Page 31 of Broken Bodyguard

His comment made me grin so hard my cheeks hurt.

“Takes one to know one,” I told him, my breath wispy and faint. The feel of him stretching me, filling me, was the only thing I could focus on. He thrusted with so much energy I felt like he might burst through my low back. I clung to him, welcoming all of it, my nails sinking into the ridge of his shoulder.

“I’m close, babe.” He growled into my collarbone, which caused a fascinating ripple of muscles along his back as he pounded into me. I was close to coming too—again.He reached his hand between us, fingers rubbing against my clit in circles. The friction pushed me back to the edge, and all the way past it. For the second time that night. I clenched and moaned, the high even higher this time now that he was filling me to the brim. I called out his name, repeating it without meaning to, practically like a chant.

“Ohhhh, Maddie.”

The heat of his release filled me, and he stilled once his cock had stopped spasming. He searched my face, something unreadable in his gaze.

I smoothed my hands over his broad, warm chest, still struggling to catch my breath. I loved the feel of him still inside me. In fact, I loved everything about this.

“You’re fucking incredible, you know that?” Troy snagged my lips in a tender kiss. “I think hearing you come is my new favorite thing.”

I was still too stupefied to be embarrassed by a comment like that. I couldn’t even lift my arms, much less blush. Instead, I laughed.

With Troy, it felt easy. I could break myself open and trust that he’d accept it. Like it, even.

I wanted more of it. More ofhim.

So much more than I even wanted to admit to myself.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

TROY

“Allright,girls.Havea good day.” I leaned across the empty passenger seat of my Jeep, waving out the open window as Maddie and Grace held hands and walked toward the school building in the pre-dawn morning. They both looked back at me, grinning and waving, bundled up in their winter coats.

“Go get that knee checked out,” she said sternly.

I grunted. “We’ll see.”

Maddie held my gaze and I winked at her. I couldn’t tell if the ruddiness of her cheeks was from a blush or the winter wind.

I waited in the drop-off line until they disappeared inside the building. Grace’s daycare was in a section of the multi-use building. I relaxed once they were inside—safe, for now. I smiled to myself as I pulled away, some distant part of me wondering who the hell I was becoming.

Dropping off your girls for school?My blinker ticked as I waited at the intersection.Scheduling your day around school pick up?

The words almost didn’t make sense to me. But it was all I wanted to be doing right now.

I needed to leave for New York by that weekend. So we had at least four days ahead of us to play house and see how things progressed with Jericho. What scared me was what came after I left for Ecuador. Jericho didn’t seem like a guy who would just roll over because a bodyguard stole his baseball bat during an aggressive encounter. Maddie needed a plan…and I intended on helping her create one.

As promised, I spent the day taking care of Maddie’s car. I got it moved safely to her parents’ house, fresh tires and all, and caught a ride share back to the garage to pick up my own car since her parents were working. Then I spent the rest of the day getting things for the cabin during a grocery store run, including a weird cheese board for Maddie and some new coloring books and crayons for Grace.

Because my girls need a treat.

There it was again. That inner voice saying some wild things.

I wasn’t sure when things had gone from ‘just checking on Mercedes’ family’ to ‘my girls’, but I suspected it had something to do with that Christmas party. I couldn’t fucking deny it. I’d fallen for Maddie the second I saw her.

Once three-thirty hit, it was time to pick up Maddie and Grace. I crept through the school pick-up lane, looking around at all the other parents in mini-vans and SUVs. In all my assignments around the globe, I’d never found myself in a school pick-up line before. I tapped the steering wheel as the line moved forward, imperceptibly slow. I scanned the faces of the kids streaming out of the building, heading toward cars, the frazzled pickup attendants trying to keep everyone in order. As I got closer to the school, I heard a shout. Then atap-tap-tapat the passenger door. Maddie ran up a moment later, looking spooked.

“Gracie, I told you not to run off like that.” She hoisted Grace into her arms from beneath my line of sight. Grace beamed at me through the passenger side window and I leaned over to push the door open for them.

“Hey girls. How was your day?”

Grace hopped into the car, throwing her arms around my neck. “Toy!”

I touched her arm gently, looking over at Maddie. Something warm and bubbly sprang to life in my chest. So this was what I’d been missing out on by avoiding settling down. I swallowed hard, not wanting to think about that right now.

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