Page 26 of Steal My Breath Away

“I’m happy to know you find my appearance acceptable,” I teased.

“Just… try not to attract attention,” she gritted out. “Do you own a baggy shirt? Or a pair of those jeans that ride below your boxers? For someone whose job is to be inconspicuous, you really stand out.”

My lips quivered with a smile. “I’ll try to dress down tomorrow,” I assured her, putting my hand on her waist to steer her clear of an opening door.

“And just so we understand each other, I don’t really want a boyfriend. Boyfriends mean feelings and feelings mean attachments and attachments lead to pain when the person you care about leaves you, which they all do, at least in my life. This is just a safety issue. I don’t want you to be distracted when you’re supposed to be protecting me.”

Her dad, her mom (emotionally), Matt, and me. I’d left her, too. The only stable person in her life was Paige. No wonder she’d followed her best friend to Havencrest. “I’m not leaving you, Haley, and nothing will distract me from keeping you safe. This isn’t an ordinary assignment for me, but I need your trust.”

“I do trust you.” She pulled open the door to the arts building and I followed her through.

“If you trusted me, you would tell me what happened at the station.”

She shuddered and suddenly I’d had enough. Something had spooked her and I couldn’t just let it slide. Haley had never been able to deal with strong emotions. When her father had passed away, she’d tried to bury her pain, and it had come out in destructive ways. The moment I saw an empty classroom, I yanked open the door and pulled her inside.

“Tell me what’s going on,” I said, as the door swung closed beside us. “And don’t say it’s nothing. That might work for a stranger, but I know you, Haley. I may have been hired to protect you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t also be here for you as a friend.”

Silence. She pushed past me and reached for the door handle. For a moment, I thought I would have to let her go. She could be almost as stubborn as me. Finally, she turned around and pulled out her phone. “I got these messages on the station account when I was on the air.”

We’re coming for you

This time you won’t get away

Fire scorched my veins. All thoughts of being a supportive friend flew out the window in the face of imminent threat. I slammed my hand against the door above her head, as much for the support as for the fear that she might walk away. “Why didn’t you tell me? What if he was in the studio? Or in the student center? What if he followed you to class?” My voice rose as I thought about every damn thing that could have gone wrong, the danger she could have been in if her attacker was waiting outside. “I’m here to protect you and you tied my hands by not giving me the information I needed when I needed it.”

“Don’t raise your voice with me,” Haley snapped.

Guilt knotted my stomach. My job was to remain cool and calm at all times, but this was Haley and my emotions were all over the map. It didn’t help that in this position, I could smell the fragrance of her perfume, see the swell of her breasts at the vee of her shirt, feel the heat of her body so close to mine.

“I understood the danger.” She let out a shuddering breath. “I was just worried you’d overreact and pull me out of the studio, and I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. The show had to go on.”

Haley had never been a coward. She had shown the kind of professionalism that I was lacking in that moment.

“And afterwards? Why didn’t you tell me as soon as the show was done?”

“Honestly, I didn’t want it to be real,” she admitted. “I’d convinced myself that there was no connection between the incident on Michigan and the threats my mother received, and she was just being overly cautious hiring you. That was working for me until I got the texts. I forced myself to finish the show and then I just needed time to process before I had to deal with…” She gestured vaguely at me. “All this.”

“This is real, Haley,” I said evenly. “Very real. This is an escalation. I can’t do my job if you’re not going to let me know what’s going on.”

Haley sighed. “I know.”

I hated myself for noticing the blush on her cheeks, and the way her soft lips were pressed together. A long time ago, her dad had asked me to protect her. Now, her mom was paying me to guard her. There were a million reasons why I needed to keep my distance, but there I was, adrenaline pounding through my veins, thinking all the wrong thoughts, allowing buried emotions to resurface, reminding me that I’d never stopped truly caring for her, when the only thing that should have been in my head was keeping her safe.

“It’s hard for me to rely on people,” she said looking up. “Very hard to trust, especially when it comes to you.” Her voice came out in a husky whisper that I felt down to my very bones. I was almost overwhelmed with the need to hold her. But more than that, I burned for her. My time in the military and losing Matt had made me realize how short and unpredictable life could be—too short to hold back feelings I’d repressed forever.

“I treated you badly, and I wasn’t there when you needed me,” I said. “Not a day goes by that I don’t regret those decisions. But I’m not the same man anymore and I’m going to work hard to show you that I’m worthy of your trust.”

She looked up at me and the intensity of her gaze told me I wasn’t the only one who was aware of the heat sizzling between us. But this was the wrong time. Wrong place. I shouldn’t have feltwhat I was feeling. I shouldn’t have been thinking of wrapping her hair around my hand, tugging her head back and kissing those soft lips. I shouldn’t have been imagining what it would be like to slowly strip off her clothes and run my hands over her curves. But I was, and I did, and I couldn’t stop.

“Ace…” She leaned up and pressed her lips to the hollow at the base of my throat, my name on her breath a plea I couldn’t refuse. I cupped her cheek in my palm, and kissed her.

Our first kiss had been a sweet kiss, a gentle kiss, a taste of what I’d wanted and thought I would never have again. But this was entirely different. Adrenaline was still pulsing through my veins, a mix of fear and fury, a longing too deep for words, and hot, brutal lust. I kissed her hard and deep, my tongue sweeping inside her mouth, touching, tasting, marking every inch as mine. She wrapped her arms around my neck, pressing her body against me. I tasted honey on her tongue, heady and tempting, felt her softness against the hard ridge beneath my fly. She was the one. The only one. I wanted her right there, up against the wall, her legs wrapped around me, breasts bared, her lips bruised from my kisses. We were alone in the classroom. There was no one to stop us…

I tore my mouth from hers and buried it against her throat. “Damn it, Haley. We can’t do this.”

“Shut up and kiss me again.” She grabbed my shirt and pulled me down for another kiss. My senses flooded, nerves snapped, pulse pounded. I was no longer thinkingI can’t. I was starving for her. If I had to, I would beg. Our lips crashed together, and the moan that escaped her throat was at once a torment and a sweet temptation.

I heard footsteps in the hallway, voices outside. I drew her away from the door just as it opened behind her.

---