Page 5 of Protector Next Door
“Yeah,” I say. I don’t follow him. If getting these pictures weren’t bad enough, Xander had to see them. I feel like I swallowed a hairball full of red-hot embarrassment, a double-whammy of attraction to Xander and revulsion and shame from thephotos.
“It looks like the photos were likely taken by a drone camera.” Xander reappears, hands on his hips and his lips pulled into a tight, straight line. “I’m going to send these to a lab I use for fingerprinting and forensics. In the meantime, you’re coming home withme.”
“Is that really necessary?” I ask, sinking onto the couch. “Can’t I just put up some curtains orsomething?”
“I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing you were here by yourself. Go pack a bag.” He gives me a gentle smile of reassurance. “Goon.”
I shuffle into my bedroom and grab my overnight bag from under my bed. I can feel Xander standing by my door, his imposing frame taking up the entire doorway as I start to shove random makeup from the top of my dresser and some clothes from my drawers and closet intoit.
I look over my shoulder and watch his gaze for a moment before pulling away. The mere act of making eye contact with him sends a probe through my belly and I feel myself clench up, all the more aware now than I was before that I’m going to have to do something about the ache gathering insideme.
And now I’m going to be living under hisroof.
“I don’t know if this is a good idea,” I say again. I’ve never felt attracted to a man like this before. My ex and I never actually had sex. We did other things, but there was something holding me back from goingfarther.
“Samantha. Less talking, morepacking.”
“But…”
“You’re coming home with me if I have to throw you over my shoulder and carry you there,” he growls, his gaze slowly traveling up from the floor to my eyes. I gulp and feel my limbs weaken, my lips popping open as a breath hitches deep inside mychest.
The ache inside me, the tickle between my legs, is now a full-on flush of heat, a rolling tide of tension and anticipation starting at the top of my head and ending in my toes, curling through me in a delicious wave that’s making my kneesweak.
“Are yousure…”
He turns around and walks away from me, throwing his final warning over his shoulder. His forearms flex in this incredibly dominant way. The image is burning itself into my mind as hespeaks.
“Get your shit, and please don’t make me say itagain.”
I bite my lower lip as I continue to shove essentials into my bag. If this is the way he’s going to be, maybe there’s a silver lining. Maybe he’s going to stay pissed off. I hope he does, if it means he’s going to stay away fromme.
