by Lisa Childs
“No,” Nikki said. She didn’t want them to leave. But she found herself peering around them to the open door. “I’m glad you came by. I would have gone to the hospital to see you.”
“But you didn’t want to run into my brother?” Emilia asked.
Heat rushed to Nikki’s face, but she shook her head. “No, not at all…”
“So you haven’t been avoiding me?” Lars asked.
She jumped and turned back to the open door. He hadn’t been there a second ago. So she hadn’t expected him to show up. And she hadn’t expected her reaction to seeing him again. Her heart stopped beating for a moment before resuming at a frantic pace. She pressed a hand to her chest as if that might slow the rhythm.
“Of course not,” she said. “I’ve been working.”
“And he’s been taking care of Blue for me,” Emilia said with an adoring smile at her brother. “I’m sorry I’ve caused so much trouble.”
Nikki reached out and squeezed her hand. “It wasn’t you at all,” she told her. “It was the lawyer.”
Emilia shuddered. “I never thought I’d be happy someone was dead.” She reached out and ran a fingertip over the sleeping baby’s dimpled chin. “But now he can’t hurt us anymore.”
“Nobody will,” Lars assured her. “I won’t let anything happen to the two of you.”
Nikki’s heart ached for the guilt she heard yet in his voice. But before she could say anything, Emilia punched his arm.
“It’s not your responsibility to take care of us,” she said. “It’s mine.” She lifted her chin, and pride burned in her pale eyes. “I’m going to take care of my son and myself.”
She turned to Nikki now. “Will you help me?” she asked.
A smile tugged at Nikki’s lips. So much for self-sufficiency. “I’d love to help you—with Blue—with whatever you need.”
“Teach me how to be like you,” Emilia implored her.
“Like me?”
“You’re tough and independent,” Emilia said. “You don’t need anyone.”
That was what Nikki had thought. It was what she’d believed—until now. She looked at Lars, and she couldn’t look away. It was more than how damn handsome he was; it was who he was. Honorable. Responsible. Loyal. Loving.
“That’s not true,” Nikki said. “If it wasn’t for your brother, I would be dead.” And instead of thanking him, she had run away from him. No wonder her mom had been so disgusted with her that she had teased about not even recognizing her. “He saved my life.”
He closed his eyes and flinched as if reliving that moment.
Nikki had thought the gun that had gone off was the one pressed to her head. She’d thought she was going to die.
Lars shuddered. “That was too close,” he said. “But you were already dropping like dead weight away from the barrel of his gun—away from him. Even if I hadn’t shown up, you would have survived.”
Nikki had claimed she’d purposely intended to fall, but she figured it might have had more to do with the concussion she’d sustained in the crash. And with the sick realization that she might have been about to die.
“Will you teach me?” Emilia asked her. “Will you teach me how to be a survivor?”
“You already are,” Nikki assured her. “I don’t think too many people could have survived what you have. You’re amazing.”
Tears glistened in Emilia’s eyes. Then she turned toward Lars and said, “I see why you fell for her.”
Her heart skipped a beat again. Did he really care about her? Did she want him to? She wanted him—even more now than she had before.
It had been a long week without seeing him. And she knew now it was him that she had been missing. She did need Lars. But with his sister and Blue present, she could say nothing. It wasn’t until after they’d left that she realized it might have been her only chance to tell him how she felt.
For the receptionist asked her, “The guy that just left, he must be the one quitting, right?”
“Someone’s quitting?” Nikki asked.
The young man nodded. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure he’s the one I overheard telling Cooper that he had to go, that he doesn’t want anything to do with family and falling in love.”
So maybe Lars had fallen for her, just as she had fallen for him. But like her, he didn’t want anything to do with those feelings. Or her.
To the point that he was leaving…
*
Lars opened his door to a petite, curly-haired woman and for a moment, his breath caught in his lungs. But desire didn’t overwhelm him as it had earlier when he’d joined Emilia in Nikki’s office. No, this woman—while eerily similar to Nikki in appearance—was older but no less beautiful.
Or bold. She looked him up and down and then nodded. “Of course…”
“Excuse me? Have we met?”
“I’m Penny Payne—soon to be Lynch.” She introduced herself.
“You’re Nikki’s mother.” The one who just knew things. Did she know how he felt about her daughter? After Emilia’s slip earlier, Nikki knew. But she hadn’t reacted at all. She hadn’t cared.
Penny stretched up on tiptoe, reached out and patted his cheek. “I see it.”
He gasped. Was she a mind reader, too? “What?”
“I’m here for your sister and the baby,” she said.
And still dumbfounded, he idiotically repeated, “What?”
“I thought I heard the car,” Emilia said as she pushed past Lars in the doorway. The baby carrier struck the back of his knee, nearly making it buckle from where Nikki had kicked him the night she’d saved his life from the gunmen who’d stormed this house. “Thank you for coming to get me, Penny.”
The two women embraced as if they were old friends. And without another word to him, they headed off to the SUV Penny had parked at his curb. The older woman cooed over the baby as she helped Emilia secure his carrier into the backseat.
“What the hell…?” he murmured. He stared after them for a few moments before he stepped back into the house and closed the door.
“What the hell?” A female voice repeated his words, but there was anger in her tone rather than confusion. “You’re quitting? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. You were ready to quit on Emilia.”
Had he entered some kind of weird female twilight zone? First Penny Payne showed up and whisked Emilia away as if the strangers were the best of friends. And now Nikki Payne appeared out of nowhere like an apparition in his living room.
“I thought Emilia was dead.” But still he shouldn’t have given up on her.
“What about me?”
His heart hurt. “For a moment—back when I shot Webber—I thought you were dead, too.”
“Is that why you’re quitting?”
“Quitting what?” he asked, still totally confused. “Do you think I’m giving up on you?”
“Aren’t you?”
He closed the distance between them in two long strides. But before he could reach for her, she stepped back. He moved forward again—as if they were dancing. And maybe they had been since they’d met—circling each other, stepping forward and back.
But Lars had never been much of a dancer. He was too big and uncoordinated to handle intricate footwork. He was best at simply hanging on and swaying to the music, so he took her in his arms and pulled her against him.
Her curves soft against him, she was so petite and delicate and female. But she held herself stiffly in his arms. She was mad at him. And he was used to that but this time he didn’t understand why.
“Why would you care if I quit?” he asked.
She wouldn’t look up at him. So he reached down and with a finger under her chin, lifted it. But she still wouldn’t meet his gaze; she stared at his shoulder instead of his face.
“You’ve made it clear that you have no interest in a relationship,” he reminded her. “That you don’t need anyone.”
Finally she met his gaze, her dark eyes bright with unshed tears. She blinked, fighting against the
m, fighting against what she was feeling for him. Her breath shuddered out in a ragged sigh, and sounding miserable about it, she admitted, “I need you.”
Even while his heart swelled with hope, he felt a twinge of regret. “I hate that it makes you unhappy.”
She shook her head. “Not unhappy. Scared.”
His always fearless Nikki afraid? He tightened his arms around her. “I will never hurt you,” he promised.
“My mom thought my dad would never hurt her,” she said. “But he did—in the worst possible way a man can betray a woman, he betrayed my mother.”
Now his pride stung. “I am not your father. I would never break my vows.”
“Vows?” she asked, her voice tremulous.
“Yes,” he said. “I know we haven’t known each other very long. But I already know I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Her face grew pale with fear. Marriage did scare her. Maybe too much. Maybe he needed to back off, at least about marrying her, for a while.
Loving her—he couldn’t back off that. Even if she never got over her fear of marriage, he would continue to love her.
“Then why are you quitting?” she asked.
“I’m not.”
“But the new receptionist said he overheard you telling Cooper that you were resigning,” she said, and her voice cracked with emotion, “that you didn’t want any part of all this family, falling in love business.”
Lars shook his head. “That wasn’t me. I love all this family and falling in love business,” he assured her. “I love you.”
She blinked again, clearing the tears from her eyes, and smiled. “I love you, too.”
And finally she sounded happy about it.
She wound her arms around his neck as he lifted her off her feet and swung her around. She giggled as she spun.
He lowered his head and kissed her smiling lips. And as always, passion overwhelmed them. He carried her up the stairs to the mattress still lying on the floor.
It had been a week since they’d seen each other—a week since they’d made love. But it felt like a lifetime since he’d kissed her, since he’d touched her…
It was all new again. He undressed her slowly, marveling in every curve he uncovered, touching and kissing every inch of silky skin.
She moaned and shifted beneath him. But Nikki was never passive. She unbuckled his belt and unzipped his pants. Her fingers stroked over his erection as she freed him.
And desire tested his control and won. He pulled off the rest of his clothes and fumbled around for a condom. He had to be inside her, had to be part of her again.
She was just as desperate for him. She grabbed the condom from him and tore open the packet with her teeth. Then she rolled the latex onto him.
He groaned. But before he thrust inside her, he made sure she was ready for him. He stroked his fingers inside her. Then he moved down her gorgeous body and he lapped at her with his tongue.
She moaned and clutched at his shoulders, pulling him up. He moved between her legs, which she locked around his waist. Her lips brushed against his chest. She was so much smaller than he was that he had to be careful not to crush her.
Because he didn’t trust himself, he rose up on his knees—holding her on him. Then he clutched her hips and helped her ride him. She slid up and down, and as she did, she bit her lip to hold in a cry of pleasure.
He wanted her to scream. So he teased her nipples with his thumbs. Then he moved his hand lower and pressed his thumb against the most sensitive part of her.
She locked her legs around his waist as her inner muscles clutched his erection. And she came, screaming his name.
And the tension that had wound tightly inside him became unbearable. He thrust in and out of her until he joined her in ecstasy, his body shuddering with the power of his release. He’d never known pleasure like he’d found with her.
Spent, they lay back on the mattress, panting for breath. He rolled onto his side and, as he wound his arm around her, his knuckles hit the floor.
“I better get some furniture,” he said, “since I’m staying.”
“You are.” It wasn’t a question now. She believed him.
“I have no intention of leaving,” he assured her. “Ever.”
She smiled—almost shyly and said, “I have furniture.”
While she might not be open to a proposal of marriage yet, she was open to living together. For now—that would do—so Lars could prove to her that he would always be faithful, that he would always keep his word and that he would love her forever.
Epilogue
Dane glanced down at the picture on his phone—the one of a smiling Emilia. She was found. He didn’t need the photograph anymore. He would know her anywhere.
But he’d made a concerted effort not to see her since that day in the hospital. He would not be tempted into making the plunges his friends had; he would not be falling for anyone.
Ever.
Just like he’d told Cooper, he wanted no part of all this family and falling in love business. He just wanted to be a bodyguard.
Cooper had laughed off his concerns and assured him that was all he expected of him. “I’m not my mom,” he’d said. “I’m no matchmaker.”
“But Lars and Nikki—”
“You think I wanted that to happen?” Cooper had shaken his head, but he’d been smiling. He was happy that his friend and sister were together—or would be once they both stopped avoiding each other and what they felt.
Lars and Nikki hadn’t wanted it to happen, either. But it had.
Dane touched the trash can icon on his phone. He needed to send Emilia’s picture there. Needed to leave River City and forget all about her and her son.
He was not a family man. He’d never had one and he never wanted one.
Maybe he would reenlist. Getting deployed again to a war zone would be safer than staying here. He would rather risk his life than his heart any day.
*
Look for Dane and Emilia’s story,
the next thrilling installment in the
BACHELOR BODYGUARDS series,
coming fall 2017!
Don’t forget the previous titles in the series:
BEAUTY AND THE BODYGUARD
BODYGUARD’S BABY SURPRISE
BODYGUARD DADDY
HIS CHRISTMAS ASSIGNMENT
And if you love Lisa Childs, be sure to pick up
her other stories:
RED HOT
TAMING THE SHIFTER
THE AGENT’S REDEMPTION
AGENT TO THE RESCUE
AGENT UNDERCOVER
THE PREGNANT WITNESS
CURSED
BRIDEGROOM BODYGUARD
Available now from Harlequin!
An explosive new case…
A suspect with a hidden agenda…
and a Special Agent whose past could cost her everything!
Keep reading for a sneak peek at the first episode of
TOUGH JUSTICE: COUNTDOWN (Part 1 of 8)
by New York Times bestselling author Carla Cassidy
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Tough Justice: Countdown (Part 1 of 8)
by Carla Cassidy
Episode One
A year after FBI Agent Lara Grant put her past—in the form of a very personal manhunt—behind her, the Crisis Management Unit is called in to take lead on a shocking new assignment. A serial bomber is targeting some of the most powerful people in in the city, threatening to expose their deepest secrets.
And soon Lara will face a deadly foe—with an army of skeletons just waiting to fall out of her own closet…
Prologue
Dammit, he’d been so careful. And now this.
A trickle of sweat worked down the side of his face and he closed his eyes as fear tightened his lungs and squeezed his throat. He’d been in a simmering panic since he’d received the email.
He opened his eyes and reread the damned thing.
12:01a.m., from [email protected]:
I know what you did with all that money. I’ll keep your secret but it will cost the lives of innocent people. Or confess to the press and nobody gets hurt. The choice is yours. You have until noon tomorrow.
The lives of innocent people? What did that mean? His gut tightened as nausea overcame him.
Things like this weren’t supposed to happen to him. He’d done everything right in his life. He’d had high hopes. He had big ambitions. The New York Times was running a cover story on him next week that he hoped would launch him to a new level of success. Everything was in place and now this.
Somebody knew his secret.
He twisted his gold wedding band around and around his finger as he stared at the grandfather clock across the room. He had to make a decision fast. Time was running out.
Coming clean would destroy everything he’d worked for. Hell, it wouldn’t only destroy him, it would also destroy his wife.
