Page 20 of Broken Bodyguard

Her breath caught, and for a moment, time shuddered to a stop around us. Nothing existed except the endless hazel paradise of her eyes, the amber tang of her perfume, and the crackling fire that had nothing on the energy pounding between us.

I’d laid my cards on the table.

And fuck, I couldn’t play the chivalrous part any longer.

I tightened my grip around her and pulled her into me, our lips meeting in a warm, hungry kiss. The scent of her enveloped me, sending me deeper into desire. I traced the contour of her waist through her coat, fingers twitching with the urge to find the hot silk of her skin beneath. Maddie whimpered, fisting the front of my coat as our tongues met. Without even deciding, I hauled her onto my lap, her legs opening up to straddle my waist.

Her thighs tensed around me, locking me in, as our kisses went from tentative to deep and delicious. I traced the edge of her lip with my tongue, coaxing more from her. She hooked her arms around my neck, pressing her curvy frame against my chest. I hated that we had these coats on; I would have done anything to feel the softness of her against my body, to finally get handfuls of her tits like I’d been imagining for weeks.

She pulled back suddenly, resting her forehead against mine.

“I didn’t think there was any way you felt the same,” she whispered, her gaze darting back and forth across my face.

I grunted, shifting slightly beneath her. My cock had gone from semi to fully hard and the weight of her on top of me had me dizzy from desire.

“From the second I laid eyes on you, Maddie.” I kissed the tip of her rosy nose, followed by her cheeks, then along her jawline.

She laughed softly. “We connected pretty hard, didn’t we?”

“Like nothing I’ve felt before.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I had a chance to filter them. But maybe it was okay to say them. “I was so close to begging you to stay in New York, but I knew…it just wouldn’t have been an option for you.”

Her gaze dropped to the space between us, and I could feel something inside her shift. She nibbled on her bottom lip as I nibbled on her earlobe.

“Yeah,” she finally said.

When I tried to kiss her on the lips again, she pressed softly on my chest. There was sadness in her gaze, and something else I didn’t fully understand.

“I think I should just go inside,” she whispered.

“Why?” I nuzzled her neck, trying to remind her of what we were on the precipice of exploring.

“I don’t want to do something I’ll regret.” She gnawed on the inside of her lip, avoiding my gaze. She slid off my lap, a whoosh of cold air replacing her.

Maybe she didn’t mean for the words to be a spear. But they landed like one anyway.

“All right. Goodnight, Maddie.” I reached for her hand as she stood from the bench but missed her by an inch. I listened to her steps toward the house; the door creaked open; and then a moment later, it was just me and my thoughts in front of the crackling fire.

There were a thousand reasons why Maddie’s decision to pump the brakes was a smart one.

So why couldn’t I fully convince myself of it?

CHAPTER EIGHT

MADDIE

“TwistyMonkey!TwistyMonkey!”

Grace’s excited pleas forTwisty Monkeyhad been ping-ponging off the walls since she woke up. I managed to stave her off long enough to get dressed, brush teeth, and do our hair before she barreled out of the bedroom, looking for Troy.

Excited giggles moments later told me she found him.

I followed behind her tentatively, still feeling some of the awkwardness from the way I’d left things last night.

Pulling myself off a hulking, hard-bodied bodyguard snack like Troy wasn’t easy. But I needed to think long-term. Big picture. Even if it meant sayingnoto the one man I fantasized about.

“Look who it is!”

I came into the kitchen to find Troy already doing the spin-and-bicep-curl move that Grace was obsessed with. They were both grinning like crazy, his husky laugh and her shrieking giggles filling the warm cabin. Through the big bay windows at the front of the cabin, fresh snow sparkled on the bare tree limbs and all across the yard.

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