Protect Me Not ((Un)Professionally Yours 2)

His body relaxed by degrees, and her arms crept around his waist as she clung to him. Wanting to see for herself that he was safe, unharmed, her hands crept up his broad back beneath the jacket, searching for any sign of wetness. Oh, God, please don’t let him be bleeding.

Her heart was slamming against her ribcage, she was almost certain he could feel it against his belly, but his own heartbeat remained slow and steady beneath her ear.

“It’s okay. You’re safe.” He leaned down to drop the quiet words directly into her ear.

His arms loosened and fell away from her body, but she continued to cling to him, pressing herself tightly against him.

“Are you hurt?” she asked aware of the panicky quiver in her high-pitched voice. She tilted her head back to look at him. His face was set in stone, mouth grim, and his eyes lost to her behind the dark lenses of his sunglasses.

“Hurt? Of course not. I’m sorry I frightened you, but he would have hit you if I hadn’t acted swiftly.”

Starting to feel self-conscious about the way she was still clinging to him and hyperaware of the hot press of that hard body against hers, Vicki loosened her grip. She stepped back on unsteady legs, creating distance between them. Her movements were hampered by the car at her back and the unyielding man in front of her.

“He? Who?”

“Asshole bicycle messenger, he came out of nowhere, and nearly slammed right into you. His handlebar clipped me as he passed, but the bastard didn’t even slow down.”

That must have been why Ty had jerked.

“Then you are hurt. Show me,” she demanded.

His mouth softened, before he shook his head. “I may wind up with a bruise on my ass, but it’s nothing serious. And I doubt you’d want to see it.”

Oh, if only he knew.

She hesitated, wondering if she should offer to look anyway. Just in case it was serious and needed some salve applied, or massaging, or just plain stroki—

Victoria Hollingsworth, you behave. Ugh, Nan was back.

She beat back a blush, not wanting him to realize where her thoughts had taken her.

“Thank you for saving me.”

“I hardly saved you. Just prevented a nasty accident.”

“Pretty much how I’d define saving someone.”

His lips twitched and he stepped back, depriving her of his delicious warmth and divine scent, but giving her freedom to move. He cast another wary glance around before bringing his arm down behind her, and ushering her forward without actually touching her.

More herding. And like a good sheep, Vicki complied. After all, the man had taken a handlebar to that tight, beautiful butt for her. Complying was the very least she could do.

Once they were safely in store, Tyler took up his habitual spot tucked away just beside the door, ankle of one leg resting on the opposite knee, while he read his newspaper.

After the first month of having him guard the door like a sentry, Vicki had invested in a comfortable chair for him. He’d been reluctant to use it at first, until she had pointed out that he was unnerving her customers.

It had taken him roughly six weeks to figure out that her life was really boring, and she wasn’t in imminent danger of being kidnapped and ravished by pillaging marauders. Or whatever the hell he’d imagined would happen to her. And that was when he’d started bringing in his morning paper.

That was also around the time Vicki had ceased her childish behavior. No more trying to give him the slip at lunchtime just to see if she could. No more actively attempting to lose him in crowded malls. It had become apparent to her that this assignment had to be a special kind of purgatory for a man as thorough and vigilant as Tyler Chambers.

Vicki being a brat and trying to sabotage the job that he took such pride in, would have been the equivalent of rubbing salt in an open wound. She had put on her big girl panties and stopped being such a total bitch to the man.

Her brother had wealth, influence, and a good friendship with Tyler’s boss. Vicki was ashamed that it had taken her so long to grasp that getting Tyler into trouble, in an attempt to have him reassigned, would have resulted in embarrassment, and negative professional repercussions for him. And merely a change in babysitters for her.

It could even have damaged Miles’s friendship with Sam Brand.

Looking back on that first month and a half now, she cringed at how selfish and spoilt she must have seemed to him. No wonder he barely acknowledged her unless he had to.

Vicki was startled out of her reverie when Tyler made a soft, grunting sound and got up to drag the door inward. The bell tinkled and her shop manager, Linda Ellis, entered the store, all blushes and smiles.