Christmas With Her Bodyguard

She blanched, but he had to admire the way she jutted her chin out that little bit more.

‘I was merely complimenting a colleague. I had no idea it was so offensive to you.’

Her self-assurance was heady. He hadn’t been prepared for quite how much of a woman Rae had grown into. But he could resist her, he’d proven it that night when the temptation had been immense.

So why, after all these years, did something still scrape away inside him making him feel raw and...edgy?

‘I’m not here for you.’ Was he repeating it for her benefit, or for his own? ‘I’m here because Rafe asked me to be.’

‘The same way you came to our home all those Christmases ago, because Rafe hadn’t wanted to spend the holidays alone with his new stepfamily after his mother had just died?’ she challenged.

‘Rafe and I were recruits together. We did officers’ training together.’ Myles shrugged. ‘They break down the individual and build up a team.’

‘Is that why you tried to talk Rafe out of leaving when the stipulations in my father’s will forced him to leave the British army and move to America to take over the Rawlstone Group instead?’

‘Being an officer in the army was the one thing your old man knew Rafe truly loved. It was a power play from the grave.’

‘Obviously.’ She let out a humourless laugh. ‘But why did you care so much?’

For a moment, Myles almost didn’t answer.

‘Because when I was on a medical mission that went south, Rafe’s infantry unit was there. I owe my life to your brother.’

‘Which is why you couldn’t refuse his request to play at being my bodyguard.’

Something skittered over her features, too fast for him to read.

‘Yes,’ he bit out, instead.

He just hadn’t banked on that old attraction roaring into life at the mere sound of her voice through a door. A chemistry like a volcano that had lain dormant for so long that it had fooled even himself into thinking it was extinct, but which now rumbled and heated and swelled within him.

And she was looking at him as though she felt exactly the same way.

‘I’m glad it’s you,’ she whispered suddenly. ‘I don’t think I could have gone through with this if Rafe had found anyone else to play the part.’

Dammit, she was creeping under his skin and he didn’t think she even knew it.

He couldn’t allow her to know he still looked at her like that. That he still thought of her the way he had done fifteen years ago. That he still thought of her at all.

He tried reminding himself that his career as an army surgeon was all he’d ever needed.

But then he remembered that was gone, now—blown apart in an instant—and he had nothing.

Nothing to be proud of any more. Nothing to offer. Not to any woman, but certainly not to Rae. So, if he couldn’t keep his tone even, controlled, neutral, then he was going to have to go the other way.

He was going to have to ensure that the last thing Rae wanted to do was revisit old haunts best left to rest.

‘I owe Rafe. And if that means taking on the role of discreet bodyguard to his half-sister—’ the words were deliberate, as if to wedge even more distance between them ‘—then I will. But believe me, Rae, as soon as it’s over I’ll be back out of your life faster than you can even turn around.’

* * *

Rae couldn’t move, could barely even breathe, and she had no idea how she’d managed to answer him. Caught in a fist so tight that it felt as though it was crushing her soul right out of her chest.

She swallowed hard and plunged in.

‘Fine. Then...we keep it strictly professional.’

‘That would be best.’

He didn’t blink, didn’t even move. There was no trace at all that he even remembered the kisses they’d shared. The way he’d made her body come to life as no man ever had before.

Or since.

‘Rafe mentioned that you’ve already completed the necessary qualifications and that you and he have been discussing a clinical observation role for some months already?’

‘I’m weighing my options,’ Myles confirmed curtly.

A coldness crept over her skin; the sense that he was trying to shut her out as much as possible. It shouldn’t hurt. But it did.

She fought to peel her eyes off the man who stood, more imposing and mouth-watering than ever, in front of her. She failed.

He looked well.

Actually, he looked more than well. She wasn’t sure when they’d closed the gap between them again, but he was so close now she had to tilt her head right up to maintain eye contact. To prove she wasn’t really as intimidated as she felt. To pretend her heart wasn’t doing odd...flippy things.

Myles was tall. She’d forgotten quite how tall. She wasn’t exactly short to start with, but even wearing heels as she was, he still towered above her. Six feet three with shoulders wide enough to block out the view from even the expansive picture window behind him, but then a V-shaped chest tapered to a narrower waist, more athletic-fit than body-builder-fit, and powerful thighs encased in dark trousers. Familiar, and yet at the same time different.

His body itself looked like a weapon—precisely honed and utterly lethal, but it was more than that. He’d grown up, she realised with a start, and now he was more honed, more powerful, more...dangerous.

He positively exuded dominance, strength, control. As they stood there glowering at each other it was as though the last decade and a half toppled away without warning.

‘I’m sorry.’

The apology was out before she even knew the words were on her tongue. But his scowl only deepened.

‘What for?’

Rae hesitated. What had she meant? That night? Justin? Whatever had happened to Myles’ distinguished army career?

Ultimately she shook her head, unable to articulate the thoughts that lurked in the fog of her mind, and the fringe that she’d been growing out, which was too long to be bangs but too short to tie back into her trademark ponytail, fell forward from behind her ear.

For a split second she thought his hand moved, as though about to tuck the hair back into place. And then she realised he was merely lifting his arms to fold across his chest, even as he took a step back. Putting more space between them, leaving her inexplicably bereft.

Had she imagined that instinctive, smouldering gaze from Myles? She must have, because the look he was casting her right now was, at best, one of distaste. At worst...

God, she still wanted him.

Realisation crashed over her like an icy wave on a scorching day. Because if she still wanted him, after everything, then she was as much in danger of making a fool of herself in front of the man as she had ever been.