Page 22 of The Bodyguard

“I mean, damn, babe—”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Damn,Angela, I’m trying,” he snapped. “You’re getting a little personal.”

“Paul, you just asked me to marry you. That’s about as personal as it gets.”

“We’re a team. I asked you to continue our partnership.”

She pressed her fingers to her temples and wanted to curl up in her chair and disappear. “Oh my God.”

“Angela, if sex is important to you—”

“Is it important to you?” she hissed.

He blinked as if seeing her for the first time. “Yeah…”

“Withme?”

He didn’t answer.

“Oh my God,” she repeated, shaking her head. “You need to leave.”

Paul ran a hand over his face. “This isn’t going the way I thought it would.”

“Leave.”

He stood, towering over her, and rested his hands on her shoulders. The inauthentic touch was repellent.

His audacity fueled a fury in her veins. “Do not touch me.”

“Fine.” Paul crouched in front of her. “Look, Angela, from day one, I thought, I don’t know. You and I were a team. We had the same end goal.”

She smirked. “And here I thought I was your girlfriend.”

“Now you can be my wife.” He smiled and squeezed her knee but saw the gesture hadn’t landed like he’d hoped. “We’ll have sex.”

Her stomach roiled. “You’re going to say whatever it takes to get me to say yes, aren’t you?”

Paul stood up and paced. “I didn’t think I had to sell you on this.” He scrubbed his hands over his face and returned to his chair again. Upon regaining his composure, he scooted in front of her once more. “I didn’t think we had a romantic relationship. I thought we had a pragmatic one.”

Her eyebrows rose.

“You never complained,” he pointed out.

“I wasn’t around to file grievances,” she countered.

“But when you were around…” He crossed his arms, deciding to change tactics. “I’m going to be completely honest, okay?”

She lifted her hands in exasperation. “Yeah. Spit it out, Paul.”

“I didn’t think you were that into, I don’t know…” He had the good sense to appear sheepish. “Doing it.”

Angela blinked, unsure what to say.

“Like,” Paul continued, “you know how some women are, hell, I don’t know what it’s called.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Frigid?”

Her jaw fell open.

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