Her Sexy Protector

* * *

There was a tentative knock on my bedroom door and I didn’t need to be psychic to know it was Colt.

Dad had gone out for the day to a meeting which he insisted would be brief and therefore he wouldn’t need me to accompany him.

“You can stay here, darling,” he had said. “I know I’ve been asking so much from you lately, but you have your own stuff going on. Stay in and study, and then get some rest. I’ll be back before you know it. I’ll tell Colt to stick around the house just in case you need to go somewhere.”

I knew Colt wasn’t there just to escort me though. He practically camped out at our house every day, especially on days when I was home alone. He had become the eternal look-out, making sure there was no suspicious activity happening anywhere near our home.

“Yeah?” I said glancing to my closed bedroom door.

“Just letting you know I’m ready whenever you are,” Colt’s voice sounded through the door.

I sighed, pulling on my sports bra and then reaching for my yoga shorts. Although I should have been studying, I had decided to go out to a yoga class instead, figuring it would refresh my mind so that when I got back home, I would have better focus for studying.

“Be there in a second,” I said, my tone lackluster. I already felt annoyed, thinking about the expressionless gaze Colt always kept on his face whenever he was with me.

I supposed yoga would help distract me from him as well.

I stood in the mirror and reached for a comb, detangling my hair before pulling it up into a high ponytail.

Suddenly, it occurred to me that I no longer wanted to go out to a yoga class.

I looked toward my door, practically sensing Colt’s presence on the other side. Visions of that night in Turkey began to replay in my head, making me quiver at the memory of his skin on mine.

My imagination spinning into overdrive, I began envisioning recreating the night, right here and right now, in my bed while we had the entire house to ourselves…

Indecent thoughts prancing through my mind, I slowly approached the door. There was a certain level of shame underlying what I was about to do, but I couldn’t stop myself. I needed to know once and for all whether Colt still felt the slightest bit of attraction toward me, or if it had all been a meaningless drunken fling that he wished to forget.

When I opened the door, just as I expected, he stood outside. He was leaning against the wall with his arms folded. “You ready?” he asked, turning his back already and heading down the hall. When he realized I wasn’t following behind him, he stopped and turned around.

God, he looked good today. He wore a black sleeveless tank, showing off his muscular forearms and tattoos, with a pair of jeans and combat boots. No suit when my Dad wasn’t around. Interesting.

I was so busy looking at him that it took me a moment to realize his eyes had widened upon seeing me. I stood perfectly still as his eyes left my face and traveled down to my chest, my exposed abdomen, and the tiny yoga shorts I wore. Seeing that my feet were still bare, he raised an eyebrow and then let his eyes travel back up to my face. “Uhm…don’t you need some shoes or something? I thought you were going out to your, uhh…” His voice trailed off, as he got distracted by my body again.

My heart hammered in my chest, an uncontrollable pleasure coming over me at the fact that finally—I had caught his attention.

“I think I’m going to stay in,” I said, opening my bedroom door wider. “I’m not sure I feel like being bothered with going out today. I can do my yoga right here, and then head downstairs to get some studying done.”

Colt nodded. “All right. Well, I’ll be downstairs. Call me if you need anything.”

My breath hitched in my throat. His leaving me hadn’t been part of the plan. I wanted him to stay. “Wait!” I said, thinking fast.

He turned back around, his eyebrows raised. “Yeah?”

“I, uhm…need my yoga mat.”

“Okay…”

“It’s downstairs. Can you bring it up for me?”

“Downstairs where?”

“In the exercise room.”

“Well, why don’t you just do your yoga in the exercise room then?”

“I…Because, I—” I sputtered, trying to answer the question quickly, but failing to come up with a logical explanation.