Wanted: Bodyguard

“I got shot a little over three months ago,” he replied. “That’s why I got stuck on this surveillance duty. According to the doctors I’m not one hundred percent yet.”

He looked a hundred percent to her. In fact he looked far more than a hundred percent. “Is it true that your parents live in Arizona?” she asked.

“No. My dad left us when I was eight and my mother died when I was fifteen. I went into the foster-care system until I was eighteen.”

“I’m sorry,” she replied.

He shrugged. “It was a long time ago. You said it before. Bad stuff happens and you really have no choice but to get over it.”

As his hands moved to the snap of his jeans, she quickly pulled down the sheets on the bed and crawled in.

She faced the wall and squeezed her eyes tightly closed, willing herself not to imagine what he looked like without all his clothes. But her mind exploded with an unwanted mental vision.

He turned off the overhead light, plunging the room into darkness. She felt the bed depress beneath his weight and every muscle in her body tightened. “You aren’t naked, are you?” she asked.

“As a jaybird,” he replied and then laughed. “Actually, although I usually sleep in the buff I am wearing a pair of briefs right now in deference to you.”

“Could you maybe put on a snowsuit in deference to me?”

He laughed again, the sound a deep pleasant rumble. “Thank God you have a sense of humor, otherwise this whole mess would be intolerable.”

It felt pretty intolerable to her right now. She could feel the heat of his body, smelled that delicious scent of him, and a coil of warmth unfurled in the pit of her stomach. She recognized it for what it was—desire—and it stunned her.

She clung to the edge of the mattress and prayed that sleep would come quickly.

Riley awoke spooned around Lana’s back, his arm slung across her slender waist. She was still asleep, and for several long, pleasant moments he didn’t move. Her hair smelled like apples, and she was warm as toast against him.

It was odd for him to awaken with a woman in his arms. He rarely spent the night with anyone and he never let anyone spend the night with him. He preferred to avoid the awkward mornings after whenever possible.

Going to sleep had been equally awkward the night before. Lana had claimed the very edge of the bed and her tension had filled the room. He had been disappointed that she’d traded her sexy nightgown for an oversize nightshirt, although he’d noticed her shapely legs beneath the nightwear.

Eventually she’d fallen asleep, but he’d remained awake long into the night, wondering if this whole operation was doomed to failure.

The murder timeline indicated that Greg was due for another kill in the next week. They had a couple of agents working out at the gym where Greg worked, hoping to see if he paid special attention to anyone, had any of the women there in his sights.

For the last couple of days, though, Greg had seemed to be on his best behavior. He went to work and then came home and didn’t leave his house again. There had been no visitors to his residence. They had tapped his landline but suspected he was using toss-away pre-paid cell phones for any conversations he might be having with his partner in crime.

Lana stirred but didn’t awaken, and Riley rolled away from her. He knew if she did wake up and found herself cuddled intimately in his arms she would be appalled.