Natalie Finley was a natural beauty that I just couldn’t get out of my mind no matter how I tried. I had wanted her from the second I laid eyes on her, and I had wanted her again every passing second that she wasn’t with me. I didn’t want to be superficial and say that it was her looks that had me so enthralled, even though her looks definitely couldn’t be ignored.
There was more to her than a pretty face though. That much, I was sure of.
Nevertheless, she was the kind of girl who kept me on my toes. When Speaker Finley announced that he wanted me to be head of security, responsible for protecting his daughter, I initially had cold feet and wondered what I had gotten myself into. I was used to protecting people, so it wasn’t a matter of my ability to do the job—the real issue was my ability to keep my professional distance.
The sex with Natalie had been so delicious, it made me feel as if I’d been missing something special my whole life thus far. Sure, there were other women in my past—plenty of them. Yet, none of them had ever left me feeling the way Natalie did, and I was still trying to figure out why that was.
While I hated to admit it, there was something mildly intimidating about Natalie; it became apparent just how intimidating I found her after I’d made a complete fool of myself when Speaker Finley reintroduced us in the library of their home.
I’d had my heart broken one good time back in my day, and the affects had been long-lasting. In the aftermath, I had frankly become somewhat of an asshole. It was a defense mechanism—whenever I encountered a woman who thoroughly captured my interest, I fell into my bad-boy act, being rude and over-confident. Therefore, if the girl in question turned me down, I could readily blame my attitude rather than myself as a person. I knew the logic was flawed, but I just couldn’t seem to get over it. After that night in Turkey when I woke up to find Natalie already gone, there had been a hollow feeling inside of me that I knew would mean trouble if I ever saw her again. So naturally, when I did—that egotistical maniac sprung out, treating her like a piece of meat that I knew would eventually land on my plate.
I’ve never regretted anything more in my life then her leaving Turkey the way we left things. And it certainly didn’t help that after becoming responsible for her safety, my desire for her continually grew out of control. But I knew I had to keep my distance from her. Professional detachment had never been so complicated.
Trying to keep my feelings in check got more and more difficult the more I grew to know her. I had learned her schedule, and it revealed quite a bit about her. She was intelligent, driven, liked to stay in shape, and was fiercely loyal to her father.
Basically, she was the type of woman any man would be happy to have by his side.
Which is why I found it so baffling that she didn’t have a man in her life. On the other hand, I couldn’t deny being happy about this as well. I kept waiting with baited breath for the moment when I would have to follow her on a date. I got headaches just thinking about how I would possibly be able to maintain my masquerade of indifference; I knew that if I ever saw her with another man, I would lose my shit. My professional façade would be broken beyond repair and my job would be at stake—and I really didn’t want to let Speaker Finley down in any way.
So each day I spent with Natalie, I pretended to turn over a new leaf. I knew she was confused by the abrupt changes she’d witnessed in me, especially since I had been so bold and brash before. And although I knew she questioned how I had turned over such a new leaf, she never bothered to mention it out loud. So, I knew she was keeping up her professional façade too.
That didn’t stop me from wondering if she ever thought about that night we had spent together in Turkey though. Fuck she was hot.
I had relived that night so many times that I could practically replay it in my head like a movie—which is exactly what happened at least once every time I was around her.
If I didn’t manage to screw up on the job, I would likely explode one day from how badly I wanted Natalie Finley. Something about her made me feel like a teenage boy all over again, enslaved to my hormones.
What had I gotten myself into?
CHAPTER 7
Natalie
I had been the one to tell Colt that things needed to stay strictly professional between us, and as the days passed, controlling my less-than-professional thoughts about him had started to feel like one of the hardest things I’d ever done in my
life. Every time I saw those muscular arms and luscious lips of his, I wanted to feel them all over my body again.
Occasionally, I would catch the way he looked at me, and hoped he felt the same as I did. But whenever I thought I saw a meaningful look in his eyes when he gazed at me, he’d abruptly turn away, leaving me wondering if I had imagined the whole thing.
It was unsettling how he had changed so drastically after his flirtations with me in the library that day my father had delivered the news he’d be working for us. He had wasted no time in reminding me of that passionate night we’d spent together in Turkey, and had seemed to have all the confidence in the world about us reliving that night. Now, however, it sometimes seemed like he didn’t remember that night at all. His indifference toward me made me wonder if something had happened to change the way he felt about me.
Had seeing me in an everyday setting turned him off? Made him no longer think of me as attractive? Had he been fooled by my tight dress and makeup in Turkey, only to find out that the beautiful sexy woman he had encountered back then had only been an illusion?
Had he just been drunk when I first met him?
It drove me crazy trying to figure out why Colt no longer seemed remotely attracted to me. Not to mention, it was giving my self-esteem quite a beating.
My dating history wasn’t extensive, but I always contributed that to the fact that my life was so busy. Plus, so much of my time was spent with my father that there just wasn’t much room left for dating. The way Colt was treating me though, now made me wonder if I just wasn’t all that appealing to men. While I had been blaming my busy schedule for my lack of a love-life, I now worried that it was really because I couldn’t hold anyone’s interest for a significant amount of time.
I found myself growing more and more nervous each time Colt was around—my heart breaking a little more each time he seemed to consciously avoid getting too close to me.
I wanted to ask him flat out if there was a problem, but I just couldn’t work up the nerve. So I stayed quiet in my agony, growing more and more depressed along the way.
I tried to tell myself that maybe it was a good thing that Colt no longer wanted me, because it gave me more time to study and keep my mind on-track. But it was useless. I was falling for Colt more and more each time I saw him—attracted to more than just his looks. It was his mannerisms, his quiet-strength, the respect and admiration he showed toward my father…
All the while, he just continued to look past me, as if I was merely a job he had landed but didn’t honestly want any more.
I was just the means of keeping food on his table.