Page 7 of Her Bossy Bodyguards

And God, was I hoping it was the latter.

“How many weeksuntil the semester’s finished, King?” I asked as soon as he hopped back into the sedan, taking his seat right beside me. Kingston and I had been trailing Natalie throughout the day, and now that it was night, we were convinced we wouldn’t have much more to do, since it seemed like she was more of a homebody.

“I don’t know. Eight?” Kingston shrugged. “Why do you ask?”

“Because she’s dangerous,” I murmured.

“Who? Natalie Hanson?” he scoffed. “She’s a twenty-one-year-old college girl. I highly doubt she’s dangerous to anyone, outside of frat boys who fall in love way too easy and creepy old professors who get way too obsessed.”

“I’m serious, Kingston,” I went on. “You don’t think she’s playing some sort of game with us?”

“By not talking to us for a week?” he pressed. “By mostly keeping to herself and giving us our space?”

“Shit,” I groaned. “You’re right. I think I’m just imagining things. I think I just want her to be playing some sort of game because I…”

“Because you have poor self-control and you’re looking for any excuse to end up in her bed?” Kingston suggested. “Even though I’ve explicitly asked you not to even consider her a candidate for the bedroom?”

Kingston patted me on the shoulder before he finished his thought. “We’ve been through this before, yeah? You just need to take your mind off the mission for a night, maybe go off and get laid somewhere.”

I don’t want to get laid.

I want Natalie Hanson.

I kept my thoughts to myself. “Sure. Yeah. Maybe you’re right. What the hell—”

My words were interrupted when I saw Natalie stepping out of her apartment, a bottle of wine in her hand. She was wearing next to nothing, just a skimpy, blue latex skirt that barely covered her upper thighs and a tight tank top that left nothing of her breasts to the imagination.

Holy shit.

She looked so fucking good.

Kelly was standing right beside her, her outfit a near mirror of Natalie’s. Kelly held up another wine bottle and playfully clinked it against the one in Natalie’s hand, then turned toward where our car was parked in the lot, a huge grin on her face.

“Hey! Natalie’s stalkers!” Kelly shouted. “We’re going to a party at the Beta Psi house! You coming or what?”

Natalie chuckled at Kelly’s invitation, her hand slipping into Kelly’s palm. The girls started to head down the opposite side of the street, their heels clacking across the cement as they continued with their late-night journey.

The Beta Psihouse was humongous, a mini-mansion smackdab in the middle of the campus. The good news about a fraternity house that huge was that no one was going to notice King and me making our way through the front door. The bad news was that it was going to be harder than ever to keep an eye on Natalie.

“This is a fucking madhouse,” Kingston murmured as he glanced around the front room. “Shouldn’t there be some sort of supervisor on staff?”

“For a college party?” I smirked over at him. “Is that what they had at the college parties you used to go to?”

“I wasn’t much of a party person,” King replied.

And I let out a theatrical gasp. “You?Not a party person? I don’t think I could even imagine it.”

“Just keep an eye out for Natalie.” He rolled his eyes, his hand going down toward the hidden gun at his hip. “And be ready to move. Fast. You never know how far those extortionist assholes are willing to go if it means getting their hands on her.”

“Sir, yes, sir.” I nodded before walking over to a different part of the home, keeping my eyes peeled for any sign of Natalie.

An hour or two later, it was starting to feel like she was avoiding me, finding her way out of a room just as I found my way in. The cat and mouse game felt like it was going to last the whole night, a never-ending chase that never got any easier.

And that was when I saw her. She was by herself, sitting on the edge of the kitchen counter with a shot glass placed right between her thighs. She didn’t seem like she had a care in the world, her hair swept over to one side as she moved her hips in time to the music that was blasting throughout the mansion. She went to pour another shot of liquor for herself, aiming it right between her legs, her body still swaying to the song’s tempo.

But before she had a chance to grab for the drink, someone else suddenly appeared, swiftly dipping their head between her thighs and pulling the shot glass up with their teeth. Now, there was a frat boy standing right in front of her, the shot glass still in his mouth and a crooked grin painted all over his face.

Natalie seemed mildly amused by his antics, holding out her hand for the shot glass. And he calmly gave it back to her, placing it between her thighs, sliding it back in place. But as he went through with the motion, the amusement on Natalie’s face turned into something else, something that seemed a lot like fear.

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