Page 14 of By The Book
The climb up the stairs from the beach always left her winded after crossing the soft, shifting sand. When she made it to the top, she paused along the outcropping to spray her feet with one of the hoses and donned the flip-flops she carried.
“Ready?” he asked when she finished.
“Yeah,” she said, turning to side-eye him when he placed a hand at the small of her back as a crowd of people approached. He placed himself a bit toward the middle of the walkway, forcing the group to go single file, and the gesture struck her as…protective?
Once in the clear, she glanced up at him and decided that maybe they’d gotten off on the wrong foot due to the apartment mess. “I’m sorry for what I said today. About your job. What you do is important, obviously,” she said, lifting her hand to indicate his injury.
“It’s just not for you.”
“I’m not a factor in the equation,” she said, feeling his gaze on her face. “But no. Every time Scott deployed, I had insomnia until he came home.”
“You know, you could just as easily get killed in a car accident.”
“I suppose that’s true. But that doesn’t change the extremely high level of danger some professions have.”
“Meaning mine.”
“If it fits.”
“So you’re saying if I wasn’t a bodyguard, you’d date me?”
Chapter 7
Denz watched the shocked expression flash over Claire’s face and cringed. But learning she was single had upped his interest in the beautiful woman beside him, and he didn’t like that something like a job—one he was good at—might keep him from getting to know her a little better.
“Hypothetically, you mean?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “Sure. The subject came up earlier with Mrs. B and now…I’m curious.”
“Why did it come up?”
“She offered to set me up while I’m here.”
“To match you?”
“Yeah.”
“I see,” she murmured. “Well, my answer would be no.”
He fell into step beside her as they made their way down the sidewalk away from the pier, toward the streets and houses beyond, and moved to her right side so that he was on the outside, closest to the road and any approaching danger. “Because of my job.”
“That’s one of the reasons.”
Having known him a matter of hours, how many had she come up with? “Have you dated since your husband died?”
Claire flashed him another look with her wary eyes and shook her head.
“It’s only been a year,” she said, sounding somewhat defensive, “and Tommy… He’s having trouble adjusting. Dating is the last thing I need to be doing right now.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know, it’s just maybe what he needs is to see his mother living her life again.”
“I live.”
“He may also need a man’s presence since that’s what he’s missing—his father.”
