Page 25 of Steal My Breath Away

I masked my audible sigh of relief with fake irritation. “Why aren’t you standing at the back like good bodyguards are supposed to do?”

“This auditorium has three exits. I can’t reach you fast enough if I’m at the back and someone comes in from the front.”

“It would be hard to snatch me away from a classroom,” I protested. “I don’t think a van could get through the door.” I forced a smile and my voice wavered. Instantly, Ace’s eyes narrowed, and I began to suspect he could see right through me.

“You never know where the threat is going to come from.” Hestared at me with an intensity that had me squirming in my seat. “Or when.”

I stiffened and dropped my gaze. His tone said it all. He knew something was up. I couldn’t hide anything from Ace. Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to a bodyguard who knew me so well.

“Is there something you aren’t tell—”

“You don’t have a laptop or a notebook,” I said, cutting him off. “People are going to wonder what you’re doing here.”

As if on cue, the girl beside Aditi leaned right over her to talk to me. “Who’s your friend?”

“Ace.” I knew exactly why she was asking and what she wanted, and my fake irritation became real.

“I’m Isabel.” She flashed Ace a smile, showing off a row of perfectly white teeth as she introduced her friends who were sitting around her. “I haven’t seen you in class before.”

“Late registration.” He smiled back, and my hand curled around the armrest, fingers tightening until my knuckles turned white.

“Don’t encourage her,” I muttered under my breath. “You’re with me. Flirting isn’t allowed.”

“I said two words,” he protested.

“You smiled.”

“Should I have frowned?” He tipped his head in query. “I have to keep myself busy since something clearly happened at the station that you’re not sharing with me, which means I can’t do my job.”

Damnit. I had hoped after so long apart he would have forgotten everything he knew about me. Clearly, I was wrong. “There are some things I can handle myself.”

“Things that scare you are my job.” His body stiffened when the door at the bottom of the auditorium opened. He relaxed again when he recognized my professor from the class earlier in the week.

“I wasn’t scared.” I opened my laptop and settled back in my seat.

“I went through a haunted house with you five times in a row,” he whispered as the professor set up at the podium. “I know when you’re afraid.”

CHAPTER 13Ace

Isabel and her giggly friends were waiting outside after class.

“We’re going to Shakers for happy hour and then heading out on a pub crawl,” Isabel said to me. “You should come.”

“We can’t.” Haley glared at Isabel. “We’ve got somewhere to be.”

Isabel frowned. “Are you two together?”

Haley sucked in her lips and then sighed. “He’s my… boyfriend.”

I shouldn’t have liked hearing that as much as I did, but it brought back some of the feelings I’d had in high school when I realized I cared for Haley more than just as a friend. She had been an important part of my life ever since I’d moved to Riverstone, and now that I was with her again, I felt the distance between us like an ache in my chest. I missed the connection we used to have, the easy conversation and the comfortable silence. I may have tried to bury my feelings out of respect for Matt, but I had never stopped caring for her.

“She’s my girl.” I dropped my arm over Haley’s shoulder, and she stiffened, looking up at me with a grimace.

“I thought you didn’t want a fake boyfriend,” I said after Isabel was out of earshot.

Haley pushed my arm away. “I just don’t want to have to deal with women constantly hitting on you,” she snapped. “This is easier. People have already noticed you following me around. I’m just waiting for someone to report you as a stalker. It would have been helpful if you weren’t so gorgeous that you attract attention.”

Haley thought I was gorgeous. She wanted me to be her fakeboyfriend. This was everything I didn’t want as a bodyguard and everything I had wanted as a man before I royally screwed up. I didn’t know if there was any coming back from what I’d done, but damned if I wasn’t going to try. At the very least I could protect her body, but maybe I could also heal her heart.

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