top secret formula she’s working on, she turns to the one man she can trust. The same irresistible man she turned away years earlier because she was too young and naive to believe a sexy guy like Shane Landon could want her.
Shane Landon’s bodyguard work for McKay-Taggart is the one thing that brings him satisfaction in his life. Relationships come in second to the job. Always. Then little brainiac Talia Shaw shows up in his backyard, frightened and on the run, and his world is turned upside down. And not just because she’s found him naked in his outdoor shower, either.
With Talia's life in danger, Shane has to get her out of town and to her eccentric, hermit mentor who has the final piece of the formula she’s been working on, while keeping her safe from the men who are after her. Guarding Talia's body certainly isn't any hardship, but he never expects to fall hard and fast for his best friend’s little sister and the only woman who’s ever really gotten under his skin.
* * * *
Rescuing Sadie by Susan Stoker
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Sadie Jennings was used to being protected. As the niece of Sean Taggart, and the receptionist at McKay-Taggart Group, she was constantly surrounded by Alpha men more than capable, and willing, to lay down their life for her. But when she visits her friend in San Antonio, and acts on suspicious activity at Milena’s workplace, Sadie puts both of them in the crosshairs of a madman. After several harrowing weeks, her friend is now safe, but for Sadie, the repercussions of her rash act linger on.
Chase Jackson, no stranger to dangerous situations as a captain in the US Army, has volunteered himself as Sadie's bodyguard. He fell head over heels for the beautiful woman the first time he laid eyes on her. With a Delta Force team at his back, he reassures the Taggart's that Sadie will be safe. But when the situation in San Antonio catches up with her, Chase has to use everything he's learned over his career to keep his promise...and to keep Sadie alive long enough to officially make her his.
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Mechanic and garage owner, Kane Harmon is used to the wealthy beautiful women visiting his beach town. He doesn't get involved because he knows most females would merely be slumming for the summer.
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Kane rescues Halley and her broken down car from the side of the road and instantly he's hooked. She says she's not interested in him. He knows she lies. And he makes it his mission to bring her back to life, to return her emotionally to her family. To show her the colors around her were as vibrant as the ones she puts on her canvas.
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Recognition slammed into him, raw and real. “Halley Ward,” he
muttered. “Well, I’ll be damned.” The girl he knew not at all but had protected from bullying back in high school stood before him, all grown up.
“Hi, Kane,” she said softly, shading her eyes from the sun with her hands. Eyes he knew were a light blue.
She’d been quiet and withdrawn back then, head almost always hidden inside a hooded sweatshirt, only her two long braids hanging out from her protective armor. But he knew her story.
Everyone did.
This town thrived on gossip, and the Wards provided much of it over the years. In Halley’s case, everyone knew she’d been rescued from foster care at thirteen by her aunt but never seemed to adjust to life back home with her wealthy family. She didn’t reach out to other girls or make friends at school or in town. Or maybe they didn’t welcome her. He hadn’t been sure.
He’d only known that, at the time, he had recently lost his mom and pulled back from the world, so he recognized that same sense of sadness and loss in Halley and had stepped in when the kids gave her a rough time because of her past. They’d never talked or bonded, but he knew she appreciated his efforts. Could tell by the lingering, sad but grateful looks she passed him in the hall that his actions meant something to her.
His to Protect: A Bodyguard Bad Boys/Masters and Mercenaries Novella (Lexi Blake Crossover Collection Book 5) Page 10
