Page 19 of Steal My Breath Away

She looked at me and smiled. “I think you are. Can you put it on me?”

I walked around the table and swept her hair to the side, letting the silken strands slide through my fingers. Her breath caught and for a few blissful seconds I touched the smooth, warm skin of her neck, breathed in her fragrance of wildflowers and something sweet.

I heard the thud of feet and the low murmur of voices just after I fastened the clasp. A few moments later we were no longer alone.

“Everyone wanted to meet our new roomie,” Paige said, shooting daggers at me with her eyes until I’d moved a respectable distance away from Haley. “This is Aditi.” She gestured to a slender girl with waist-length black hair who promptly struck a pose by the doorframe. “And these two idiots who live in gym pants and spend most of their time gaming are Chad and Theo.”

Chad was an inch or two shorter than me, blond and blue-eyed with a square jaw and the lean, toned body of an athlete. He introduced himself as a journalism major who played soccer for the Havencrest Warriors and ran the sports programming at the campus radio station.

Theo, a short lanky dude with glasses, grabbed the doorframe and tried to pull himself up with one arm for no clear purpose other than to demonstrate his insecurity. “I could have handled security if anyone had asked me,” he wheezed. “I could wire this place with cameras and sensors that would go off if anyone even sneezed. I also know a guy on the dark web who could set us up with some serious firepower.”

“Are you kidding me?” Paige snorted a laugh. “The only weapons you’ve ever handled are virtual.”

Theo jumped down and grabbed his crotch. “I handle this weapon every day and there’s nothing virtual about it.”

“There are so many things I want to say,” Paige responded, “but we have a guest. I’ll verbally eviscerate you later so you can cry in private.”

“I’m heading to the gym,” Chad said. “You coming, Theo? Maybe do shoulders and arms today?”

Theo nodded and flexed a thin arm. “Let’s go lift some weights. Sweat it out.”

“Any questions?” I asked the group. “I’ll be installing a security system. It’s been okayed with your landlord. I’ll have to show you all how to use it when I’m done. Other than that, I’ll try to stay out of your way. If you see anyone suspicious hanging around, let me know. We’d like to keep my presence quiet, so don’t tell anyone outside the house why I’m here.”

“This is going to be a trip,” Haley said. “Me showing up at Havencrest with a bodyguard. Maybe people will think I’ve finally made it big as a singer and they’ll flock around me begging for my autograph.”

“They’d better not,” I warned. “Because I won’t let anyone near you.”

Her eyes widened slightly, a flicker of warmth passing through them, and I could swear the corners of her mouth twitched with the start of a smile before she caught herself. Maybe I’d imagined the softening in her expression, the subtle shift that betrayed a mix of surprise and something deeper, more complex.

Quickly composing herself, Haley raised an eyebrow. “That’s the job.”

“That’s the job,” I repeated, but it wasn’t just the job. It was something else entirely. I could redeem myself for the sins of my past, not only by protecting her but also by finding a way to make up for the harm I’d caused. It was a second chance. For both of us.

CHAPTER 10Haley

I walked into the kitchen Monday morning to see Aditi, Paige, and Molly sitting in a row on one side of the kitchen table, staring out the window. Aside from the fact that Molly had moved out a few days prior, and Aditi was usually out and about by 10:00A.M., the entire scene was odd because there was nothing on the other side of our window except the garage of the house next door.

“What’s going on?”

“Shhh.” Molly put a finger to her lips. “Ace is installing a security system.”

“And?”

“And he knows his way around a hammer.”

“You cannot be serious. You’re sitting here watching him hammer nails? That’s objectifying…” My voice trailed off when I caught a glimpse of Ace outside the window. His biceps bulged beneath his shirt as he pounded a nail into a piece of wood, and a bead of sweat trickled down his temple.

“Paige?” I looked at my bestie, shaken by the betrayal.

Paige shrugged. “I hate him for you, and I’d happily put crumbs in his sheets or thumbtacks in his shoes, but it doesn’t mean I can’t help Aditi do some research for her next art unit, which is a study of the masculine form.”

“The whole form?”

“Every inch.” Aditi grinned. “We had to find models for the class. The problem wasn’t finding male volunteers; it was narrowing down the field. You can’t imagine how many guys want to pose in the nude.”

“I wish I’d taken art.” Paige sighed. “There are no worthy specimens of the masculine form majoring in biology.”

“What about you, Molly?” Half Swedish and half Dutch and just over six feet tall, Molly had despaired of finding a guy with whom she could wear heels until she met Jace, a philosophy major who was six inches taller than her. “I thought things were going well with Jace.”

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