Page 42 of Steal My Breath Away

“They can look, but if anyone touches her—”

“Yeah. Yeah.” He gave a dismissive wave. “You’ll break his arms, tear him a new one, or some other possessive alpha hole shit. I get it. But if you lay one hand on a customer or cause any kind of drama, Haley is done.”

Haley followed me back down the elevator to the underground parking garage, unaware that one of the guards was following us. Her dress was silver, sparkly, cut very low in front, and hugged all her curves. She looked fantastic and I wasn’t the only person in the bar who’d noticed.

“It’s cold in there,” I said. “You might want to grab the sweater you left in the SUV.”

“I can’t wear a sweater. That defeats the purpose of the dress.” She looked over at me and struck a sultry pose. “Do you not like it?”

“Everyone in the fucking bar likes your dress,” I grumbled. “That’s a problem. Too many eyes on you.” I gave myself a mental pat for spinning my jealousy into a safety issue, which it was, of course. Safety. Not wanting to punch every guy who had leered at her since she’d walked out of the locker room.

Haley shrugged. “More eyes; more tips.”

“I didn’t like the way Ryan was looking at you. Has he ever touched you?”

From the set of her jaw, I knew the answer even before she responded. “I had a bad experience with him one time when I was alone in the locker room at the end of my shift. He was drunk. He tried to kiss me. I slapped him and then I kneed him in the groin so he couldn’t come after me. Of course, he didn’t remember it the next day, or he pretended not to remember. I just made sure I wasn’t alone with him after that. I didn’t report him because I didn’t want to lose the gig, which is what happened to the other women who complained to management. He hasn’t touched me since, so I feel like we have an understanding.”

“I’ll kill him.” I grabbed my suit from the vehicle and slammed the door.

Haley sighed. “No, you won’t kill him, because then you’d go to jail, and I’d have no one to protect me.” She slipped her arm through mine. “Relax, Ace. I can handle guys like Ryan. Matt made sure of that.”

We returned to the bar and Haley pointed out the men’s changing room. “You can get dressed in there.”

“Come with me. I need to be able to see you.”

She looked up at me and her face flushed. “And watch you change?”

“Sweetheart, there’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”

CHAPTER 20Haley

No. No. No.The last thing I wanted was an up close and visual reminder of last weekend. After Ace’s heartfelt apology, I’d managed to put aside the past for one night of pleasure, one night to live out my fantasy, and now I needed to move on. Ace was here for the job, and then he’d go back to LA. Even if he stayed, I wasn’t ready for more. There was no way I was opening myself up to be abandoned all over again. But for some reason, every time I looked at him, all I could think about was his hands on my body and his lips on every part of my skin.

I heard the zip of the suit bag and the rustle of clothing, realizing as I tried to focus on the bare wall and the closed door that I could see Ace’s reflection in a sliver of the mirror. I tried not to look, but the temptation was too great. I just wanted to see if what I remembered was true.

“Why do you keep a suit in your car?” I watched as he reached behind him and pulled his T-shirt off in one fluid, graceful movement. The play of muscles under his skin was mesmerizing, each ripple accentuating his strength and agility. I felt a flush of heat spread across my cheeks and I tried to focus on anything but the image in the mirror.

“Never know where I might end up,” he said. “When I worked in LA, I was in a suit more often than I was in jeans. Some celebs consider their bodyguards part of the entourage and think the way we look reflects on them.”

“Ah.” I swallowed hard when he turned slightly, giving me a view of his sculpted back and the intricate tattoo that curved over his left shoulder blade. His hand went to his belt, and I closed myeyes and tried to remember all the reasons I’d decided one night was all I needed to get him out of my system. When I heard his jeans drop, I willed my eyes to stay closed, but only seconds later they opened, giving me a full-frontal view of Ace in his boxers.

Damn.I hadn’t had much of an opportunity to ogle when we were having crazy sex all over his hotel room. He was chiseled like a Greek god, but not pumped and waxed like the guys at my gym. Ace was all taut, lean muscle, his body almost vibrating with raw power. My gaze dropped to his sculpted six-pack abs and the trail of dark hair leading down to the waistband of his briefs and beyond.

“Any time you’re done looking…” His voice pulled me out of my lust-filled haze, and I blushed, willing the ground to swallow me up. Ace raised an eyebrow, a hint of amusement glinting in his eyes.

“Sorry. I just…” I trailed off, mentally chastising myself for apologizing. I’d seen men in their boxers before. Hell, I’d seen him naked. There was no reason why I should be blushing or why I should feel this desperate need to run away. “I’m worried about the time.”

“I’ll be quick.” He pulled on his dress pants, and I breathed out a sigh of relief. Crisis averted. Temptation gone. Barely. From the bulge beneath his fly, it seemed he liked being looked at as much as I’d enjoyed looking.

I stared at the floor, counting the tiles by my feet. “I never asked you about your tattoo.”

“Matt and I got them before we deployed,” he said. “They matched—his on the right and mine on the left. Kinda feels unbalanced now that he’s gone.” His smile faded and I felt my heart squeeze the way it did whenever Matt’s name came up. I hadn’t really thought through that aspect of having Ace in my life again. I wanted to offer some words of comfort, but the vulnerability he’d shown me felt fragile, like a thread that could easily be broken.

When I looked up again, Ace had put on his shirt and jacketand his expression had shifted, a shadow passing over his face as he fastened the buttons with a sense of finality.

“How do I look?” He struck a pose in front of the lockers.

“You look…” Handsome. Gorgeous. Hot. “Fine.”

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