Bodyguard With A Badge

She stared up at him, anxious for him to dip his head and kiss her but not wanting to break the anticipation. She let her gaze slide down to his lips and then back up to his eyes, so there was no mistaking what she wanted.

Some logical part of her was screaming a warning about the last time she’d taken a chance on a man in law enforcement, but logic was not winning against the desire in Andre’s eyes. She could feel the pace of his breathing change beneath her, and his fingers curled into her arm and her leg where he held her. His head lowered, infinitesimally slowly.

Just when she was gripping his shirt to pull herself toward him, he straightened and picked up his pace, striding into a room and dropping her on the center of the bed.

Surprise made her laugh, then nerves kicked in. Kissing Andre was one thing, but she wasn’t sure she was ready for anything more.

But he was already backing out of the room. “You should get some sleep,” he said, then disappeared through the doorway, leaving Juliette alone.

* * *

ANDRE SWORE UNDER his breath as he paced back and forth in the kitchen, forcing himself to stay away from the guest bedroom where he’d just deposited Juliette. He didn’t know what had happened. Despite his attraction to her, his intent had been innocent when he’d picked her up. She was obviously exhausted. He’d planned to let her get some rest.

Then she’d stared up at him as if she wanted to devour him. The memory of it heated him until he opened his freezer and stood in front of it to cool down.

What was it about this woman?

Yes, she was gorgeous, but he knew plenty of beautiful women. And yes, he had a definite thing for a damsel in distress, but despite the challenges Juliette had obviously faced, she wasn’t exactly screaming for someone to save her. The woman had stolen a gun off a federal agent, for crying out loud.

He squinted over at the couch where she’d been sitting and realized he hadn’t imagined it. When he’d lifted her, the gun had dropped unnoticed out of her pocket.

Andre slammed the freezer shut, then walked over and picked it up. He went to empty the bullets and realized there were none. A startled laugh burst forth. Juliette had taken him hostage with an unloaded weapon.

He knew it had been loaded when she’d swiped it off Nadia at Quantico, which meant she’d purposely emptied it before holding it on him. He wasn’t sure if that made the whole situation better or worse, but he took the gun into his room and locked it up.

Then he sank down on the edge of the bed, hearing Juliette toss and turn on the other side of the wall. He should have been polite and offered her a change of clothes to sleep in, a towel and some toiletries to take a shower. But he’d been too desperate to get out of there before he acted on their mutual attraction.

It was bad enough that he’d let her into his house and promised to help her evade the law. He didn’t need to jump into bed with her, too. Because if he did, he’d get way too entangled. And no matter how much he might want to, he was still thinking logically enough to know it was a bad idea.

There wasn’t a good ending here. Even if he helped Juliette prove her ex-husband was guilty, there was still the matter of her stealing Nadia’s weapon and him hiding her from the FBI. If he got involved with Juliette, there’d be even more hell to pay.

As if on cue, his phone rang and the readout said it was Scott.

Andre didn’t have to pick up to know why Scott was calling him back. Somehow, he’d figured out where Juliette had gone.

“I can explain,” he answered the phone.

“Well, that’s good, because Bobby said he thought he saw you on the freeway with this Juliette woman in your passenger seat.”

Bobby was one of their friends on HRT, a monster of a guy who still managed to beat most of the team running the Yellow Brick Road at Quantico.

“I said that couldn’t possibly be true,” Scott continued, “because Juliette—or should I call her Mya?—was on the run, and the FBI was searching for her!”

“There’s more to the story than you think.”

“Well, there better be, because I don’t think the FBI is going to appreciate one of their own agents hiding a fugitive.”

“She was the victim,” Andre reminded him.

“Until she took a weapon off a federal agent,” Scott shot back.

Keeping her other illegal action under wraps, Andre said, “She emptied the bullets. You’ll probably find them in the parking lot.”

“Great. She still stole the gun. What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you when you called before, but she’s in trouble, okay?”

“So you gave her a lift off FBI property and hid her when you found out she’d snatched Nadia’s weapon?”

“Not exactly. I’m just trying to help her. Her ex-husband is the cop who hired those goons to kill her.”

There was a beat of silence, then Scott asked, “Can she prove it?”

“If she could prove it, do you think she’d be running?”

“Touché. Well, don’t you think she’s better off in FBI custody, where we can keep her safe?”

“I’m keeping her safe.”

Scott swore. “This isn’t exactly a career-advancing move you’re making here.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I mean, you could be in serious trouble. If she’s in danger, the FBI will help her, but she can’t just take an agent’s weapon.”

“Yeah, I got it,” Andre snapped.

“I’m just trying to help you,” Scott said softly. “What do you really know about this woman? Don’t mess up your career for her.”

Scott’s argument was perfectly logical. Andre knew he was right. But still... “I can’t walk away from her. She’s totally alone, and she’s got a cop gunning for her.”

Although Andre had never found himself in her particular predicament, he did know exactly what it was like to be all alone in the world, and to feel as if the people who were supposed to help you had turned their backs. He’d gotten lucky, moving into the foster home with Cole and Marcos when he was nine. Before that, after his family had died, was a time he didn’t want to think about too much.

The abuse had been sporadic. He’d think everything was fine, and then out of the blue, his foster father would knock him down the stairs. He’d tried to get help, but the person he’d told hadn’t believed him, and he’d been too young to realize he should try again. Instead, he’d learned to be invisible.

Four years after he’d been put in that house, social services had gotten suspicious. They’d taken all the kids away, and Andre had been moved somewhere else. He’d expected the same thing, but instead, that very first day, Cole had somehow known what he’d been through. He’d told Andre that things would be different now, because he had a big brother to watch out for him.

The memories faded as Andre realized Scott had been saying something. “Sorry. What?”

There was an audible sigh on the other end of the line. “What can I do?”

“I was trying to keep you out of it. I don’t want to mess you up here.”

“Yeah, well, I should have realized earlier you avoided my question about whether you’d seen Juliette leave Quantico. I’m in it now. We’re partners. I’ve got your back.”

Andre smiled, knowing how lucky he’d been to have had Scott assigned as his partner. He’d gotten a whole new brother that day. “Thanks, man.”

“Just try not to get us both kicked off the team for this, okay?”